An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is an electronic device which takes in and puts out "Street Power" (Electricity) from the power grid, and remains generally dormant. When power from the grid becomes weak (brown-out), spikes, differs in frequency or becomes unavailable, the UPS immediately starts supplying power from its reserve, so the attached devices continue to receive a steady flow of current. A UPS will often have nothing more than a rechargeable battery, which will supply DC power to a transformer which converts it into (synthetic) AC Power, which is then fed to the dependent device(s). This kind of UPS will often be smaller than a desktop computer, although they can be much larger. Larger, High-drain UPS devices will sometimes have a backup generator which will be started using the power from a small battery. That battery will also generally supply power (through a transformer) to the dependent devices while the generator starts up. Once the generator is running, it alone will supply pure AC Power until the UPS detects stable power from the main supply, the power grid. At this time it will switch over power to that main source, and power down the generator.[1]
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