So a ups

[Shotgun84]

So my power's gone out a couple of times in the last year for 2 to 3 hours. It always happened at the worst time when my phone was running low on juice, so was kinda sat like a lemon waiting for it to come back on. I've had a bit of warning this time that they're doing work on my power lines so the electric will be off for 8 hours for one evening next week, so bought myself a ups. I'm not expecting it to power my TV or anything, I just want it to power my router so I can watch things on my tab. It's still charging so haven't been able to test it out but am I right in thinking amps makes more difference to power consumption than watts? Never been able to find the capacity of the batteries online but I think it's a 7-9ah. The box says it'll run an entry desktop, 22"monitor and modem which is 40 watts for 80 minutes. I'm guessing 2 of those run at 1 amp each. I've done my maths on my router and it's 46 watts. So will my router run the ups down in less then 80 minutes even though it's only 0.2 amps?

 

[The_Chief]

Well, amps are simply a measurement of the current flow - the wattage is the actual power rating. I try to never exceed 70% of my UPS' power capacity... of course, the lower the amps, the less power the equipment draws. Ohm's Law, baby...

 

[TRS-80]

Not really. 420mA x 110V = 46 watts.

OP, one thing to remember, the deeper you discharge a battery, the more you are shortening it's life. Even with so-called "deep cycle" batteries that are made for that application (as UPS batteries are). See if you can find some discharge specs, especially duty cycle count or whatever.

No phone with a hotspot? If you had something like that, you could run everything off one of those battery packs like from ANKER. Just another thought / option.

 

[lunatic59]

@Shotgun84 didn't your UPS come with a monitoring app for your PC? I think most of them do offer some free application that will let you run a calibration cycle to determine load capacity/time to discharge. Just plug your router only into the outlet that provides battery backup and your PC into the surge-only outlet and there's a UPC cord so the app can gracefully shut the PC down if there is a prolonged power outage.

 

[svim]

At least the way I'm reading it, s/he's not trying to power a PC. All s/he wants to do is power his/her router and then surf on a tablet...

That's what I was reading into it also. And yeah, that 46W does seem a bit excessive. Just to add the mix of other comments, I have an Arris modem and Netgear router, and together they use about 13W.

+1 for Kill A Watt. Picked one up a few years ago and still use it frequently. Obsessively like to check not just how much power my computer stuff uses but the refrigerator, floor fan, rice cooker, oven, TV, etc., etc.

 

[lunatic59]

At least the way I'm reading it ...

Which is why I told him to plug into the surge-only outlet. It doesn't draw from the battery. I am assuming he's picked up a consumer grade UPS which will have both a surge-only side and a battery powered side. The PC could easily be plugged into the wall, too. The connection between the PC and UPS for the monitoring application is handled by the USB cable and only reads the load on the battery, not what is connected to it.

Remember too that in addition to the external load on the battery is the internal circuitry of the UPS itself, so even if the math works out to 4 hours, he might only see 2. That's why I suggested using the calibration utility for a more accurate idea of time on battery.

 

[lunatic59]

I'll do it for $1,200.00

 

[Shotgun84]

Thanks for the replies. All's good. It ran my router for 5 hours and I think I had a little left to charge my phone or tab so it's more than enough for my needs. Haven't had a power cut since I've had it except the planned outage though. I guess it's better to have it and not need it than not have it and do need it though

 

[TRS-80]

Exactly the reason we buy insurance anyway...

I only buy insurance because it's required by law! So much for our much vaunted "free market!"

I finally picked up a Kill A Watt myself recently! I had always wanted one, for years now. They are a lot cheaper now then they used to be!

 

[psionandy]

A little off topic.. but insurance is essentially the buying and selling of risk. The ultimate expression of the free market.

 

[TRS-80]

A little off topic.. but insurance is essentially the buying and selling of risk. The ultimate expression of the free market.

