UPS Buying Guide [Pakistan Focused]

The issue of UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) has already been discussed here before, but we thought of adding more information to what we had already said.

Market dynamism and product innovation always fill the stores with improved and new versions of various products every now and then. Anyways, this dynamism does not change some of the basic principles that may be important to consider before purchasing inverter with Backup Battery. We will try to cover some of new salient points in this article post.

The usual trend prevalent in market regarding UPS offer is like, 2 Energy Savors and 2 Fans (May be 0.5 KVA UPS required) and list goes on and on in combinations of energy savors and fans.

Planning & Installation:

• Place of installation is extremely vital and logically installation of UPS should be placed near to the place of Main Switch board – it will help you get the main supply into UPS and output from UPS to home appliances easily. [May be you need an electrician to fix the wiring for you, in case you are not good at it]
• Make sure the place where UPS is installed is clear of barriers of any time and proper ventilation is available.
• Make a list of the electrical equipment that you will connect to the UPS – and make sure you communicate this list clearly to the electrician to avoid any confusion later on.
• If possible, calculate watts consumption by electrical equipment, this can be done by referring manuals of electrical equipments. Power Management Expert may be consulted in case manuals are not available.
• For calculation basic formulas can also be used like : (VA)Watts = Volts x Amps

UPS Purchasing Pattern:

• If planning and calculation is done, then next step is to research the complete Electronic UPS market for prices, quality and warranty. You will notice that price difference could be a factor depending upon the UPS quality and brands.
• Consider parts replacement and service warranty in UPS with warranty offers. Also compare UPS of different brands.
• Quality of UPS can be determined by its make, heat dissipation and parts used during the development of the UPS. For this, you may have to refer manual or probe to seller.
• Keep notice of Battery Recharge time.
• Check if UPS is capable of alarms and LEDs (small screen showing information about UPS and battery health) that indicate battery low or wiring issues (if any).
• If you are purchasing a local brand, then make sure the seller will give you 2 days money back warranty – in case of bad backup time or any other problem.
• In case of local made UPS, make sure that you learn the wiring pattern, i.e. to connect red wire with positive terminal of battery and black with negative terminal of battery. Get these instructions in-written form from the seller – and practice them only after consulting the written instructions.

Battery:

• Same it goes, with the battery unit. Please note down a simple formula, the higher the amperes the longer the back up time. Like, if you purchase 150 ampere battery on 1 KVA UPS, it may give you 3-4 hours of backup time on 4 savors and 2 fans. Provided battery is new and battery condition is reasonably good – this backup time will reduce to half if battery power is 75 ampere.
• Once you purchased the battery, inquire about its charging status. If it is fully charged then install it with UPS and avail the facility. But if it is not charged, then get it charged for few hours from the same outlet or in home [usually 3-5 hours of charging is enough]. But battery must be completely charged before connecting with UPS. Otherwise it will not be able to provide its performance and chances of dead Battery Cell may arise as well.
• Place the battery in well ventilated environment to avoid any unforeseen situation.
• Try to buy fresh battery instead of old, inquire about battery date from seller or you can do it yourself as well if you know the trick. The date is defined by 2 digit code with one number and one letter. For example, c8, this may mean Mar 2008.
• If you are buying local batteries, you can also check their details on their OEM websites. Like, for example, Volta Batteries have complete detail about their products on their website even separate for UPS.
• Buy a car battery with high reserve capacity.

Conclusion:

If UPS is completely installed , it needs your attention for checking its indicator and information on LED screen if not daily then may be every second day to check battery charge status, wiring status and some other options depends on the UPS features.

Disclaimer: Please note that the Websites mentioned in the articles are only for citing references and mentioned in good faith without any commercial interest involved. Author is not responsible for any purchase / sale /exchange/loss/Price Quotation/ decision made or any damage done during the process.