Electronics & Appliances Best Posts in Thread: Extended use UPS/Solar Batteries?

Sent them a message on Facebook, responded in about 15 minutes. For those wanting a whole house backup, their smallest system is 24v 2.4 kw. (much bigger than what I am looking for)

 

If you are just wanting to run your router and laptop the UPS I have now will do what you want. It is an APC 650 UPS I bought at Octagon upstairs in Robinson Mall. Have your laptop and router plugged into it, not only for brownouts but electrical line power fluctuations as it has a builtin AVR (automatic voltage regulator). When a brownout happens, unplug your laptop (no idea what your laptop draws to keep the battery charged but will shorten your UPS time whatever it is) and the UPS should run your router longer than your 4 hour laptop battery. Happy wife, surge protection and simple brownout strategy to keep your laptop on the internet.

 

Great links, Brian, thanks. If the outages get any longer than a few hours I will have to do something else but right now I just bought a rechargeable light and fan that comes on automatically and use a laptop. The laptop runs for almost 4 hours on its' own battery. The modem I have is a Globe wireless and it runs on 12 volts DC. I happened to have a plug that fit the Modem from a universal computer power supply I bought once. I just put a lead and clips on the plug and I can run the Globe modem on my motorcycle battery and have. The Modem will run on any 12 volt battery. The size of the battery determines how long. The Modem draws 1 Amp. If the motorcycle is running it will run the modem until it runs out of gas and then some. A motorcycle headlight draws more than 1 Amp. I could use a bigger deep cycle battery I suppose and recharge it a few hours a day. If things get worse I will have to drop back and punt. As it is, the only complaint is from the Asawa objecting to the motorcycle running in the bedroom. Maybe I should run the leads out the window.............. naaaaaaaaa.

 

A few links that may help, but reading, the one reply that made the most sense for me was; (adding to your current UPS)
Alternatives to a UPS would be a gas powered generator, windmill or solar electricity.

Make Your Computer UPS Last for Hours Instead of Minutes: 8 Steps

https://www.quora.com/Uninterruptible-Power-Systems-Can-I-use-UPS-for-5-6-hours

Affordable UPS to keep a rack running for about 12-24 hours?

 

Ahh yes, right there in front, on the floor, with stuff outside blocking the window, and inside under the lighting fixtures, behind the tables, next to the generators - how did I ever miss them??? 12v 100Ah for p10k, 12v 200Ah for p20k. Now based on other comments above, I need to make sure I won't burn up my UPS running it longer than designed for before I buy (probably would settle for the 100Ah one)...

 

Not just merely replacing the battery in my UPS, replacing the original 7Ah 12v battery with one that has 15 to 30 times the storage capacity. From small motorcycle battery to full size marine battery. The existing battery fits into a small corner of the UPS, I expect the new battery to be at least the same size as the entire UPS if not a little bigger. That's why I brought up Solar storage batteries, same size as a battery in a storage bank, maybe a golf cart battery would work? I am not sure