How to Choose a UPS?
Buying a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) is like buying insurance—you shouldn't just pick the cheapest one; the most important thing is that it's "sufficient and suitable for the job."
Step 1: Calculate Your Required Power Capacity
The output power of the UPS must be greater than the total power consumption of all your connected devices.
1. Find the "power consumption" of each device**: Usually on the label on the back of the device, look for "Watts (W)" or "Volt-Amps (VA)". If only VA is listed, you can roughly multiply by 0.6 to estimate the Wattage.
2. Add them up and leave headroom: Sum the Wattage of all devices. To allow for future upgrades and ensure the UPS doesn't run at full load all the time (for better durability), it's recommended to increase the total sum by about 30%.
For example: Your gaming PC (350W) + two monitors (50W each) + router and NAS (30W) totals about 480W. Adding 30% headroom means you need a UPS that can support a load of about 625W. The corresponding VA rating would typically be in the range of 1000VA to 1500VA.
Step 2: What Level of Protection Do You Need?
UPS units on the market are mainly divided into three types, with protection levels and prices increasing from low to high:
* Standby UPS: The most economical, suitable for providing basic power outage protection for home computers and routers, giving you time to save files and shut down.
* Line-Interactive UPS: In addition to backup power, it has a built-in "Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR)" function that can automatically adjust for unstable voltage (such as voltage sags).
* Online UPS: Provides the highest level of pure, uninterrupted power, but is more expensive, consumes more power, and has fan noise. Primarily used to protect critical equipment like servers and precision instruments.
Step 3: Pay Attention to Other Practical Details
1. Output Waveform: Be sure to choose a model with a "Pure Sine Wave" output. This is crucial for protecting high-end computers, NAS devices, or medical equipment, as it ensures clean and stable power quality.
2. Management Features: Does it have an LCD screen for an at-a-glance status view? Can it connect to a computer to configure automatic safe shutdown and file saving during a power outage? These features add great convenience.
Summary: A "Find-Your-Match" Buying Guide
* If your mindset is "I want the most cost-effective option, just enough to last a few minutes to shut down": Then, after determining the required power, choose a Standby UPS—it's sufficient for providing basic protection.
* If your mindset is "I don't want any hassle, I'm investing in a one-stop solution to protect my valuable equipment and data": Then it is strongly recommended to invest in a Lithium Battery UPS. Its core advantages of long lifespan, space-saving design, and fast recharge make it a smarter, more worry-free choice in the long run for protecting your NAS, design workstation, or home office setup, fully justifying its price.
* If you are protecting "mission-critical servers or equipment where failure is not an option": Then directly consider an Online architecture and prioritize pairing it with a Lithium battery to obtain the highest level of power purification and backup reliability.