Computer Battery Backup
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Computer battery backup or UPS (uninterrupted power source) is absolutely essential for businesses and individuals whose very economic lives depend on information not being lost due to sudden power utility blackouts. Waiting for imminent emails that contain vital information and suddenly all power is gone may be, in some cases, a make or break situation. If this is a possibility for a person's situation, then very inexpensive computer battery backup units are available. For less than fifty dollars, a unit with its software can automatically logs and saves open files the instant a power failure occurs, and then shuts the computer down. The unit can provide between six and ten minutes of run time. Another unit, costing about one hundred and eighty dollars can provide 1500 volts of power and thirteen minutes of backup time. In most all battery backup systems, an alarm will sound when the unit goes into operational mode and when its own battery is failing.
Amazingly, because all of these units also act as surge protectors, these devices offer large dollar warranties for system damage, and while the warranties may have some caveats, there is still some impressive money for electronic failure offered by various manufacturers. Even the manufacturer of the forty six dollar unit offers thirty five thousand dollars for equipment damage if customers' gear is plugged into its unit and harmed. As the ups units get larger and more expensive, so do the capabilities and the amount of the equipment warranties. For a little over three hundred dollars, a battery backup systems unit can provide almost seven minutes of backup power for eight sources such business critical fileservers (Intel or UNIX based), minicomputers, network switches and hubs, Point of Sale, retail/bank back office and ATM's. That's enough time to have fast acting employees to save files and log out successfully. This particular unit offers a hundred and fifty thousand dollar warranty for equipment damage.
But what about home use? Is there an alternative to noisy, gasoline powered generators to run a few appliances or act as computer battery backup in case of a power outage? The answer is yes and some of these units, while perhaps more expensive than a good gas generator, offer some very good options for the consumer. These battery backup systems offer a clean and quiet way to have a computer and a lamp, or a small television and a refrigerator on for many hours. "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothes in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." (Revelation 3:5)
One particular company offers advanced battery backup systems that are, of course, more expensive but much more realistic in terms of usefulness. For about two hundred dollars, a four hundred watt UPS can provide laptop power for fifteen hours, a desktop for five hours, a lamp for nine hours and a 13 inch LCD television for about ten hours. A combination of small TV, cordless phone, radio and table lamp will run for four hours. A five hundred dollar eighteen hundred watt computer battery backup system or UPS can run a twenty inch television or computer and monitor or pellet stove or electric garage door opener or fridge or even electric gates for about four to five hours. A sixteen hundred dollar UPS unit that weighs over two hundred pounds when its batteries are installed can run a cordless phone, twenty inch LCD television, radio and desk lamp for fourteen hours, or a desktop computer for twenty six hours, or a wireless router and modem for two hundred and eight hours or a laptop computer for twenty five hours.
Is such an investment in battery backup systems worth the cost? How quickly does the reader's local utility service respond to outages in your area? What would a prolonged power outage mean in terms of livability or even survivability in the dead of winter in the Midwest or Northeast? Those fortunate to have relatives nearby or the means to obtain warm lodging at a motel or hotel are blessed and may not need to consider such a purchase. For others who may have medical conditions such as sleep apnea and respiratory ailments, the dependency on electrical units are extremely important. Going outside in knee deep snow to start and maintain a fossil fuel generator may not be a viable option. And what happens if there is a well from which water is drawn and there is no power?
As far as the need for computer battery backup goes, if everyone just backed up their work every so often during the day, there would be no problem, and granted, some software applications have provisions for doing that for the user, but there are other times when the ten minutes in between automatic software data saving moments that a flash of genius shows up. Perhaps it's with that song lyric or that album cover design or that special love letter crafted so carefully or any of a million other things that cannot be recreated no matter how hard we try. And the power is gone and the screen goes blank, and so does our genius or at least the inspiration and we can remember those words talking about a forty five dollar UPS and we wonder at what might have been.
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