This important function is triggered by internal pressure sensors, and - like most aspects of VRLA cell types - performs best when the battery is kept in a dry, temperature-controlled environment, such as an average centrally-heated room in a home or office.
The ‘VR’ in VRLA stands for valve-regulated, referring to the fact that VRLA batteries have built-in, automatically operated vent systems for controlling the release of gradual gas buildup at certain points in the battery charge-drain cycle. VRLA or lead-acid batteries tend to be fairly low-maintenance and are generally viewed as basic, reliable UPS power supply workhorses with a typical 5-year lifespan. Traditionally, this will most often be a lead-acid (VRLA) battery, but ongoing developments in lithium-ion technology also mean that Li-ion cells are now becoming increasingly widespread components at the heart of modern UPS systems. Depending on the specifics of its intended usage environment and its overall power capacity, the average home or office UPS battery backup is typically a relatively small and compact ‘smart’ unit, built around a high-drain rechargeable power cell.
UPS power supplies generally sit between the mains wall socket and the computer being powered, plugged into each via separate cables. We’ll also explore some of the various types of UPS power supplies available on today’s market, to help you decide which sorts to focus on when looking to make a UPS purchase.Ī quick note on naming conventions: in the context of tech hardware, the acronym UPS actually stands for uninterruptible power supply, and so technically the phrase ‘UPS power supply’ is a handy example of RAS syndrome (along with ‘PIN number’ and ‘LCD display’)! However, it remains a very commonly used term among customers and suppliers alike, and so for the purposes of this guide, we’ll use both the standalone acronym and the longer version interchangeably. In this guide to UPS battery systems, we’ll examine exactly what it is a UPS does, and how they help to protect expensive and delicate high-end computer components from the potentially damaging effects of sudden mains power failures, electrical surges and other causes of unexpected shutdowns. In these sorts of scenarios, uninterruptible power supplies offer computer users additional peace of mind and an extra level of safety for both their hardware and their data,
UPS units are becoming increasingly popular as add-on peripherals found in home and work PC setups, server and network environments, and in many other hardware-critical computing applications. A quality UPS system is designed to protect them (and the data they rely on) in the event of a blackout, mains surge, or other atypical power events. PCs are filled with valuable but delicate hardware components that are often vulnerable to damage caused by sudden loss of power. The core role that any UPS power supply aims to perform is that of a secondary power source - effectively an on-demand, instant-switch battery backup - for computers and other memory-based tech hardware.