UPS Battery Backup Devices

UPS battery backup devices are highly recommended for use in your point of sale environment. At the very least you should have a UPS device installed on your computer that contains your RedTail data. It is not good practice to have your primary computer system essentially shutting down in the event of a power interruption or an outage. UPS devices maintain a steady flow of power even in situations where your are experiencing slight power interruptions, spikes and sags. The slightest power blip may result in your server or computer shutting down, leading to inconvenient restarts or even downtime resulting from a corrupt files from an inadvertent shut down.

UPS battery back-up are given a power rating in volt-amperes (VA) that range from 300 VA to 5,000 kVA. This rating represents the maximum load that a UPS can support, but it shouldn't match exactly the power load you have. Consult your local IT vendor for recommendations.

UPS devices not only keep your systems protected from power interruptions but also from damage to the electronics from power spike. By connecting the USB monitoring cable that comes with the UPS to your computer, automatic and graceful shut down can be configured if the power remains out for a period of time. A graceful shut down prevent data corruption and a quick returned to operations when power is restored. If budget permits, we recommend installing a UPS device to every PC that runs your RedTail POS and business management software.

UPS battery devices also have a rating for uptime - that is, how long the equipment can remain powered up without electricity. Typically, as models increase in price, so too does the uptime. However, there are a number of factors to consider when it comes to uptime. The number of devices drawing battery power plays a significant role in determining uptime. As well, battery devices contain receptacles for battery and receptacles just for surge protection. It therefore also depends on how you have your devices connected. For instance, typically we recommend plugging printer into surge only to reduce the draw on battery.