Is a 450VA UPS enough for a modem / router?

[CaptainSTX]

UPS batteries in most cases don't have many recharge cycles. What kills the batteries is age. Your situation in Florida is different and location specific. The requirements for power backup systems are much higher. In my location the UPS units have few short power disruption events per year.

The current Bluetti model equivalent to mine is selling for $146 which is about twice the price of UPS of a decent quality. It has a three year warranty and the battery is supposed to be good for 3,000 recharge cycles. Over a couple of battery replacement cycles the Bluetti will come close to the cost of a less expensive UPS plus batteries.

 

[Tech9]

For some unknown reason I prefer French Schneider Electric before Chinese Bluetti.

 

[CaptainSTX]

For some unknown reason I prefer French Schneider Electric before Chinese Bluetti.

Who knows. The point of my original response to his post was let the OP know there are other options besides traditional/standard UPSs.

 

[Tech9]

The unit you have is more like a large power bank, not an typical UPS. I see it sold in Canada as well, listed in "Camping and Outdoor" category, currently on sale for USD192 equivalent (USD276 regular), but comes with 2-year warranty. The advertised charge cycles are 2500+, but to 80%. This is common for lithium batteries. Perhaps similar to yours 600W/268Wh current model:

BLUETTI EB3A Portable Power Station | 600W 268Wh

BLUETTI EB3A Canada, 40 minutes to reach 80% charged! Just a ultra-portable power station that crazy campers will love.

www.bluettipower.ca

This type of device is indeed more suitable for your specific needs in Florida. You may have more use of high recharge cycles and faster recharge times. For the rest of us in areas with less power interruptions - 100 charges and acid battery is okay. I also never had an emergency generator in any of my homes. You enjoy 20C now though, I "enjoy" -3C with -17C on the forecast. No place is perfect.

 

[sfx2000]

Just had my 950VA UPS alert me last night with the solid tone and green / red flashing LED that it's battery was dead, or soon to be, or other related issue. So today I ordered a new one delivery from store that's a 450VA. I'm pretty sure this will be plenty to back up the modem / router. The Printer and scanner aren't on battery, they are on surge only.

Just note that APC is good about supporting their older devices with Battery Replacements - I have an older Back-UPS NS1080, and the new OEM battery was pretty reasonable - $78USD with a pre-paid return label for e-Waste...

 

[sfx2000]

The unit you have is more like a large power bank, not an typical UPS. I see it sold in Canada as well, listed in "Camping and Outdoor" category, currently on sale for USD192 equivalent (USD276 regular), but comes with 2-year warranty. The advertised charge cycles are 2500+, but to 80%. This is common for lithium batteries.

I agree...

The big battery banks are good for a purpose, but they are not really an IT oriented UPS...

Most UPS have some sort of SW that will indicate state of the mains power, and there, on the client devices, can trigger actions - e.g. a clean power off perhaps...

 

[sfx2000]

Just had my 950VA UPS alert me last night with the solid tone and green / red flashing LED that it's battery was dead, or soon to be, or other related issue. So today I ordered a new one delivery from store that's a 450VA. I'm pretty sure this will be plenty to back up the modem / router. The Printer and scanner aren't on battery, they are on surge only

Going back to my APC Back-UPS NS1080 - modem and discrete router providing WiFi on a dedicated AP - During a "planned outage" over 18 hours, was able to keep up network for about 8 hours, when the WAN side failed because battery-backup on the carrier side for our local network loop...

Local side was good - but there, was pretty surgical about what would stay "up", what would do a clean poweroff (the NAS), and letting downstream gear go offline (soft or hard)...

WiFi was important - so that phones/laptops had access... to that end, I had WiFi on the phones after the 4G carrier cells went off-line due to running out of battery...

One of the few times I can compliment my cable provider - they kept service up the whole time - so as long as the modem had power...

 

[Tech9]

Most UPS have some sort of SW

Yes, APC PowerChute for example:

 

[sfx2000]

Yes, APC PowerChute for example:

View attachment 63442

And here's a NAS box...

 

[iFrogMac]

Thank you for all the feedback. To my knowledge, the only company that still maintains their software for the Mac, or Linux is CyberPower, as PowerPanel software is Java based. APC quit making PowerChute for anything by windows years ago. So, for an APC UPS. I mainly just use the settings built into macOS for power management. As far as the unit I had been using on the modem / router. That one was never monitored. It would just kick over to battery and back as needed. So the Only time I knew it had issues was the other night when it sounded the alarm with the flashing LED. Even with PowerPanel, when I had the Cyberpower, it wasn't always accurate in reporting issues. I do remember APC makes, or did make a line of network specific backup units, but I never looked into those. Also as mentioned in an earlier post. For an apartment, I am not sure if there are any other options besides a standard UPS. When I think of a battery backup system, that's more than a standard UPS, I think of one of those units that connect to the breaker box that backup the whole house.

What I've gone with seems to be working. Also, @Tech9 regarding the thread you referenced. WiFi seems OK here. I did noticed a slight slow down on download speeds, but nothing major, and it looks to be a router config related issue in terms of needing to maybe change the channel from auto to fixed, as I switched my phone over to the 6Ghz and speeds were fully back. Typically I don't use my connection a lot during an outage, but it does bring piece of mind that the hardware is protected.

 

[degrub]

Not a lot of interference from neighbors on 6GHz as 1) not that many units out there yet, and 2) doesn't penetrate more than one wall easily.
5Ghz penetrates a little more and 2.4GHz goes through 2+ walls.

 

[iFrogMac]

Not a lot of interference from neighbors on 6GHz as 1) not that many units out there yet, and 2) doesn't penetrate more than one wall easily.
5Ghz penetrates a little more and 2.4GHz goes through 2+ walls.

The auto channel selector had set the 5Ghz channel to 157, and I had left the default to include DFS channels enabled as well. I changed the channel to 36, disabled DFS channels and left 160 Mhz enabled, and my speeds went back up to upper more consistent range of speeds. So channel 157 may not have been the ideal channel for me to be using. So for the 5, and 2.4Ghz bands I have manual channels set, that have consistently worked well for me. My WiFi app I use on the computer to look at network conditions and related stats shows that I am still broadcasting at 160Mhz for 5Ghz.

 

[iFrogMac]

Just thought I would add, that I returned the basic APC unit to walmart this morning and got one that is more in line with what I had before. that will give the modem+router+scanner and printer enough stand by. The scanner and printer just need enough to safely shut off when power goes out. Here is a picture of the cyberPower I settled on. The original APC that the battery failed on was a 900VA, so this will give a bit more. The 450 VA was OK for the two devices, but didn't have enough outlets available for even using as a normal surge protector if I found I needed them. Also this one is more friendly to the bricks, and they don't steal outlets.

 

[Tech9]

The original APC that the battery failed on was a 900VA, so this will give a bit more.

The VA rating indicates maximum load, not battery capacity or runtime at specific load. Your maximum load is perhaps ~50W and 500VA UPS with 12Ah battery will "give more" than 950VA UPS with 7Ah battery in terms of power backup - the main purpose of this device.

 

[iFrogMac]

The VA rating indicates maximum load, not battery capacity or runtime at specific load. Your maximum load is perhaps ~50W and 500VA UPS with 12Ah battery will "give more" than 950VA UPS with 7Ah battery in terms of power backup - the main purpose of this device.

That's what I was referring to was the maximum load. I just happened to reference it with capacity. Either way, I like the physical form factor of this one better more outlets and friendlier to the large bricks. Now I can have outlets available to me regardless if the item needs the battery or not.