{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "Also, why aren\u2019t UPSses more common? They tickle my prepper senses\u2013not that they\u2019d be useful for long in any disaster, but...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/176614569603/", "html": "

nuclearspaceheater:

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nuclearspaceheater:

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gattsuru:

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dryiffsrevitalizingtailholetonic:

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Also, why aren\u2019t UPSses more common? They tickle my prepper senses\u2013not that they\u2019d be useful for long in any disaster, but they\u2019re useful in a lot of situations. I just like having\u00a0auxiliary\u00a0power on hand and the units themselves are actually pretty fucking cheap.\u00a0

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Assuming the ISP\u2019s network is still up, a small cheap UPS will run your modem and wireless router for hours, saving you the trouble of having to tether your laptop or whatever to your phone.\u00a0

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Also with the magic of LED lighting you can have backup lighting for a really long time with that same low-wattage UPS. The ~930 watt UPS my desktop is plugged into could keep some basic lighting on forever as well.\u00a0

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If I\u2019m not around to supervise, the units will just discharge down to ~25 percent and shut the machines down. But If I am here (and really, when do I ever leave?) I\u2019d likely shut them down early and save the power to charge cell phones or whatever.\u00a0

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Anyway I\u2019ve always thought they were cool and I\u2019m glad they\u2019ve gotten so much cheaper over the years.\u00a0

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The typical issue is maintenance costs, especially in the areas that most benefit from them.\u00a0 Lead batteries aren\u2019t that expensive, but almost any consumer grade UPS will only use a three-year rated battery, and even residential areas with good power will usually have outages enough that you\u2019re getting a few deep discharge cycles and that generally keeps them on weak end of the bathtub graph.\u00a0 Not only do you have the normal risks of forgetting to keep equipment cycled and the costs of replacement, but even disposal of old batteries is surprisingly not-cheap.

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((The Official Corporate Policy is wrong, and decent batteries will still have ~80% of their total amphour rating at the \u2018end\u2019 of their rated lifetime.\u00a0 You can actually get a pretty good deal by specifically looking for used business-scale UPS batteries, and sometimes they\u2019ll near beg you to take them away.\u00a0 But it\u2019s overcautious for a reason: end-of-lifed batteries only have slightly reduced total charge, but have much reduced reliability.

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Meanwhile, less frustrating battery chemistry aren\u2019t compatible with this use case.\u00a0 You really don\u2019t want to be floating NiMH or especially\u00a0LiIon.))

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But they\u2019re definitely underused.\u00a0\u00a0

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You don\u2019t have to float your batteries if you just add additional battery banks to a double-conversion system:

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Then you can cycle batteries as often as they need without losing the UPS while doing so.

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Looking at how much a large enough capacitor to work as a transient load carrier in the above sketch costs these days led me to find that you can now get a 16V, 1.9kA rated 500 F capacitor for just $522.63 each these days, less if you buy more than one.

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Still not suitable for mass power storage, tho, since that is still only enough power between 16V and 12V to carry a particularly power-hungry PC for about 30 seconds.

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> why aren\u2019t UPSses more common? They tickle my prepper senses

Do we have any reports from areas with equivalent technology levels during a period they experienced unreliable power supply/rolling blackouts (a more reasonable \u201ccivilizational collapse\u201d scenario than full SHTF, anyway)

I\u2019m thinking maybe cosmopolitans in the Arab Spring instabilities, Cairo in particular.

I guess the question is, for what scenario particularly is this superior to a backyard generator? (High-rise living, for one). A jerry can of gasoline is a pretty competitive rechargeable energy store.

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