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So, What Do I Need To Know?
So, what do you actually need to know before you choose a UPS to buy? In the first blog in this series, we discussed why a UPS unit is almost essential for a home worker who is a business user. You now need to think about how much you need to budget for this necessary protection. Of course, If you are a freelancer and remote worker budget is important. In order to figure this out you need to consider carefully 2 factors:
- How much power do I need?
- What features do I really need?
We will look at these important questions in this blog post.
How much power do I need?
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It is important to answer one question first.
What does KVA mean?
KVA refers to Apparent power. This in contrast to Watts, which refers to Real power. Have you noticed how KVA and Watts differ when you look at the specifications of UPS units? For example, on the Tripp Lite SMART1500LCDT KVA is shown as 1500 whereas Watts is 900. You might wonder, why the difference? The answer is something called the Power Factor. Most UPS unit manufacturers assume Power Factor is 0.6.
Power Factor = Real power (Watts) / Apparent power (KVA)
In the case of our Tripp Lite SMART1500LCD this can be expressed as:
0.6 = 900 / 1500
It’s just a best guess though, because in fact Power Factor depends on the internal circuitry of the equipment that will be attached to the UPS unit. Of course, the UPS manufacturers cannot know what kind of equipment the customer will eventually plug into the UPS unit, so they make an educated guess.
So, for you home workers, what is the key point you need to take away? You need to know the Real power, or Watts, of all the equipment you need your UPS unit to support. In case the manufacturer of the UPS you are considering only tells you the KVA then you now know how to calculate the Watts: just multiply the KVA you see advertised on the UPS unit by the average Power Factor these days, which is 0.6. For more information you may visit this article: https://www.apc.com/us/en/faqs/FA157485/
Ok, So How Do I Know What I Need?
This is the key question; however, the answer is neither easy nor obvious. You must have figured out by now that you need to add up the load, or Watts, of all the equipment you will connect to the UPS unit. Great!
But how do you, the humble remote worker do it? You might think that you can just look at the power supply specifications of your equipment, calculating the watts by multiplying amps by volts. As obvious as that might sound it is not at all the recommended way to do it; the reason, the load, or watts, of equipment can vary over time. For example, a modem’s load will likely be quite stable over time, however a desktop computer’s load will vary depending whether it is booting up, sleeping or carrying out heavy processing.
Well, what’s the solution for you the home worker? Quite simply, you need to know what the actual load is. Of course, you can do a search online and there you may find some useful tables that might include the kind of equipment you are planning to plug into your UPS unit. You might notice that on average modems and router are about 20 watts, a basic laptop computer 60 watts and a desktop computer as much as 500 watts.
There’s another solution: measure for yourself. Understandably, your first reaction could be to say “I’m just a home worker; I’m no electrician so I would never be able to figure out how to use such tools”. Well, you will be surprise to learn how easy it actually is to measure the wattage of equipment. What you need is an Electricity Usage Monitor.
What Is An Electricity Usage Monitor?
Please do not be put off by the name. In fact, they are easy to use and affordable. Quite simply you plug them directly into a power outlet and then plug equipment into them. The Electricity Usage Monitor, as the name suggests, tracks the power usage. They do more than just track watts, they also give readings on volts, amps and kilowatt hours consumed. You will need to let them run for a few hours to get a true average load. Interestingly the tools also indicate maximum and minimum load.
This blog features 2 types of Electricity Usage Monitor: simple smart plug and network monitoring.
Simple Smart Plug
These are single units that monitor one piece of equipment at a time.
Network Monitoring
These are kits that monitor several pieces of equipment at a time. The plugs connect to your home Wifi network allowing you to track them using an app on your smartphone.
What features do I really need?
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Alright, so we have looked at the most important feature of a UPS unit, its capacity. Now let’s briefly discuss some other additional features that you will likely need.
What is Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR)?
Definition: (From APC)
With AVR Technology, instead of going to battery during high or low input voltages, the unit will increase (BOOST) or reduce (TRIM) the voltage to a safe operating range. This is achieved by re-routing the input voltage through the internal Automatic Voltage Regulating transformer, all without running off of the internal battery. The main advantage of this is that it helps to prolong the life of the battery and extends the operating range in which the UPS can operate online.
So, the bottom line is you do need this feature because it will make your battery last longer.
What is Surge Protection?
Definition:
The purpose of surge protection is to protect electronic devices from power surges or transient voltage. Surge power or transient voltage is a drastic increase in voltage which is significantly higher than the designated level in a flow of electricity.
As the previous blog post explained, we cannot avoid electricity surges. The key feature to look for is the absorption rating measured in joules. Absorption rating indicates how much excess voltage the surge protector can stop. The more joules the more protection, preferably 3000 or more.
What is UPS Protection?
A UPS port on the UPS unit combines the functions of surge protection and backup power. This means it protects your equipment from both sudden increases and decreases in power. When would this be important for you? Quite simply, any situation where a disruption in power would affect your business as a home worker remotely. Imagine how problematic even the briefest power outage would be if you were a remote worker holding a video conference. While you wait for modem, router and computer to restart you are wasting precious time and look unprofessional. Not a good impression!
Desktop computers, modems and router would therefore need to be plugged into UPS port. However, you would not plug in your printer; it would be better to use a surge protection only port.
What is Data Line Protection?
Definition: (From APC)
Protection of data lines (Ethernet, Coaxial and Phone lines) ensures complete protection of your equipment from surges. It is very important to protect your equipment from “back door” electric surges traveling through data lines, as they can be as damaging to your equipment as surges traveling over power lines.
This is another essential feature for the home worker. As a remote worker, by definition, you need to be almost constantly connected. The longer you are connected the more likely you are to be hit by a “backdoor” surge.
