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Eaton FAQs

Find answers to frequently asked questions

A surge protector provides just that—surge protection. In addition to surge protection, a UPS continually regulates incoming voltage and provides battery backup in the event of a power failure. You'll often see surge protectors plugged into a UPS for added surge protection and additional output receptacles.
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To allow for future expansion, we recommend that you install a UPS at approximately 75 percent capacity. In addition, the batteries degrade over time; by oversizing, you provide room for error. In the online Eaton UPS sizing tool, we’ve included a “capacity used” column.
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During an outage, you need enough battery runtime to gracefully shut down systems or switch to backup generators. You may add an optional external battery module (EBM) to increase runtime. For a UPS battery overview and factors affecting battery life, request a UPS Fundamentals Handbook.
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There can be a significant increase in runtime. Generally speaking, a UPS that provides five minutes at full load will provide 15 minutes at half load.
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Power problems are equal-opportunity threats. Your PCs, servers and network are just as critical to your business as a data center is to a large enterprise. Downtime is costly in terms of hardware and potential loss of goodwill, reputation and sales. Also add in the delays that inevitably occur when rebooting locked-up equipment, restoring damaged files and re-running processes that were interrupted. A sound power protection strategy is cost-effective insurance.
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Today’s high-tech IT equipment and control units are much more sensitive to electrical disturbances and are more important to the critical functions of many businesses than in the past. As a result, power quality problems today are more frequent and more costly than ever. Check out the nine power problems here.
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No. In many cases, disturbances can cause imperceptible damage to circuits and other components, a major cause of premature equipment failure and problems like computer lockups. Many power quality problems go unresolved, resulting in lost revenue and data.
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Power reliability is usually stated as a percent of time the power is available. For example, the power grid system in the U.S. provides three nines of reliability—the power is available for 99.9 percent of the time. Because those 8.8 hours of downtime translate into significant downtime and expense, IT and telephone network services require at least five nines of reliability.
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Fluctuating power is a waste of valuable time and money. If customers expose their telephone systems (and any other electronic equipment) to inconsistent utility power, they’re vulnerable to hardware and software damage, data corruption and communication breakdown. The time and cost of replacing equipment, as well as the business lost during breakdown and replacement, can greatly affect a company’s bottom line.
Reliability average Non-availability per year
99% 88 hours
99.9% 8.8 hours
99.99% 53 minutes
99.999% 5.3 minutes
99.9999% 32 seconds
99.99999%+ 3.2 seconds
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A generator will NOT protect your equipment against power problems. You need a UPS to guarantee that the equipment stays up until the generator kicks on and stabilizes—which often requires several minutes.
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Determine the total load (in watts) of the equipment you want to protect. Add 10–20 percent for future growth and decide the minimum amount of runtime you need. Use the online sizing tool to identify the right solution for your application.
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There are three typical levels :

  1. Lightning arrestors. Big and mean, usually found in large facilities located in high-risk areas. Takes an extremely high voltage and clamps it down.

  2. Surge Protective Devices (SPD or TVSS). Mounted on your panelboard or load center; sometimes larger UPS models may have some level of this, but typically not a great amount. Clamps voltage down two even lower tolerances (~1 kV or less).

  3. Local outlet level surge protector. A simple surge strip; small plug-and-play UPSs often have this as well. Brings voltage down to levels that will not permanently damage connected equipment (typically ~380V).

Lightning strikes have such an incredible amount of energy that only an expensive lightning arrestor would protect you from a direct hit and they often don't guarantee complete protection. For the best protection against lightning strikes, you want to develop a two-stage defense with something at your panel and something at the outlet level. Visit the Surge Protection Devices page for some informative videos and additional information.

