The importance of battery backups
by Joshua Wrye
Do you know and understand the benefits of having your expensive computer, home entertainment system, TVs, DVD player, and even your DVR plugged into a battery backup?
Did you know that power brownouts, spikes, and surges can ruin your computer's software and valuable documentation? The electricity coming out of your wall is ruining your expensive equipment. Sure, we all have about a dozen or more surge protectors in our house, supposedly keeping our valuable equipment safe, but what happens when the power suddenly goes out?
All software, documents, pictures, videos (and more) on your PC is stored on a hard disk drive which stores your information magnetically to its platters. Brownouts, surges, and spikes can affect all of those magnetic ones and zeros and cause your computer to act sluggish and even create the infamous Windows blue screen of death. Macs are susceptible to these same electrical problems, too.
Even so, there is a way to protect everything you've worked so hard for: battery backups.
How?
The electricity that comes into our homes is transformed from hundreds of thousands of volts at the source to approximately 110 Volts, Alternating Current or VAC. Whenever you or a neighbor turns on an appliance (especially the larger ones, like air conditioning), an immediate need for electricity is pulled to start the appliance, leaving other equipment in your house with a lack of voltage for a short amount of time. We've all seen the lights in our house dim when we turn the vacuum cleaner on. This is called a brownout.
Surges, on the other hand, are the opposite of brownouts. Surges increase the voltage to all of your plugged in appliances and equipment by 10-35%, causing higher voltages than your equipment was made to handle.
Spikes usually occur during extreme weather conditions. Spikes are a quick jolt of electricity that could completely damage certain types of electrical equipment.
Over time, brownouts, surges, and spikes slowly reduce the lifespan of your equipment, whether it is the family computer or the living room TV.
What should you do?
You can protect your valuable equipment with a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), otherwise known as a battery backup. UPSs supply a constant stream of voltage to your expensive equipment and they also offer backup power during power outages or other unexpected, power-related events. In other words, the battery itself takes the electrical hit instead of your valuable equipment.
All battery backups come in different volt-amp ratings (VA ratings). Most battery backup manufacturers offer a variety of UPSs with different VA ratings to suit everyone's needs. Basically, the higher the number, the more equipment (or the larger the equipment) the UPS can handle. For example, if you have an older computer, with a 300 Watt power supply (rating is found on the back of the PC), a 350VA UPS will do just fine. On the other hand, if you have a high-end gaming PC or a large LCD TV, you might need a UPS rated 1000VA or larger.
Purchase a battery backup today, plug your equipment into it, and rest assured that you're expanding the life of your valuable equipment!
Note: when purchasing a battery backup, make sure you account for the voltage draw of your PC and monitor - not just your PC. If the power goes out, you're going to want to be able to shut your computer down properly. How would you do that without the monitor turned on?
Not sure what to buy? Need help installing your new battery backup? ETI can help you choose your battery backup and install it for you! Info@EnspiredTech.com
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