[Hidden-tech] Power Supplies for Emergencies (PC and home devices)

[Robert Heller]

At Fri, 9 Oct 2020 13:15:16 -0400 Nick Clover-Brown <ncloverbrown at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> Hi all,
> With the recent outages, I'm looking at getting some battery packs,
> portable rechargeable generator, and a UPS.
> 
> What systems do you all have in place at home?
> 
> For a rechargeable generator, looking at Jackery Portable Power Station
> Explorer 240. Does anyone have any other recommendations?
> 
> For a UPS, I don't know where to start - I have two towers now (work and
> home).
> 
>    - Can I use one UPS for two machines?

Depends on how much power the two machines need.  And how beefy the UPS is. If 
the UPS is beefy enough, sure.  

>    - Does a UPS provide power for more than a few minutes?

*Typically* a UPS should provide power for enough time to cleanly shutdown the
machine. That is *generally* the rule of thumb.

>    - If not, what I would need to support a tower for about 4 hours? (or is
>    that just not feasible without getting a house generator?)

It is possible if it is a *small* tower PC and a really *beastly* UPS. There
is going to be a cost tradeoff.  I have an APC BX1300 (1300VA) on my big tower 
PC (with a 750W PS, AMD mother board with 8gig of RAM, 5 hard drives), which 
is good for about 30 minutes -- long enough for short power outages, with 
enough time for a clean shutdown.  A bigger UPS with a bigger will cost more. 

Some UPSs are "smart" and can tell the computer that there has been a power
failure and also tell the computer how much time is left on the battery. With
the right software installed, the UPS status info can be shared over the LAN
with multiple computers, if you are using one UPS for multiple computers 
(don't forget to plug the Ethernet switch's power into the UPS!).


>Thanks!
> 


>
>Nick
> 
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