I'm trying to put together a backup power system for our office and I need some guidance.
We frequently lose power for several hours at a time. I'm looking for a solution which would:
- Control power quality going into our devices (e.g. surges, voltage fluctuations etc.).
- During a power failure, allow us to continue working for several hours uninterrupted. Or, at the very least, allow our devices to be powered down safely.
On our LAN we have the following devices:
- 1 x 1U Rack Server
- 1 x Rack mounted 24-port network switch
- 1 x Rack mounted PBX
- 3 x Desktop Computers
- 3 x LCD Monitors
- 1 x DSL Modem
- 1 x Multifunction Router/NAT/Firewall device
I'm pretty clueless on this topic and I was hoping you folks could help me with my confusion:
How do I size a backup power device for our needs?
Does there exist a single backup power device which can support all these devices at once? Or, will we require several smaller units?
How do we scale our backup power system as we add more devices?
Does there exist a battery based solution which will allow us to work for several hours after a power outage? Or will we need to rely on a gasoline generator?
Do we need a UPS and an ATS? Can you use a UPS without an ATS?
Thanks!