What’s the difference between a UPS battery and regular battery backup? That’s a question we hear a lot. And truth be told, to folks who don’t pay close attention to this stuff, it’s an obvious question to ask.
Today, we’re going to clear up some of the confusion between the two and what makes them different. Let’s jump right in.
Breaking it all down
Power anomalies like power surges and sags are fairly common occurrences. Of course, that’s why we have things like UPS batteries and battery backup. These are important to have because these events can
- Be harmful to the internal components of your servers
- Corrupt operating systems
- Lead to the loss of unsaved data and hinder your work or even cause you to have to completely redo it
- Increase labor costs trying to repair these issues.
Both UPS and battery backup provide protection from these issues. That being said, there’s some key differences to point out.
For one, there’s a substantial difference in the process of filtering power. Things like brownouts, flickering power and power surges won’t always trigger a battery backup. UPS batteries on the other hand – will trigger; thus giving the user a consistent, uninterrupted power supply.
The other significant difference is that backup batteries usually run from a small single cell up to large battery room facilities in terms of their builds. UPS is classified into a few different categories as opposed to just size. Those three being Offline UPS, Line-Interactive UPS and Online UPS. Long story, short – backup batteries are based on size. UPS batteries are built more for need.
So which one should I choose?
If you’re in a small sized office or a home configuration – backup batteries will suit you just fine. The cost is lower and spending hundreds of dollars more on a UPS battery probably isn’t worth it in most cases.
That being said – in larger office configurations or any kind of business where your devices are mission-critical the UPS battery is the way to go. I’ll provide far more protection for outages, brownouts and other electrical issues and even though the up front cost will be higher, you’ll save money in the long run on replacement costs, maintenance, repair and the like.
At the end of the day – ‘you get what you pay for’ in a sense. Backup batteries are fine as low-cost, light lift situations; but if you’re running a big business where the function of your devices is critical to your business – then you should absolutely make the investment in a UPS Battery.
Hopefully this helps to bring the answer you’re looking for into a little bit clearer focus. If you’re looking to expand your server room or invest in a UPS power supply, feel free to give us a call and we’ll be happy to help. Until then, good luck!