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The UPS transfers the load to bypass (for a few minutes) until the overload condition is reversed. If the overload condition continues, some UPS models automatically shut down. Some models can run at 110V indefinitely in bypass.
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There are two possible answers: (1) the UPS was undersized (e.g., the load is rated at 1200 VA, but a 1000 VA UPS was provided), or (2) you plugged more equipment into the UPS than it was designed to handle.
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Only UPSs with power ratings up to 1500 VA plug into a standard 15A wall outlet. All others require a larger receptacle, which must be installed by an electrician. View our guide on input plugs and output receptacles.
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Although UPSs are typically rugged and reliable, they do require ongoing monitoring and support. Power management software continuously monitors and diagnoses the state of the grid, batteries and power sources, together with the condition of the UPS’s internal electronics. Eaton UPS software and connectivity cards enable remote monitoring and management capability, including graceful shutdown and load segment control.
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Yes, you can monitor your Eaton UPS with any UPS or facility management software that supports the industry standard Management Information Base (MIB, RFC 1628) as long as you install the optional connectivity card. Most UPS vendors support this MIB and all good facility management software, including OpenManage, OpenView and Tivoli also support it. Extended Eaton Advanced MIBs are available for greater levels of detail.

You can remotely control your Eaton UPS using the Eaton UPS management software or through a secure web interface if you choose the optional connectivity card, which also allows for automated email alerts for power events without needing to install any software.

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When a data center goes down and then back up during a power outage without a managed shut down, it doesn't come up nicely. Storage arrays initialize after servers that try to mount their shares, while some servers boot without access to DNS servers that are also booting and thus have other problems. Although the outage was short, it can take hours to get everything back online. In addition, data corruption is a serious concern.
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Contact your territory representative or call the Eaton UPS hotline at 1-800-356-5794 for pre-sales support and 1-800-356-5737 for technical support. You can also visit our Contact Us page.
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Often a 42U enclosure—which is the most common—is not required. Smaller options such as 25U, 30U or 36U will provide more than enough rack mounting space for servers, UPSs, rack PDUs, switches and other equipment. The smaller options enable you to use the space on top for monitors or other equipment. Features such as perforated doors, adjustable rails, locks and casters are still available in these sizes. Wall mount enclosures can also be considered when a full-height rack or enclosure isn’t necessary.
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A good rule of thumb is four feet of space, front and back, from the wall. Fire codes require three-foot walkways, but four feet will allow you to wheel a cart in the room safely and reduce human error overall. In the future, if you have equipment to install, you may need two people in the space at a time lifting, and you want enough space to comfortably get the work done. Otherwise, your rack location will be determined by your unique space. It needs to be in a place that has the appropriate electrical requirements and ample space to run corresponding data and power cables.
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Ideally, your racks and enclosures should be side by side and can be bolted together. This is often called baying or ganging, and it allows you to maximize floor space and be more efficient while servicing the equipment stored in them. Remember, space is an invaluable resource in IT!
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Velcro straps for data and power cables and labels are the easiest and most affordable way to organize your racks, at a base level, and will likely have the biggest impact from an access and service standpoint.
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You can run cables horizontally between racks, but you must ensure you’re using the appropriate cable management devices to do so. If you simply run cables directly across—rather than up the side of the rack or enclosure to horizontal cable management devices—it will cause problems for you when you go to change out or service equipment as well as if you need to move a rack or enclosure.
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Breakers protect against excess current and should be part of every electrical circuit. For systems used in homes and most industrial and commercial facilities there are three main types: single pole, double pole and three pole breakers.
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A circuit breaker prevents excess current flowing through a cable. This can happen if the attached devices draw too much power or there's a short circuit. Both conditions can cause overheating and electrical fires.

Circuit breakers operate when the current exceeds the design limit. Once the problem is resolved the breaker can be turned back on. To know more about Eaton range of circuit breakers click here .

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Domestic appliances other than driers and ranges run on 120VAC (Volts of Alternating Current). Electricity comes through a two-wire system consisting of one hot wire and one neutral wire.  Per current National Electric Code (NEC) requirements (Article 404) all new switches will have a green ground screw for a ground connection to be made.

