Although frequently overlooked it is important to know the condition of the batteries in a uninterruptible power supply (UPS). These batteries usually have a 3-5-year lifespan but a regularly used system will have a shorter lifespan. Research has shown that 65% of IT directors have experienced outages due to UPS battery failure and this is commonly due to the UPS batteries not charging.
We recommend wherever possible that your UPS is monitored, this can be done locally or remotely. Alerts can be sent to inform you of events or when a battery change is due to help you maintain the resilience that you require. In addition to this there are also various software packages that can automatically shut down servers in the event of a power outage.
Having a properly functioning UPS system is essential if you want to ensure the smooth running of your IT systems and other parts of your business. The UPS will immediately provide backup power during power failure to keep your business running; can bridge the power gap until a standby generator is synchronised; will protect against brownouts, power spikes, voltage dips, fluctuations and complete power failures; will shut down a computer or server in an orderly manner and reduce downtime costs and protect critical equipment.
Monitoring your UPS system will allow you to respond quickly if action is needed; means you will be alerted when the battery isn’t performing at full capacity and requires maintenance and can extend the life of the battery with temperature monitoring so the best performance of your UPS is achieved.
At the same time monitoring your UPS will optimise energy efficiency, reduce your energy costs and ensure costly IT downtime is prevented. If you want to know more about the UPS requirements you need for your business why not use APC’s UPS calculator?
Ecl-ips are experts in all aspects of data centre and server room monitoring so if you need advice contact us.