Is Battery Backup Worth It?

Should you have a battery backup? I feel the answer to this is yes.

A few weeks ago as I was typing away on one of my blog posts my power flashed. I believe it was my post on choosing a printer (http://opiescomputers.com/choosing-printers-simplified/). Having the power flash isn’t a horrible thing to have happen, but some technology equipment doesn’t like the quick and drastic loss of power.

Even though all of my computers are laptops and have their own built-in batteries, I lost some of what I was doing with my blog post. This was because I lost power on my docking station and monitors and things didn’t recover like I would have hoped. A hard reset was the only recovery.

Had there been proper battery backup on the vital components, I would have been fine. Not a big deal. I lost maybe 5 minutes of typing. Not the end of the world, but an irritation to say the least.

Battery backups, or UPS (uninterruptible power supply – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply) are just that. They are a giant battery that can give a certain amount of time on battery power. Basically enough time to be able to save work, close programs and shut things down properly before the power drops for good.

A lot of battery backup units can also clean power and suppress surges. Which is always a good thing when dealing with delicate electronic equipment.

All of this happened with a battery backup unit under my desk that I wasn’t utilizing. The battery was dead and I decided not to replace it. Well, the batteries have since been pulled and replaced. I have also bought a second unit to protect my printers in case this happens again. And it will… whether it be storms, accidents, or what have you, power can be unexpectedly lost at any time.

When looking at a battery backup unit, look at the devices that you will be hanging off of the battery. Don’t overload the unit by connecting too many devices that draw too much power. The UPS units are rated to provide a certain amount of uptime once line power is lost, but that is greatly affected as more and more devices are connected.

Carefully evaluate whether or not a device truly needs to have a battery backup. Things you should consider putting on backup:

• Computers
• Servers
• Printers

 
Things that could probably be left off of battery backup:

• Monitors
• Phones
• Lights

 
One of the downsides is that the batteries in the units do need to be replaced. They can last as long as a few years or as little as one year. It really depends upon how often they are used and the amount of load put on the unit.

Replacement batteries for most units can be purchased from Batteries + Bulbs (https://www.batteriesplus.com/). That is if you want to see them in person. If you don’t need to see that, you can get them somewhat cheaper from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/) or other online retailers.

It is a personal preference call whether or not you decide to use a battery backup. But it can save time by not losing work in progress. It can save money by protecting sometimes fragile technology hardware. And it can give you peace of mind in knowing that your data and hardware are protected.

If you have additional questions that I didn’t cover here or want help selecting or purchasing a UPS, let me know. I would be happy to help!