Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with poweroutage

Uninterruptable Wifi Supply

mccarty.tim — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:41:08 -0800

What's a good, small and basic UPS for just backing up up my T-mobile VOIP/wifi router device and possibly a cable modem? My family recently decided to switch from Comcast Digital Voice and AT&T cell phones to T-mobile's @home service. Our home gets almost no cell phone reception, so it's nice that the router (a Linksys WRTU54G) allows us to make VOIP calls over both the wired phones and our cell phones. However, this means that our calling is basically coming down to just one electronic box, with only a sketchy 1-bar cellular connection in the event we lose power. The max DC draw of the antenna is 1.5 A at 12 volts, but it's probably much less in practice. I don't have anything to measure it, though.

Realizing this, I think it's important we get a UPS that can keep our router online for 6 hours to a day. Our modem comes with its own 12 hour battery, because it used to be the VOIP hardware for our Comcast VOIP service, so I could keep it off of the UPS to save power, although Comcast is liable to take it back. In my dream product, this UPS could also charge from a car's 12V socket in the event of a very long power outage, but we've never had a long one over a few minutes in our relatively new (~20 years old) NJ suburb.

I really don't want or need the UPS to keep our desktop computer up and running. I have a laptop, and my mom and sister know to save as they go along when working on a desktop. What I really need is something inexpensive and reliable so that we can still call 911 in the event of a power outage. Preferably, the solution doesn't end up being something too bulky or hacky (ie "Just wire up some car batteries in parallel!").

How many blackouts have occurred in the U.S. over the last decade or two?

speedoavenger — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:50:19 -0800

How many blackouts have occurred in different regions of the U.S. over the last decade or two? How many houses were affected? You get bonus points if you can find information about what caused the blackouts. My team and I are creating a mock business plan for a college class. We are trying to find a target market for standby electric generators. Our hypothesis is that people affected most often by blackouts would be most likely to buy a standby generator.

Thank you for you help!

just in case reading list

luriete — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 09:33:37 -0800

What are the best survivalist's reference books? That is, if the power went out tomorrow for an indefinite period of town, what are the books on first aid, shelter, hunting, farming, nature, tool use & making etc. that you'd want to have and be familiar with?

Recovery from a crash mid-software update? (OSX)

Dreama — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 00:28:46 -0800

Power outage during an OS X software update -- how screwed am I? I'll try to keep this brief: iMac running 10.2.5 -- it's been in storage for a while -- that I'm trying to bring up to snuff to pass along. Got the machine online and ran the Software Update. The OS update to 10.2.8 and 1.0 update to Safari downloaded and installed (or so said the Software Update screen) but in the middle of installing an iCal update the power went out. Since the computer is residing on my desk very temporarily, I neglected to plug it into my UPS. Consequently, the power outrage caused the computer to power down hard.

When the power came back and I restarted, the computer went through the OS X start process (it took a while to get past the grey on grey screen, but it got there eventually) and got to the point when the Finder should have started, desktop and dock become visible, etc. but I've got nada, just a blank blue screen. The mouse pointer is visible and responds to mouse action, but no keyboard commands are recognized and nothing else happens.

Thoughts and ideas on recovering from this mid-update crash?

How long will food and milk last in a refrigerator without power?

rfbjames — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 23:26:45 -0800

How long will food and milk last in a refrigerator without power if I don't open the door? We just had a major storm here in St. Louis and I'm currently one in half a million people without power nor a time table as to when it will be restored. (I'm posting from my sidekick) Unlucky for me, I just went shopping last night and now the freezer and fridge are stocked with food and milk. I've heard that it should keep cold for a long time if I don't open the doors, but I was wondering how long exactly will it keep the food and milk good? Thanks!