I think you may have missed the part where I said "required by law" which compels you, ultimately, through the use of force, thereby completely eliminating the "free" part of "free market!"

 

[psionandy]

/Off topic start

You missed out the bit where you said YOU ONLY BUY IT because its required by law... and then made a comment about your "much vaunted free market"....

Thus implying that insurance is by its very nature is against the free market.

If that wasn't what you meant by your choice of words.. then i'm sorry for the confusion they caused...


/Off topic end


now back onto the subject of UPS and routers...

 

[Astr4y4L]

well For about $60 USD I put together a Power supply kit running my PC, a T.V, Charging A phone, and cooking on a hot plate...

( For taking my Stuff With Me Camping --- i know laugh if you want but I gotta be connected)

I used an Approx. $30 Jump-Start box ( for jump starting a car )

and a 200 Watt Dc to Ac inverter (used to run Power-tools from the Battery of a work truck )
a back pack ,
a powerstrip
and a short extension cord (to plug it in to charge it with out pulling it all out the back-pack )

basically I took the Big black wire from the inverter and clipped the big black clamp from the jump-box on it , with a little electric tape to cover it
and the red wire to the red clamp and tape it.
turn the jump box to START
and the inverter comes right on...

it powered the T.V, a Desktop P.c& Monitor , A hotplate or coffee pot and had a usb port right there to power my android with native wifi hotspot

while this is a Home brewed solution it did seem to work great, For Hours at a time (3-4) depending on how much coffee or food i heated...

but yeah It worked out great, and would be my recommendation as opposed to the U.P.S because it's portable by design.
Great for trips !!!

L.O.L


Astr4y4L
Team_Astr4y4L

 

[Shotgun84]

well For about $60 USD I put together a Power supply kit running my PC, a T.V, Charging A phone, and cooking on a hot plate...

( For taking my Stuff With Me Camping --- i know laugh if you want but I gotta be connected)

I used an Approx. $30 Jump-Start box ( for jump starting a car )

and a 200 Watt Dc to Ac inverter (used to run Power-tools from the Battery of a work truck )
a back pack ,
a powerstrip
and a short extension cord (to plug it in to charge it with out pulling it all out the back-pack )

basically I took the Big black wire from the inverter and clipped the big black clamp from the jump-box on it , with a little electric tape to cover it
and the red wire to the red clamp and tape it.
turn the jump box to START
and the inverter comes right on...

it powered the T.V, a Desktop P.c& Monitor , A hotplate or coffee pot and had a usb port right there to power my android with native wifi hotspot

while this is a Home brewed solution it did seem to work great, For Hours at a time (3-4) depending on how much coffee or food i heated...

View attachment 127007

but yeah It worked out great, and would be my recommendation as opposed to the U.P.S because it's portable by design.
Great for trips !!!

L.O.L


Astr4y4L
Team_Astr4y4L

Honestly I did consider putting something together with a car battery and then I thought my landlord might get the hump when I burn his flat down

 

[Astr4y4L]

Honestly I did consider putting something together with a car battery and then I thought my landlord might get the hump when I burn his flat down

yeah a carbattery might be a little much.
but this way it was all contained and the whole thing didn't produce very much heat really.
I carried it on my back , LOL!

 

[bcrichster]

Don't. Car battery? Fine. Inverter? Not needed if just charging phone batteries, wastes the pwr to convert back to DC. Just hook up a USB car charger and go from there. Trust me, I'm an electrician..

 

[Astr4y4L]

Don't. Car battery? Fine. Inverter? Not needed if just charging phone batteries, wastes the pwr to convert back to DC. Just hook up a USB car charger and go from there. Trust me, I'm an electrician..

That would be best ...

