Uninterruptible Power Supply recommendations
August 6, 2024 8:47 AM Subscribe
The UPS we use to power and protect our internet modem and router crapped out. We need a new one.
The current one, a CyberPower 1500va AVR, did perform well during its life, but its life was relatively short. We live in the mountains and our power outages tend to be many hours at a time. While we do have a backup generator, we generally try to live through the outage without bothering with it (peace and quiet over running engines any day). Ideally, we'd like our new UPS to have a long run time and be capable of turning off for a while, then back on (during outages) to use the battery when we need it. I know that is not the normal use case, which is one of the reasons I'm posting here!
Thanks for any recommendations for currently available UPSs that meet our criteria!
The current one, a CyberPower 1500va AVR, did perform well during its life, but its life was relatively short. We live in the mountains and our power outages tend to be many hours at a time. While we do have a backup generator, we generally try to live through the outage without bothering with it (peace and quiet over running engines any day). Ideally, we'd like our new UPS to have a long run time and be capable of turning off for a while, then back on (during outages) to use the battery when we need it. I know that is not the normal use case, which is one of the reasons I'm posting here!
Thanks for any recommendations for currently available UPSs that meet our criteria!
Are you sure that there's something actually wrong with the UPS itself, and that the batteries aren't just dead?
I live in a country which has been plagued by rolling blackouts, and it sounds like you've run into the same issue as I and many of my compatriots, which is that UPSes are designed to be a stopgap to allow you to power down devices safely, and not a frequent long-term backup power source. Using them for backup power wears out the batteries much more quickly, because they are typically lead acid batteries which are not intended to be fully discharged and recharged with such frequency. I've looked up your model, and it seems to be the same kind of low-end (line-interactive) UPS as the one that I have. It has two lead acid 12V/9Ah batteries, just like mine.
I wanted to summarize the differences between different types of UPSes and other backup power solutions here, but I'm not an expert, the nomenclature isn't clear to me, and also seems to vary across the world -- so I'll leave details to someone who knows what they're talking about. The TL;DR is that if you want a device that is actually designed to provide backup power, it is likely to cost a lot more (partially because it will probably have a higher-capacity LiFePO₃ or equivalent battery).
If you want a cheaper solution and don't mind tinkering, I suggest replacing the batteries in your current UPS (and repeating this whenever they die again). Lead acid batteries have (at least in my area) become pretty cheap, because better batteries are now available for the same applications, so this would probably be substantially cheaper than buying a whole new UPS, if the old one is still perfectly fine.
These batteries come in standard sizes and are pretty easy to replace (I, a software person with no real electrical training or experience, have done it dozens of times and am still not dead -- I always follow car battery rules for lead connection/disconnection order). I'd suggest taking it in to a physical shop which sells batteries if you're concerned about DIYing it, but there may not be one available if you're in a remote area.
If you can't find 9Ah batteries, lower-capacity 12V batteries with the same form factor will also work fine (they just won't provide power for as long).
A word of warning if you decide to take this route: you can get LiFePO₃ batteries which are sold as drop-in replacements for these lead acid batteries (and are in theory superior because they can withstand more recharge cycles). I used them for a while in my UPS, but eventually went back to lead acid because of a little snag in the compatibility. The batteries worked fine, but the UPS is calibrated to turn itself off when it has discharged to a certain voltage which is the safe lower bound for lead acid batteries, but is lower than the safe lower bound for the LiFePO₃ batteries. The LiFePO₃ batteries have a BMS (battery management system) built in which shuts off the connection to the battery when the voltage drops to an unsafe level. In my experience, the BMS almost always kicks in before the UPS shut-off does, and if that happens, the battery is bricked until you physically disconnect and reconnect it, which requires unscrewing the whole UPS again to get to the battery, which is really annoying. Some fancy UPSes may have software which allow the shut-off voltage to be configured differently, but mine is not fancy.
posted by confluency at 10:45 AM on August 6, 2024 [4 favorites]
I live in a country which has been plagued by rolling blackouts, and it sounds like you've run into the same issue as I and many of my compatriots, which is that UPSes are designed to be a stopgap to allow you to power down devices safely, and not a frequent long-term backup power source. Using them for backup power wears out the batteries much more quickly, because they are typically lead acid batteries which are not intended to be fully discharged and recharged with such frequency. I've looked up your model, and it seems to be the same kind of low-end (line-interactive) UPS as the one that I have. It has two lead acid 12V/9Ah batteries, just like mine.
I wanted to summarize the differences between different types of UPSes and other backup power solutions here, but I'm not an expert, the nomenclature isn't clear to me, and also seems to vary across the world -- so I'll leave details to someone who knows what they're talking about. The TL;DR is that if you want a device that is actually designed to provide backup power, it is likely to cost a lot more (partially because it will probably have a higher-capacity LiFePO₃ or equivalent battery).
If you want a cheaper solution and don't mind tinkering, I suggest replacing the batteries in your current UPS (and repeating this whenever they die again). Lead acid batteries have (at least in my area) become pretty cheap, because better batteries are now available for the same applications, so this would probably be substantially cheaper than buying a whole new UPS, if the old one is still perfectly fine.
These batteries come in standard sizes and are pretty easy to replace (I, a software person with no real electrical training or experience, have done it dozens of times and am still not dead -- I always follow car battery rules for lead connection/disconnection order). I'd suggest taking it in to a physical shop which sells batteries if you're concerned about DIYing it, but there may not be one available if you're in a remote area.
If you can't find 9Ah batteries, lower-capacity 12V batteries with the same form factor will also work fine (they just won't provide power for as long).
