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[|DRC| Wartex]

UPS - Uninterruptible power supply.

Something I started thinking about after we had a huge storm and power was out for 2 days... here are some tips, if you already have one:

Batteries inside the UPS have a very short life. Half of UPS's have battery capacity reduced to critical low within 14 month, however they still pass the internal test and do not indicate a problem. The reason for capacity depletion is - drying or sulphating. Each battery is supposed to retain 80% of it's capacity after up to 200 charge/discharge cycles. When capacity falls below 80%, it is considered battery is expired.

A lot of people make a mistake of unplugging the UPS when they leave the house/office for an extended period of time. 1 month of being unplugged causes hermetic batteries to sulphate and lose capacity.

Another factor that affects battery life is the ambient temperature. Batterty life almost exponentially depends on temperature. High temperatures cause "dehydration" and low cause sulphating. Best temperature is about 20 C or 68 F.

Laser printers contain a drum preheater, that causes intense current spikes which are bad for PSU's internal power circuitry. Never plaug a laser printer, or even worse - a coffeee maker or an iron into your UPS when power is out.

If you don't have a UPS now, get one. It saves a lot of frustration when power cuts off or spikes or brownouts cause computer to shut down or restart unexpectedly. If you have money, get a small diesel generator too, there most likelt will be a moment in your life when you will need it more than food or water (I hope it never happens).
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