How to Select a UPS for Your Business
Unless you have some background knowledge about UPS systems, choosing the best one for your business can be a difficult task, when you do not understand the technical aspects that help to determine suitability. A UPS is a critical system for any business that relies on having a constant supply of power but there are numerous different UPS solutions available, to cover a wide range of different requirements.
Even a temporary pause in the electrical power supply can cause a business some big problems, such as data loss and compromise of security, so the role of a UPS is very important and therefore you must choose the right one.
Here are some tips on how to choose the most suitable UPS for your business:
Which equipment are you are protecting?
Your first consideration is which equipment will your UPS be protecting? How essential is the equipment and what are the consequences of the devices losing power? Acquiring a UPS for critical equipment such as security systems, IT suites and data centres will need a higher level of protection than if your UPS is providing backup power for less essential equipment.
There are three different levels of protection:
- •Offline (lowest level)
- •Line-interactive
- •Online double conversion (highest level)
Once you have determined which equipment you need to protect, you can calculate the electrical draw, which will be displayed on the devices and this information will help you to find the UPS to match the load requirements. The UPS systems that provide the highest levels of protection will prevent equipment from getting damaged by a power surge, so decide whether that is a priority for your equipment.
Cost of UPS vs cost of losing power
One of the biggest factors in deciding your UPS will be how much available budget there is. UPS systems vary in price and while a lower budget system might be sufficient for a small office, a large data centre, for example, would require a much more sophisticated UPS solution. When you are deciding whether the cost is justified, consider how much money and disruption a loss of power could potentially cost your business.
How long do you require backup power for?
Another important consideration is how long you need the UPS to supply backup power for and this will depend on your business and the equipment you are running. In some cases, you may just need enough backup power to allow systems to perform a controlled shutdown. Other businesses may require power for much longer, to keep systems running until the power supply returns.
How much space do you have?
UPS systems also come in different sizes, so if you have a limited amount of space to store your UPS then this could be another factor in choosing the right solution for your business. You may also need to have a portable system, for example, to use power packs for charging mobile devices.
There are lots of different factors to think about when choosing the right UPS system, so if you are not sure which best suits your needs, it will help to discuss your business equipment and requirements with a UPS technician.
Secure Power is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of UPS systems and can help you to find the right UPS for your business, taking into account all of the relevant information. We can also provide ongoing support and maintenance if required, so get in touch today and we can help make sure your business equipment has the correct UPS protection.
Call us on 0800 080 3118.