A battery backup or uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a device which maintains a continuous supply of electric power to connected equipment by supplying power from a battery when utility power is not available. A UPS is inserted between the electrical outlet and the load which is to be protected. When a power failure or abnormality occurs, the UPS will effectively switch from utility power to battery power.

Additionally a UPS will protect equipment from a brownout by using its internal batteries to correct the drop in voltage and conversely when a power spike or surge is experienced the UPS "clamps" the excess voltage lessening the chance of electronic equipment damage. Finally battery backup systems protect against data corruption.    

A system that has been subjected to power damage will suffer from outright failure, erratic behavior, lost voice mail messages, and shortened equipment lifespan.

There are a few different levels of protection available:

Surge Protector
The minimum acceptable protection for systems. A quality surge protector protects against power surges and spikes, protecting equipment from excess voltage.

Line Conditioner
Line conditioners are recommended on larger systems and in areas that experience frequent power problems. Line conditioners offer a higher level of protection than the simple surge protector, protecting against power sags as well as surges.

Battery Backup
A complete battery backup system is the preferred method of protecting valuable electronic equipment. Fortunately, battery backup systems are relatively inexpensive insurance against potentially expensive damage to your equipment.

Battery backup comes in all different sizes and backup durations. Engineering a proper battery backup system needs to be approached on a worksheet type basis, adding the power consumption of each product to get a total power consumption figure.

DETERMINE YOUR NEEDS

The following three business decisions need to be made to determine your needs:

1. IMPORTANT DECISION! What is the actual purpose of the battery backup?

A. To keep the system(s) up just long enough to finish phone calls, retrieve voice mail messages and do orderly shutdowns of the system(s).
B. To keep the system(s) functional and continue to operate the business during a power failure.

2. What do you want to backup? Do you want the phone system only backed up or all peripheral devices too, including paging, voice mail, call accounting, etc.?

3. Are all the devices to be backed up located in the same general area? If not, separate battery backups will have to be provided for each area.