This means if your electrical panel is accessible from the outside of your house, the alarm could easily be disabled by an intruder flipping a breaker. Alarm System – The control unit for an alarm system will become deactivated in the event of a power outage unless you plan ahead.If you just need enough runtime to finish up a file transfer or save your work, a 750VA UPS should be sufficient for all but the largest NAS. Expect roughly 20W for the unit itself and about 10W per hard drive. Power draw is largely dependent on the number of disks. Network Attached Storage (NAS) – Storage devices from Synology, QNAP, Buffalo, and other common brands are designed to draw considerably less power than a file server would.The power draw of cameras is quite low at under 10W, so you can go with the smallest available UPS and still power a camera for an hour or more. Wireless Camera – First, make sure your other network equipment is protected from power outages so your connection stays online.Whether your modem and router are separate devices or combined, you can expect to be able to use them for nearly an hour with a low-capacity battery backup around 350VA to 425VA. Modem + Wireless Router – Internet service often will remain online during a power outage so long as you’re able to keep your network equipment powered up.The higher the power usage, the higher the VA/Watt number on the UPS you should look for. Too much math? To help pick a UPS size, I’ll group devices by how much electricity they draw. Or, if you’d like your equipment to stay powered up for 15+ minutes, select a UPS with a watt rating around 4 times that of your devices. Just enough to cover a power flicker or to allow you to shut equipment down properly in an extended outage. If you end up picking a UPS rated slightly above that number in watts, you’ll get a few minutes of runtime. If you’re up for doing some math, get a general idea of how many watts your equipment needs. Manufacturers list rated minimum run times on their spec pages, but due to different testing processes these aren’t always accurate. They vary from brand to brand, model to model. I wish run times were easy to tell just by looking at the watt ratings. Drop down to 1/4 or less of the watt rating, and you’ll end up with 20 minutes or more of run time. If the battery backup is running close to maximum load, you’ll only get a few minutes of time on battery power. Here’s a visual to make better sense of run times. Just how high of a wattage should you go with? That depends on just how much run time you think you’ll need. However, most people want their equipment to remain powered up for more than just a few minutes in a power outage.Īvoid going with a battery backup rated for “just enough” power. To be extra safe, you can do a little math and make sure the combined wattage is no more than 60% of the VA rating. If you buy a 500VA UPS and try to power a 1200VA device from it, it won’t stay powered up.Īs long as your devices have a combined wattage below that of the UPS, they can be powered. In the case of either rating, these numbers tell you the maximum load the battery backup can handle without shutting down. The Watt rating is easier to size by, but the VA rating is the one usually shown in product names and advertising. I’m convinced this is because the VA ratings are bigger numbers and so they look more impressive. UPS’s are often listed with their VA rating first and foremost. VA: This rating is probably less familiar for you. Every device in your home operates within a certain watt range and that can help you pick which UPS to go with. For instance, light bulbs have a watt rating – 60W for a standard incandescent bulb. Watts: You’re probably used to seeing Watt ratings on a number of household items. Bigger numbers mean more powerful batteries. You’ll see two ratings listed – Watts and VA (volt amperage). There are a lot of features separating different Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS’s). Quick Pick: CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD if you need plenty of power & run timeĪMAZON PRICE & REVIEWS Watts vs VA – Picking the Right Capacity In this guide, I’ll break down what to look for in a UPS and if you should go with APC or CyberPower. Over my years of working in IT, I’ve set up more battery backups than I can count. The power cuts out for only a second, but it’s going to take you minutes – if not hours – to get back what you were working on.
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