Discover How to Protect Your Computer From Power Outages?
Your personal computer or Mac is now considered a vital piece of gadget in your home. Your laptop or desktop PC is now used for internet access, gaming, digital photo storage, and important office work. This crucial part of every home runs on electrical power which, unfortunately, is often taken for granted.
Are you one of the people that think power cuts are rare anyway so there is no need to prepare that much for it? While this may be true on your area, still, power breaks can happen for many reasons and can occur when you least expect it.
Power failures that last a long time may be rare but they do happen. The small power breaks happen because of faults and clearance on electricity grids. Lightning strikes – a natural occurrence – can also cause power disruptions.
More often than not, power outages are a result of tripped breakers, a blown fuse or it could be as simple as someone who tripped as he walked over the wires. When such events occur, your PC could suddenly stop.
This may not have been an issue to you in the past especially when the power goes back immediately; all that you did was switch the gadget back on and your life goes smoothly on.
Sometimes, however, power outages become a bit more complex. The hard drive of your computer could become damaged or corrupt and important data could immediately be lost. Remember that there are some sudden power failures that can have heavier consequences that mere nuisance.
The UPS
To protect your computer, you must consider investing in a UPS or Uninterruptible Power Supply. The UPS has internal batteries which can provide emergency power in the extreme case that power is cut off. This device can ascertain that your power supply will be up and your computer will continue to run.
Be sure to install an app that communicates with your UPS so that you can save important work when your computer suddenly shuts down in case the power does not return right away.
There are different technologies for the UPS system. Experts agree that the highest degree of protection comes from the online double conversion type. This kind of system is always on as it constantly provides unaltered power. The drawback for this type of technology is its decreased efficiency.
The UPS is most useful to PC users because it switches to battery power as soon as the power goes off. There is a brief break during this occurrence which your computer can survive since it has capacitors that can hold charge.
An inverter is a circuit that provides electrical power. Find out if your inverter is sine-wave or not. Non sine-wave types are also called square waves and they are not good for everything that is plugged into them. Use the sine-wave type because it can be used even with other electrical appliances. Square waves are only good for computer-type power supplies.
As to the UPS runtime, you need to think about how long you expect a UPS to maintain your electrical power. Be cautious of manufacturers that are offering misleading statements about runtime. There are two factors that can affect runtime – the amount of power that UPS is able to provide and the batteries’ capacity. Runtime of 60 minutes or more for a single battery is a little shady. Have an electrician check the type of batteries that the UPS has inside. Some contain two batteries; what’s important is that you get no less than 10 minutes of runtime after the power goes out. Dual battery UPS systems can work for as long as 30 minutes.