A word of warning if you decide to take this route: you can get LiFePO₃ batteries which are sold as drop-in replacements for these lead acid batteries (and are in theory superior because they can withstand more recharge cycles). I used them for a while in my UPS, but eventually went back to lead acid because of a little snag in the compatibility. The batteries worked fine, but the UPS is calibrated to turn itself off when it has discharged to a certain voltage which is the safe lower bound for lead acid batteries, but is lower than the safe lower bound for the LiFePO₃ batteries. The LiFePO₃ batteries have a BMS (battery management system) built in which shuts off the connection to the battery when the voltage drops to an unsafe level. In my experience, the BMS almost always kicks in before the UPS shut-off does, and if that happens, the battery is bricked until you physically disconnect and reconnect it, which requires unscrewing the whole UPS again to get to the battery, which is really annoying. Some fancy UPSes may have software which allow the shut-off voltage to be configured differently, but mine is not fancy.
posted by confluency at 10:45 AM on August 6, 2024 [4 favorites]
I wrote all of that, and then saw that what you want this for is a modem and a router! For that I would recommend a DC UPS -- I don't know what is available in your area, but what I have now is a "GIZZU 60W 69Wh 21600mAh Mini POE DC UPS", and I'm very happy with it. (The branding is meaningless; that's a local importer badging pretty generic hardware -- but those are some keywords that may be useful in your search).
posted by confluency at 10:49 AM on August 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by confluency at 10:49 AM on August 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Oh, to confluency, how does a DC UPS work in this case? Do I need special adaptors to feed the DC output directly to the modem and router, or just plug them in with AC adaptors like I do now? Thanks.
posted by Don_K at 7:34 AM on August 7, 2024
posted by Don_K at 7:34 AM on August 7, 2024
DC UPSes are basically a mains-powered battery feeding your devices (modem, router, anything low-powered and being fed DC) replacing its wallwart. Plus some smarts to keep that battery healthy. There's no DC->AC->DC again conversion like with a conventional UPS, eliminating a lot of the power losses in each of those steps.
Which means that you need to check what voltage those devices take, and set the UPS to match that voltage. The one confluency mentions has multiple outputs allowing different working voltages for each of the connected devices.
posted by Stoneshop at 8:32 AM on August 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
Which means that you need to check what voltage those devices take, and set the UPS to match that voltage. The one confluency mentions has multiple outputs allowing different working voltages for each of the connected devices.
posted by Stoneshop at 8:32 AM on August 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
What Stoneshop said. If all you want to power are small DC devices, it makes more sense to use a DC UPS and avoid the extra (unnecessary and lossy) conversion you'd need with a bigger UPS with AC output. I'm also pretty sure that DC UPSes typically come with lithium batteries with a better lifespan -- but they're not immortal; I used to have a teeny tiny DC UPS in which the battery eventually degraded.
I recommend picking one that you can open up, so that you can (possibly) replace the battery when that happens. I think my current one can be unscrewed; the tiny cheap one was completely sealed in plastic (although there are dozens of videos online showing how to chop one open, with varying levels of safety precautions taken).
posted by confluency at 1:35 PM on August 7, 2024
I recommend picking one that you can open up, so that you can (possibly) replace the battery when that happens. I think my current one can be unscrewed; the tiny cheap one was completely sealed in plastic (although there are dozens of videos online showing how to chop one open, with varying levels of safety precautions taken).
posted by confluency at 1:35 PM on August 7, 2024
Response by poster: Thanks for the advice. Could you clarify, though, how I would connect my devices? The 'modem', which really just powers the microwave antenna on my roof, and the router both have proprietary plugs into the wart. Would I need to source new cables that will connect to the UPS, which I assume has USB output? Thanks.
posted by Don_K at 8:00 AM on August 8, 2024
posted by Don_K at 8:00 AM on August 8, 2024
Best answer: Going by the info on the Gizzu site, with that unit you get two power output cables that appear to end in a dedicated plug, plus adapters that go from that plug to a standard barrel jack, in three different sizes. Those outputs can be set to 9 or 12V DC; there are also two standard USB-A sockets delivering 5V to feed your phone. I haven't looked if they offer any other size or shape of adapter, and other manufacturers may well have a different range of plugs (and selectable voltages) anyway. If your modem and router are like most such equipment they will be fine with any voltage between 7 and 18V (even if not stated as such) because internally it will be downconverted to 5V and 3.3V anyway, so feeding them 9 or 12V will work.
If your modem and router have power sockets that don't match anything available you might need to break out the multimeter and the soldering iron, or ply a local nerd to do so, and fit the required plugs to the power output cables by cutting them off from the existing AC adapters (or better, get an extra adapter from their respective manufacturers and perform the plugectomy on that one). Note that plugs and sockets of just about any conceivable size and shape can be found on AliExpress, and I can't imagine the required parts can't be found there.
posted by Stoneshop at 11:48 AM on August 8, 2024 [2 favorites]
If your modem and router have power sockets that don't match anything available you might need to break out the multimeter and the soldering iron, or ply a local nerd to do so, and fit the required plugs to the power output cables by cutting them off from the existing AC adapters (or better, get an extra adapter from their respective manufacturers and perform the plugectomy on that one). Note that plugs and sockets of just about any conceivable size and shape can be found on AliExpress, and I can't imagine the required parts can't be found there.
posted by Stoneshop at 11:48 AM on August 8, 2024 [2 favorites]
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It will run your equipment for about as long as your previous CyberPower did and there is a way to power it off and on when the main power is out.
Given that a typical modem and router tend to only draw a few watts, you should be able to get a decent runtime from the unit. (If you want to power a starlink system then you need a much larger system)
posted by SegFaultCoreDump at 10:22 AM on August 6, 2024 [1 favorite]