[KibbIes]

Hi there,

 

I've found myself in a situation where I know the power company is going to cut power to my house for a full day (7am-8pm) and it just happens to fall on a day where I need to do my sales reports (I get emailed the info, then I spend about 3hours on the notebook, then I give a 40min skype presentation and need to email my final report out) so I need power during this black out.

 

I have two batteries for my notebook which are fully charged and can last me 7hrs so I'm not worried about keeping that running, my modem on the other I need to have running for the emailing (20-30 mins all up) and the skype meeting.

 

I was told a UPS could be what I need but I'm reading the specs and it seems UPS only have about 8mins of life in them during a blackout (?) Is there a UPS that will keep things running for 1-1.5hrs (or more) during a blackout? All that it's going to power is the telephone/modem.

 

Unfortunately heading to the office is out since it's located in a different country 

 

Is UPS the right choice? and what one would be good for me?

 

Please help 

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Hello there KibbIes Could you not go to the Library or park, Somewhere that has free Wifi since you will only need it for this (full day - (7am-8pm).

Also they say they will have the power off for more than 12 hours? Then they would be held liable for all of the spoiled food in everyones fridge. I have worked for electrical company's they tell people this kind of stuff all the time. In the case that they decide to arrive early (which never happens) then they don't get all the phone calls of all the pissed off people without power. Just a suggestion, I would just stay up the night before and start the sales reports early before they got there if your really worried about it.

 

I know this is not what you were asking about, But thought i would throw my 2 cents in the hat. Best of luck which ever way you decide to go.  Joe

[Joe-King]

Hello there KibbIes Could you not go to the Library or park, Somewhere that has free Wifi since you will only need it for this (full day - (7am-8pm).

Also they say they will have the power off for more than 12 hours? Then they would be held liable for all of the spoiled food in everyones fridge. I have worked for electrical company's they tell people this kind of stuff all the time. In the case that they decide to arrive early (which never happens) then they don't get all the phone calls of all the pissed off people without power. Just a suggestion, I would just stay up the night before and start the sales reports early before they got there if your really worried about it.

 

I know this is not what you were asking about, But thought i would throw my 2 cents in the hat. Best of luck which ever way you decide to go.  Joe

[KibbIes]

I wish it was as easy as that and it's times like these that I regret the tree change.

 

I live in an alpine area that doesn't have 'free wifi' anywhere, just forest, mountains, wildlife and more forest, we're a town without a town and the closest anything with wi-fi is a long drive and my husband has the car for the day. The power goes off for that long because up here it's to make sure nothing is faulty that can start bushfires so it's a lengthy maintenance as the lines are in the forest, up cliffs, down cliffs and not in the flat standard suburbia sprawl layout.  They're not legally liable for anything if they give us advanced notice which they have, there is a neighbor who medically needs power to run a machine he is always hooked up too and even he needs to find alternate means, it's just how it works up here but luckily this only happens about three times a year. Normally I just spend the day reading a book but it's just fallen on the wrong day for me this time I have to do it and since it's a particular important one I can't palm it off.

 

That's why my two options are either a UPS for a few hundred dollars or a power generator which will cost me a few thousand.

 

As it's just the modem and telephone I'll be running from the UPS I was hoping someone would go 'hey, this is what you need' - I'm just not familiar with the product to confidentially buy and so far the places I've called that sell them have either had the call go to voice message, don't know about UPS themselves or are just guessing which one will work.

Edited by KibbIes, 05 November 2014 - 07:59 PM.

[Kemasa]

The length of time a UPS will last depends on the size of the UPS and the load on it. With a large enough UPS, it can last days, but that is going to be expensive. You can sometimes get deals on a UPS on ebay, then buy the batteries. Do a search for someone selling it locally to avoid shipping charges. APC has a calculator to determine what you need based on load and runtime.

 

http://www.apc.com/t...US/en/home/load

 

The first problem is determining the load.

 

A friend has some APC UPS which he would like to sell, but the shipping could be expensive, then you would need to buy the batteries.

 

A generator is not a couple of thousand, unless you live in a strange place. CostCo has one for $600 plus tax. A Honda 2000i is around $1k. Harbor Freight has some cheaper ones as well (reviews are hit or miss with HF, if you don't have a problem, it is good).

