Working from home and worried about frequent power outages?

Investing in a good UPS for your home office can make a great difference if you’re losing your work or productivity because of frequent power issues.

Now that working from home has become the new norm, power issues are soon going to be obsolete as an excuse for not meeting your deadlines. A lot of companies are also reimbursing their employees for setting up their home office with a desk, monitor, UPS unit and other accessories essential for a comfortable WFH experience.

Keeping that in mind, it is obviously a wise investment to buy the best backup that can fit your budget, to keep your power hungry devices, your router or even your server working smoothly. To keep small devices to a whole mid-sized office running, here’s a list of 5 best UPS systems in no particular order.

1. CyberPower CP1500EPFCLCD

This would be an ideal UPS to provide backup for a small-sized home office during WFH. It comes with an optimal amount of outlet ports, as well as USB (type A and C) for your phone or other USB powered devices. It also has an RJ port for your modem/telephone to be surge protected.

The system has a total of 12 electrical outlets, 6 of which are surge plus electricity protected while the rest are just surge protected. The hardware is well built to accommodate the big plugs (transformer plugs) as well as the regular ones. The plugs are all surge protected to 1445 joules, even the in and out RJ ports.

It also comes with cleaner output for sensitive devices which significantly reduces the chances for any sort of data loss and takes care of the device’s battery health. The overall capacity is 1500 VA/1000 W, and the batteries provide a runtime of 2.5 minutes under full load or 10 minutes under half load in the event of a power outage.

Pros:

1. LCD Display
2. USB Port
3. RJ Port
4. 12 outlets
5. Remote management (optional)
6. Energy certified

Cons:

1. Only 1 type of each USB
2. Only 6 power backed up ports

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2. APC Back-UPS ES 700

This power saving device is a large battery with 8 sockets, for you to protect your PC. The APC ES700 is not built to keep your home office running during a power cut when you’re working from home, but rather to save your work when one happens and safely shut your device down without losing any data.

The ES700 is the new model with the concept of a master-slave concept for saving power. When your PC draws more than a threshold of power from the master socket, the slave sockets turn on. This mechanism is safer and improves the life of your device.

Pros:

1. Easily portable
2. Saves power
3. LED lights
4. 8 port system
5. Affordable

Cons:

1. Only 3-9 minute battery backup
2. 4 power backed up ports
3. Long charge time
4. Not feature-rich

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3.  APC UPS 600VA BE600M1

The APC BE500M1 is a great power backup system for an average home office. This system will keep alive your work from home setup for a long time during power outages. It comes with a great battery life and 7 outlets with good power efficiency. Its light and small design makes it portable and easy for a home environment. The battery will run for ~4 hours on a 10W usage and ~1 hour at a 60W usage.  This UPS would be optimum for a home router, a laptop or a desktop. Although, to support a larger array of equipment, it might be best to look elsewhere.

Pros:

1. Abundant power for home office
2. Portable
3. LCD support
4. 5 battery backed up ports
5. Energy star certified
6. USB
7. Software support

Cons:

1. No RJ support
2. Only 7 total ports

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4. AmazonBasics Standby UPS 800VA 450W

Amazon’s lineup of affordable daily use products have been a big hit with consumers. The AmazonBasics standby UPS is optimal for a small home office setup and can power a variety of equipment that you typically have in such a setup. Not only is it a good power backup for your devices, it also showcases great power efficiency which can reduce energy usage by up to 55%.

The AmazonBasics 12-outlet uninterruptible power supply supports up to a rated 450 watts of attached equipment, which it can provide with enough battery power to run a tower computer system, monitor, and peripherals for about 3 to 10 minutes. This delay lets a computer shut down automatically using built-in features in the operating systems or software provided for macOS and Windows if electrical power isn’t restored quickly enough.

Pros:

1. Sufficient time for safe shutdown of most computer systems
2. Good outlet-spacing
3. Includes monitoring and management software

Cons:

1. Competing devices at same price and better capacity are available
2. Only offers 1-year warranty

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5. CyberPower PR3000LCD

The CyberPower PR3000LCD UPS is for those who need to keep several power hungry devices running for long stretches of power outages. It is even capable of running a small office. It has a 3000 VA utility that provides reliable power backup for servers, routers and large computer peripherals. It connects to your devices within 4ms in case of a power outage and keeps them running smoothly. It also uses AVR technology to protect your equipment against a power surge or fluctuation.

As an added advantage, the flexible design of the UPS allows it to be configured as a self standing tower or to be rack mounted. It’s existence will not hinder your office setup aesthetics.

Pros:

1. Great for office use
2. Excellent power efficiency
3. Extremely low switch time
4. 10 power outlet
5. USB Support
6. Remote management

Cons:

1. Only 2 year warranty
2. Slightly expensive for home use cases

Buy on Amazon

So, that was our compilation of the best UPS systems for work from home in 2020.  A good UPS should be able to switch from the power source to its battery and save your day. Not just that, in fact it should be able to provide a decent backup duration, and recharge itself quickly. A power outage can be a catastrophic event that could mean data and productivity loss now that we’re working from home. Having a decent power backup solution will save you from these worries.