If your only running D.C appliances/devices off of it.
but like I said I wanted a Tower pc desktop and a T.V and A Hotplate and a Coffee maker.
and I didn't want to go find D.C appliances when I already have A.C ones !! LMFAO!
I'm and electrician too, along with many other duties as plant engineer!!!
Last big project in electricity...
I used a Big GE step-down transformer , rewired the windings to function EXACTLY BACKWARDS and now we get 480 Delta wave form from the 220 with the Y wave form !!!
Frikkin Frankinstined it!!!

but absolutely if your running ONLY dc appliances just grab the car battery HAHAHAHAHAH

besides from the sound of it he wanted his whole wifi network run off of it not just an android.

of course those are mostly DC also.

but yep...

Astr4y4L
Team_Astr4y4L

 

[bcrichster]

That would be best ...

If your only running D.C appliances/devices off of it.
but like I said I wanted a Tower pc desktop and a T.V and A Hotplate and a Coffee maker.
and I didn't want to go find D.C appliances when I already have A.C ones !! LMFAO!
I'm and electrician too, along with many other duties as plant engineer!!!
Last big project in electricity...
I used a Big GE step-down transformer , rewired the windings to function EXACTLY BACKWARDS and now we get 480 Delta wave form from the 220 with the Y wave form !!!
Frikkin Frankinstined it!!!

but absolutely if your running ONLY dc appliances just grab the car battery HAHAHAHAHAH

besides from the sound of it he wanted his whole wifi network run off of it not just an android.

of course those are mostly DC also.

but yep...

Astr4y4L
Team_Astr4y4L

480?! Oh ma Gawd!! Lmfao!! Holy crap, nice job Mang. That's some shit right there, Props! Last time I seen something as cool as what you did on that 480 was a case of 2 single phase generators and small rack of capacitors putting out 3phase 480. I'm still trying to wrpa my head around that one, Lol..

 

[Astr4y4L]

480?! Oh ma Gawd!! Lmfao!! Holy crap, nice job Mang. That's some shit right there, Props! Last time I seen something as cool as what you did on that 480 was a case of 2 single phase generators and small rack of capacitors putting out 3phase 480. I'm still trying to wrpa my head around that one, Lol..

Hmmmm.
Theres an idea too...

But we had an issue where my plant manager ( the guy in charge)
Bought a bunch of new motors.
We burned the first one up when we stuck
L1 L2 and L3
To to the 220 Y

So after quite a bit of investigation.
We determined we had 480
Motors and wired it wrong too.
Lol that costed about $1800 to fix.

So we talk to the power company...
220 Y was the best we can get from the lines comeing into our plant ( according to them )
So ya see we had to improvise.

Its pretty Kool. Makes my hair stand up just standing close to it when those coils energize.
Oh and if you get a grounded steel cable too close it looks like a continious lightning bolt !!!
Its live!!!

Astr4y4L
Team_Astr4y4L

 

[bcrichster]

Hmmmm.
Theres an idea too...

But we had an issue where my plant manager ( the guy in charge)
Bought a bunch of new motors.
We burned the first one up when we stuck
L1 L2 and L3
To to the 220 Y

So after quite a bit of investigation.
We determined we had 480
Motors and wired it wrong too.
Lol that costed about $1800 to fix.

So we talk to the power company...
220 Y was the best we can get from the lines comeing into our plant ( according to them )
So ya see we had to improvise.

Its pretty Kool. Makes my hair stand up just standing close to it when those coils energize.
Oh and if you get a grounded steel cable too close it looks like a continious lightning bolt !!!
Its live!!!

Astr4y4L
Team_Astr4y4L

There's usually a metal tag on motors stating the voltages & amperage.. I assume he didn't check the tags before installation? Lmao

 

[Astr4y4L]

There's usually a metal tag on motors stating the voltages & amperage.. I assume he didn't check the tags before installation? Lmao

Yeah he didn't have the tags.
They were bought at an auction.
And sold as 220 motors !
Really i think we got a deal on those!
But yeah he just didn't know.

And i couldn't figure it out until i opened one all the way up to just caseing and wires.
Then sure enough on the inside of the cover there it was LoL!!!