Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, SpotTheCat, Nemesis
ludi wrote:Buy a couple spare Dell/Microsoft power bricks while you're still in the US. The Dells can be acquired cheaply off eBay. It would be a potential pain to source a replacement if local power quality issues blew out one of them.
Note that 350 VA units, like the CyperPower you linked, tend to use a 40Ah battery which is lighter in weight, but also a whole lot shorter on breath, compared to the 80Ah battery which is used (as a single or multiples) in nearly every other type of larger-capacity UPS I've seen from 500VA desk-side units to 3kVA server rack units. My assumption is that the larger size would be easier to source if a replacement is needed.
SecretSquirrel wrote:You are missing a decimal point in your battery ratings. The originally linked CyberPower apparently uses a bog-standard 12V 6Ah sealed lead acid battery. Your average car battery is going to be between 40 and 80 amp-hours.
localhostrulez wrote:And honestly, their typical use case is providing a ton of power for a very short time (starting the car), then being charged back off and staying that way for the rest of the drive - not really what you're looking for. I've seen people run inverters off a battery itself though.
localhostrulez wrote:Hmm, relevant post in another thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=117613&view=unread#p1309797
rogthewookiee wrote:It still seems like some kind of power conditioning would make things function smoother? I'm not really worried about not having power, if it goes off then I probably don't need to be getting work done. I'm most concerned about harming the power supplies or the computers!
Captain Ned wrote:rogthewookiee wrote:It still seems like some kind of power conditioning would make things function smoother? I'm not really worried about not having power, if it goes off then I probably don't need to be getting work done. I'm most concerned about harming the power supplies or the computers!
The transformer in your laptop power brick IS a power conditioner. IMO, you're overthinking this. Just make sure you've got spare power supplies for the laptops and you should be good. They'll also help with generator power, as gen sets (unless really high quality/expensive ones) tend to be stepped square wave output instead of sine wave output.
Captain Ned wrote:They'll also help with generator power, as gen sets (unless really high quality/expensive ones) tend to be stepped square wave output instead of sine wave output.
SecretSquirrel wrote:Captain Ned wrote:You're thinking of an inverter generator. For those not up on portable generator tech, an inverter generator is effectively a UPS front end being feed by a generator back end. It lets the designer use a high frequency AC section and decouples the engine speed from the AC line frequency. In a "direct" generatorThey'll also help with generator power, as gen sets (unless really high quality/expensive ones) tend to be stepped square wave output instead of sine wave output.
just brew it! wrote:Would be rather odd for an electromechanical generator to put out a squarewave, but it isn't hard to imagine one putting out a sinewave that is "dirty" enough to make some devices unhappy.