Suggestions for a router & ONT UPS?

In message snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>, Spike snipped-for-privacy@mail.com writes

Ah. You need to be 80 or over. BT then supply separate battery packs for the ONT and the router.

No torch to hand (in loft) but I will look later and see if they are identified.

Is this just for their Digital Voice system (which I don’t have) or do they dole out battery packs to non-BT customers?

Don’t make a special trip!

I use LX-2BUPS modules eg. eBay item number:296627913886 They come in three different output voltages 5, 9 & 12 your router and ONT will probably need 12v, but the input to the module is always 5v regardless. You will need something better than a phone charger, I use a 5V 4A wall-wart hard wired to the module (bypassing the USB-C connector)

They should give you up to an hour backup depending on cell capacity and whether you use one or two cells (they are in parallel)

The only problem with the LX-2BUPS is they don't stop discharging the cells at an appropriate voltage.

Possibly they only supply battery packs to their registered vulnerable customers.

they will sell them to anybody, but they hava limited time useage. Up to 1 hour - just for an ONT! I hae an APC ES 550 which has 4 x 13A outlets ans runs my ONT and router and phone adaptor for at least 2 hours. That's happened.

You have a couple of options; you could go for a standard inverter based UPS, that will hold up the mains input for several devices. You could also look at the "mini" UPS systems designed for individual bits of DC powered kit. These are basically inline batteries without the expense of the full mains inverter. e.g:

In those cases you may need to look at higher power UPSs just because they also tend to have more battery capacity.

I quite like the CyberPower BRICs boxes[1] as a quite neat all in one solution with 13A sockets on the box (some surge protected, and some also UPS).

The 1 kVA / 600W model will do:

at Half Load: 6 minutes at Full Load: 1 minutes at 60W: 60 minutes at 90W: 42 minutes

However the 1.2kVA / 720W will do:

at Half Load: 9 minutes at Full Load: 2 minutes at 60W: 80 minutes at 90W: 51 minutes

Since it has a pair of 12V SLA batts fitted as standard, but the lower spec ones only have a single battery.

We moved from Plusnet to BT as Plusnet don't offer a telephone service with fibre.

Huh! I have to go up there to set the bosses recorder for the Strictly results!

So.. Cyber Power, Model DTB24U12V O/P 12V DC 24Watt

Both packs the same and permanently connected. Set of fancy beeps to alert for mains failure, battery dying etc.

We got the Digital Voice handset thrown in. I'm 80 and the boss is 79!

I am currently evaluating one of the Eaton units. It meets all specs except for run time at full power. Run time at lower power like 30W is fine. It looks as if the run time can be at least doubled by fitting different batteries. I will have more data by the end of tomorrow. It is a nicely made unit with all the appropriate approvals on safety critical components. The voltage never dips below 11V during mains- battery transitions.

John

If the DC consumption is 7.5W, then if you take a SMPSU efficiency of say 80%, that would suggest a mains draw of less than 10W. The power factor will likely be rubbish though, with a a burst of current drawn only near the peaks of the mains cycle - so the real an apparent power could be 30VA. That would soak up some capacity on the UPS, but that would not translate to faster battery depletion since the real power will still only be consumed at the 10W rate.

(My ONT was fitted during the era where they fitted a battery backup unit as standard. It only has 4 AA rechargeable cells in it)

Doesn't sound ideal?

I am testing at various dc power levels up to the rated maximum of 36W. The UPS will actually deliver about 38W before the overcurrent cutout activates. I haven't looked at the mains input power. John

I wonder how much the static power would be? If the inverter is sized to deliver 600W for a PC, how much power does it cost to run the inverter when there's almost load on it? I wouldn't be surprised if there's some watts lost in the power conversion which happen irrespective of the load.

It would be an interesting test to see how long the inverter can run with no load until the battery is flat. I'm sure it differs by UPS, but it's hard to find data on such runtimes.

Theo

It’s the question of how much power the inverter takes that concerns me about this type of UPS. My power bank’s inverter uses 6W when idling, it’s a fair chunk when the actual load is 30W or less. It makes the mini-ups style more attractive.

My power bank doesn’t allow charge and discharge at the same time, otherwise it would have been a contender.

There are, yes. Although they are getting rather efficient. For a 600W Id guess at these days a couple of Watts

I have one of these and use one of the 12v outlets for the ONT:

Many thanks to all who replied in this thread, with very useful information. As had been suggested, the choice seems to be to go with a mini ups or a battery-powered inverter.

I had been using a mini on the previous router, now changed due to the upgrade to FTTP, which in turn means also providing power for the ONT.

I’m short of sockets here, with adapters and trailing leads making up the shortfall, so any kind of ups that provided two outputs (either 230V AC or

After looking at the suggestions for the inverter types and researching on Amazon, this one caught my eye:

More punting about found the mini that you linked to, unfortunately currently marked as out-of-stock, but I did find this one, which is very similar:

So, it’s pretty much boiled down to a choice between these, but I’m grateful for all the advice and insights that have been tendered.

Says it's 240V powered, yet seems it have barrel jack marked "input"?

s'pose it's got a wall wart that they keep out of sight on the photos.