UPS for Modem/Router?

[Crash7]

Power went out for a whopping 15 minutes just now. Kid is elearning. Chrome book is battery, but internet goes out (of course).

Any recommendations for a UPS for the living room that would really only need to feed the cable modem, WiFi router and one 8port switch? Something to keep WiFi up and going for a while.

Sub question for a second UPS for my work desktop in my office, in case heaven forbid I want to work a bit while power is out. (Dell tower, 4port switch, Meraki and a couple monitors).

And..... go.


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[DoggyDaddy]

Not a UPS, but I've used a marine battery and power inverter when our power has gone out before. It's enough to power up my tv, DVR, router and one lamp. I could also plug my laptop in if needed. It's good for probably 3 hours or so.

 

[eldirector]

I have a very small knock-off battery for our router. It has run for HOURS before. Much longer than the laptop. It might have been $50 from Amazon.

 

[jkaetz]

Router/Wifi needs very little power. I'm sure a ~500 - ~700VA unit of any brand will do the job.
If you're powering a desktop and associated things I wouldn't go any smaller than ~700VA. Watching slickdeals will get you an idea of expected cost.

Batteries should have a 3 - 5 year lifespan.

 

[avboiler11]

I have a APC BE425M.

Will run my cable modem & wifi router for 40+ minutes, that plus cable box and 42” Vizio for 20 minutes.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I have a APC BE425M.

Will run my cable modem & wifi router for 40+ minutes, that plus cable box and 42” Vizio for 20 minutes.

Dang, my marine battery and power inverter does better than that. That seems really low powered.

 

[avboiler11]

Dang, my marine battery and power inverter does better than that. That seems really low powered.

Its also much smaller, lighter, and “cleaner” for full-time use behind my entertainment center than a 24DC and inverter.

A small APC is perfect for the short-term outages OP describes.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Its also much smaller, lighter, and “cleaner” for full-time use behind my entertainment center than a 24DC and inverter.

A small APC is perfect for the short-term outages OP describes.

Probably so. Power outages are so rare for me, that my setup works well for me. Heck, half the time by the time I get the battery inside and hooked up to the inverter, the power comes back on.

 

[eldirector]

Another advantage of a dedicated UPS is brown-out protection and poor power quality protection. Most electronics don't like hard power cuts, and most don't like "dirty" power. Not all UPSs protect against surges, spikes, brown-outs, and poor line quality, but some do. I often hear mine disconnect from main power (you can hear the relay click) during windy days, as the line power fluctuates.

 

[jkaetz]

Dang, my marine battery and power inverter does better than that. That seems really low powered.

Retail UPS are intended to allow for graceful transition to generator power or shutdown of systems in a power failure situation. They usually have only a few amp hours of capacity. I believe at full load most are designed for ~15 minutes or less. Along with that unless you're spending $$$$$ for double conversion units they aren't super efficient at converting the DC back to AC sucking up a lot of capacity in the process. They do a very good job at keeping sudden over or undervolt instances from reaching your equipment though. I use them on all of my AV equipment as well as network/computer.

 

[Alamo]

I use a CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS System to power the modem/router, the AT&T Microcell (when I still used it), and a computer in my office, and a APC UPS, 1000VA Sine Wave UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector, BR1000MS to power the TV, soundbar, and U-verse box in the living room.

When we had the rolling blackouts recently during the Texas Snovid, it worked reasonably well. I had internet, phone service (I only use cell phones, no landline), and movies without a lot of interruption. In my case the local power company would shut power off for about 60-90 minutes, then on for 60-90 minutes, and the UPS's covered those gaps initially. It took longer to charge their batteries than it does to deplete them, so there came a point where the UPS's were almost dead. I just unplugged everything overnight except for the USP being plugged into the wall, and they charged up enough I could do some movie-watching the next day during the blackouts. Also, I tended to use initiation of the blackout period as a trigger to take a nap. The cats loved that, they see me as a big heating pad.

The iphones and the iPad batteries are new enough that just charging them during the non-blackout period was enough to keep them going for several hours.

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[Cameramonkey]

One thing to consider. cable providers dont always put their downstream repeaters on battery. Or the batteries arent very big.

Dont plan on running for a LONG time on your battery by investing money in a big UPS. Just because you invested in something to run your gear for 6 hours doesnt mean they did. I think my internet stays up for about 20 minutes after a large power outage. (even though my gear lasts 45)

So a cheap 500va or less unit for just the router/modem would be fine.