The gaming community has exploded from an imaginative band of digital adventurers in the early ‘80s to a burgeoning populace of avid gamers in the 2000s connecting across the globe on consoles like the early XBOX and Playstation. Gaming consoles require a steady stream of power to operate and can be adversely affected by power outages.
If you have been in an online confrontation brought to a dramatic conclusion due to a power outage, your game rank may not be the only thing to suffer a loss. In the following article, we will take a closer look at how power outages can harm your gaming console and why you need a voltage stabiliser.
Power outages and Gaming Consoles
Whether you are gaming on a Playstation, XBOX, Nintendo, or any other gaming system that draws power from the mains, a power outage can spell disaster for the various components inside the device. An outage can interrupt the vital stream of data flowing to and from the processing unit, it can damage the motherboard, and in the worst-case, a power outage can leave your console inoperable. You can tell your console has been damaged if it has performance issues or fails to start up together.
The dangers are real and the potential for disaster is high. So, let’s take a look at some of the ways gamers can protect their important consoles from the damages caused by power outages.
How to Protect a Console from Power Outages
An Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) is the first and foremost way to protect your console from being damaged by a power outage. A UPS is a device that provides emergency power in the event that the main power lines suddenly go dead.
A UPS functions differently from other options like emergency generators and emergency backup power. At the most, you will get 3 to 4 minutes of power. This is more than enough to shut down your console properly and protect it from damage. Maybe enough to save your game or finish your round.
The power provided comes from flywheels, supercapacitors, and a battery array. You can find a wide variety of options available from the best manufacturers online and at physical locations.
I recommend that you examine the selection available at Amazon. Not only is the selection extensive, but the delivery is reliable. Amazon also has a convenient way of comparing products so that saves time and effort.
Here are some of the options that I found online that stood out to me. Be sure to check the specifications of the options you choose to get the best match to your specific needs.
APC UPS
This is by far the UPS product I believe has the best service to the widest range of users, and it’s available (on Amazon). It is manufactured by a reliable APC company. If you are looking for a quality product that will provide impressive protection for your console in case of power outages, this is the one for you.
It uses a standard USB1 connection to charge and weighs a mere 7.5lbs. This 600 VA APC UPS costs only $64.37 and is, therefore, a considerably cost-effective choice. With UPS devices, the prices also increase as the voltage increases. For a voltage stabiliser
CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD
This CyberPower model, which is also found on Amazon, is another excellent option to consider. Like the APC UPS, it offers excellent protection for your console. It comes in conservative black and weighs 25-pounds. But it is also capable of 1500VA/900W and costs $161.95. It is important to note that if you want the UPS to operate optimally, it has to be large enough to support all devices — like the TV unless you can shut your console down without visual support.
It is important to calculate all the devices you will be plugging into your UPS and make sure it has a capacity a little bit over the total power you need — the total WATTAGE you need. Those UPS with higher capacity hold the greater flow of electricity, measured in Volt Amperes (VA).
How Do Power Surges Work?
Power surges happen where there is an interruption in the flow of electrons, and then the power is quickly restored. They can also happen for a variety of other anomalies in the observable flow of electrons.
Internal Power Surges — Many power surges occur when the various appliances shut on and off throughout the door and disrupt the flow of electrons flowing through circuits. If you have a very old fridge in your home, you may notice the lights flicker off and very brightly when the compressor motor flicks on and off. Hairdryers can do this as well — that’s a power surge in real-time.
External Power Surges — then there can be power surges for a variety of external causes but they are generally much less common and far more disastrous. This could be caused by a large animal, typically a bird or fruit bat, becoming entangled in the power lines or a tree limb falling across two high tension power cables.
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