Wires in domestic installations are sized to handle up to 20 amps, however, as driers and ranges need more power than can be delivered over a single wire, they get a 240VAC supply. This uses four wires, two hot wires plus a neutral and ground. Each hot wire delivers 120VAC with reference to the neutral. Learn more about how a 240VAC power supply works here.

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For 20 amp 120VAC circuits, a single pole circuit breaker has terminals for three wires. With two hot wires, a 240VAC circuit can handle up to 60 amps. Each wire needs a separate breaker, but if one is operated the other must cut its circuit too, otherwise one wire is still carrying current. This is the role of a double pole breaker. A double pole breaker has four terminals and is twice the width of a single pole breaker.
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Factories, workshops and commercial facilities, often have a 3-phase electrical supply.  Three pole circuit breakers deliver 480VAC through three hot wires. Consequently, the breaker needs three separate switches that will work together when needed. It's effectively three single pole breakers bound together. With connections for five wires, it’s three times the width of the single pole breaker.
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Circuit breakers are essential in every electrical circuit. Remember to always use caution when dealing with electricity and turn off the breaker before starting any electrical work. And be sure to use the correct type of breaker for the electrical circuit.
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Customers often ask us to explain the difference between a surge protector and an

Uninterruptable Power System (UPS) and which device is better suited for their environment.

The fact is that neither UPS nor Surge Protection Devices (SPD)  alone will provide complete protection for commercial systems. The most effective installation is ensured by utilizing a combination of both forms of power conditioning.

Surge protectors (or suppressors) provide just that: a line of defense against surges, which are short-term high voltages above 110 percent of nominal. They are often associated with lightning strikes and utility switching, but in fact 80% of surges originate inside a facility. These occur due to electrical switching or other disturbances created by various devices within the building. Regardless of the source, the increased voltage from surges can damage the components of electrical systems such as computers, networks, and process control equipment. 

Even if nothing is immediately destroyed, over time the increased strain can cause premature failure of expensive components. It’s important to note that surge protection will not keep your equipment operational during a blackout, but damaging surges occur much more frequently than power outages. A properly designed backup power system should always incorporate a cascaded approach to applying surge protection (i.e. a two layered approach) working in conjunction with a UPS. The first surge unit, (upstream SPD) mitigates the brunt of the surge energy while the second unit (the UPS) reduces any remaining surge energy to an inconsequential level.

A UPS delivers second-level protection against surges; it should never be considered a primary surge protection device. It also continually regulates incoming voltage and provides an internal battery that allows connected equipment to continue running even if the power supply is cut. In order for your electronic devices to continue to function even if power is unavailable, you need a UPS, and often a backup generator. 

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Surge protection should be installed on the utility side of your UPS, ideally on the bypass line. This provides the following modes of protection:

  1. Greatly extends the life of the surge protection components in your UPS
  2. Provides surge protection for your load when the UPS is off line for maintenance

Surge protection installed on the utility side of a UPS will also help protect the UPS. A dramatic surge event, such as a lightning strike can be associated with over 20KV and 5kA. The typical let-through voltage of a surge device (UPS included) when subjected to this level of surge event would be roughly 2000V, which is still high enough to cause equipment damage. To eliminate this we install an upstream unit and allow the UPS to mitigate the effects of the remaining surge energy, i.e. driving the final let-through voltage down to around 200V which is well below the point that would cause damage. 

Additionally, it may be wise to install an SPD between the UPS output and the load distribution system. This is especially true if the load panel is located a long distance from the UPS. The more distance, the better likelihood that an internally generated surge could impact the load.

So which form of power protection is best suited for your environment? The answer is, both. Critical servers, workstations, PCs, POS and VoIP equipment, and other key business devices are protected by attaching a UPS, ensuring they are able to function in the event of a power outage and, if needed, shut down cleanly if power remains out for an extended period of time. Surge devices are required as well, to protect both critical equipment, and even the UPS itself.

For further explanation of common power-related questions, check out our UPS FAQ page. 

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Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re accelerating the planet’s transition to renewable energy and helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges.
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