 

The cheaper one is bigger, but uses more fuel and is not as quiet:

 

http://www.costco.co....100121916.html

 

http://www.costco.co....100071097.html

 

Harbor Freight:

 

http://www.harborfre...ator-60338.html

 

http://www.harborfre...61169-html.html

 

I would avoid the really cheap one above as it is a 2 cycle and is more of a pain to deal with.

[terry1966]

another option that might be worth looking into is to forget about powering anything and see if you can tether the laptop to your smart phone for internet access on that day.

 

of course it will depend on a few things, like if you have a smart phone, whether your phone provider allows tethering (no problems here in the uk.) and if you have good phone coverage where you live, preferably with 4g, 3g should do tho.

 

here's an article on tethering. :- http://www.pcadvisor...-wi-fi-hotspot/

 

if this is out of the question then regarding the generator, you should find you can hire a good one from some building place near where you live for a reasonable daily cost, get it delivered/fetch it in the morning and return it before end of the day.

 

this will probably just need you to turn off your main breaker so the electricity from it doesn't get fed back into the power lines and out of your home, then you'd just plug a lead from the generator into a plug socket to power your home sockets and everything connected to them like the modem/router.

 

seeing how this happens 3 times a year when you have no electric tho, i would seriously look into buying one of your own, and have a permanent connection setup to power all your home, maybe even one that switches itself on when the electric goes off.

 

Edited by terry1966, 06 November 2014 - 06:33 AM.

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

 

Do you know for sure that the internet will work?

 

If you have an ADSL connection and the power outage covers a big area the internet service could be affected to, if you have a modem and a Dial-up connection it probably will work.

[terry1966]

i seriously doubt cutting power to certain lines so they can be checked is going to cut power to the internet nodes and stopping fiber or some dsl internet connections from working but it is a very good point to bring up tho, because there is always that chance it will, even tho i think it unlikely, thus limiting internet connection to dial up or mobile phone networks.

 

Edited by terry1966, 06 November 2014 - 06:34 AM.

[KibbIes]

Hey thanks for the replies.

 

I just thought of a plan C option that might work. As mentioned my two batteries for the laptop will last me the day couldn't I just buy one of these pre-paid broadband sticks and I'll have mobile broadband? That would work right? It seems almost too simple. 

 

As for the generators, again living in the forest, I'm limited with ones I can have and the ones available are costly and on top of that they have to be connected by a registered electrician (all to safely prevent fires so I can't begrudge the laws.) 

 

The phone would have been a option but my battery is shot on it and so I normally need to have it plugged in if I need to use it for long period of time.

 

Thanks again for the replies

[strollin]

A broadband stick would work providing you have 4G/3G cellular service where you live.  As another poster already suggested, if you have a smart phone you may be able to tether the laptop to it to get internet access.

 

As far as a generator, as long as it has the proper muffler on it there's no issue with operating it in a forrest.  I have 2 Honda 2000i generators and have operated them in forrests on numerous ocassions. Also, you wouldn't be wiring one of these portable generators to your house wiring so no need for any special installation by an electrician.  You could simply keep the generator outside and run an extension cord in thru a window.  I'm sure there must be places near you that could rent you a portable generator for a day.

[terry1966]

 

I just buy one of these pre-paid broadband sticks and I'll have mobile broadband? That would work right? It seems almost too simple.

yes that would work just fine, but you do need a good 4g/3g signal where you live otherwise you'll find it either won't connect or keep losing the internet connection which really won't be good when your doing your presentation on skype.

 

to be safe i'd have at least 2 options ready for the day.

 

probably 1st would be phone tethering with a phone battery pack if needed to make sure it won't die during use,

battery pack :- http://lifehacker.co...packs-509802431

 

and 2nd would be a portable generator to just power your modem/router to get connected. here in the uk i could hire one for about £25 with an added £10 for an extra day or £45 for the week, so in the states i'd think you could hire one for about the same prices, $25 a day $45 for the week.

 

Edited by terry1966, 06 November 2014 - 03:19 PM.

[Plastic Nev]

A cheaper and certainly quieter option would be a 12 volt to mains inverter, all you would need is a spare fully charged car battery to run it.  Or a lead from the car itself with the engine just ticking over, it will run till the car runs out of fuel and the battery then goes flat, I would think many hours.

 

 

This sort of thing should easily power your router and modem.

 

http://www.amazon.co...r/dp/B00DS3YCJQ