In order to choose the right UPS to protect your equipment from technical and power failures, you will have to take into account various elements and ask yourself several questions:
- Why do you need a UPS?
- I need it to protect my equipment from voltage variations and interruptions?
- Stabilizing the electrical voltage and eliminate electrical noises?
- How much power does my equipment need to operate?
Add up the power of all your devices in VA. Ensure to upsize your UPS output by 25% or higher than the total power of your devices. Consider power factor of 0.8 of your equipment, in order to achieve greater autonomy.
How much backup time do I need?
Depending on your needs, you can choose your UPS according to its autonomy. In some cases, you may need to switch to a UPS system with backup battery for more autonomy. You may select the 4 types of UPS as follow:
- UPS with 15 minutes of autonomy without a generator. In 90% of the cases, power outages last less than 15 minutes, so with this type of UPS your appliances are 90% protected.
- UPS with 15 minutes of autonomy with a generator. The generator starts immediately when power outage is detected.
- Redundant UPS with a generator and two feed lines for double conversion. Provide protection against all power failures.
- UPS with battery have an autonomy of two hours or more. Opt of this when generator is unavailable.
Tips: Install bundle software in cases where the duration of the power outage might exceed the autonomy of the UPS. This software allows you to save all your work in progress and allow your sensitive equipment to be shutdown gracefully.
What is the voltage of your power source?
This depends on which part of the world you are located and ensure that the input plug of UPS matches the sockets of your power source:
- In Europe and Asia, voltage is generallly 220 / 230 / 240Vac.
- In North America, voltage is generally 120V or 208Vac.
Where do you plan to install your UPS?
UPS come in different shapes and sizes, make your choice accordingly to the space you have available:
- Rack-mount models that can be mounted in standard rack cabinets (height between 2U to 4U per UPS, U = rack space). They are suitable confined spaces, i.e. server and network applications.
- Desktop applications or network workstations, opt for the tower format (with the UPS placed upright on the floor, a desk or a shelf).
- There are also very compact desktop models. They can be used to protect computers, for example. They are more affordable than tower UPS but have a lower capacity.