UPS for WiFi?

crash7

crash7

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Crash7
Power went out for a whopping 15 minutes just now. Kid is elearning. Chrome book is battery, but internet goes out (of course).

Any recommendations for a UPS for the living room that would really only need to feed the cable modem, WiFi router and one 8port switch? Something to keep WiFi up and going for a while.

Sub question for a second UPS for my work desktop in my office, in case heaven forbid I want to work a bit while power is out. (Dell tower, 4port switch, Meraki and a couple monitors).

And..... go.


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any small UPS will keep wifi up.

How long do you want it to last?

Do you have just one wifi device or do you have wifi mesh or ?
 
I have had good luck with CyberPower UPS's. Have a couple of CP1500PFCLCD's that I bought off Amazon in 2017 that are still going strong. I have one that keeps my desk computers up and running (haven't had an outage longer than about half an hour, but the UPS said it would power it for about an hour and a half give or take ... which is 1 iMac Pro, 1 Mac mini, 1 MacBook Pro and 2 separate monitors, plus Apple TV, HomePods, and a pile of iOS and watchOS devices on chargers) and one that powers the network rack (cable modem, PoE switch that powers the access points, various device/network bridges, etc). Overkill for what you need (though it would keep it going for quite a while!) but they have smaller models that are like larger power strips that would probably suit your needs well.
 
oh.... and don't forget that the UPS batteries need to be replaced occassionally. Batteries don't last forever.
 
And if you get a UPS, test it. Set up a (fan or heater), pull the wall plug, verify that the UPS keeps powering the device, then plug it back in and verify that it charges its battery again.

I had one that seemed good (can't remember the brand) but we lost power for a while and the darn thing didn't recharge. Bought a brand-new one, tested it, and IT wouldn't recharge.

Forget what brand that was, but I've been running Cyberpower since with no issues.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Also don’t forget modem or ONT depending on your service as well as router may or may not need backup power.
 
Bob Noel said:
oh.... and don't forget that the UPS batteries need to be replaced occassionally. Batteries don't last forever.
Click to expand...
Please find me one where the replacement battery isn't 90% of the cost of a new unit.
 
Bob Noel said:
any small UPS will keep wifi up.

How long do you want it to last?

Do you have just one wifi device or do you have wifi mesh or ?
Click to expand...

WiFi is a mesh with a repeater? back in the bedroom at the far end of the house. I’m not worried about that one. Main living room one covers house pretty good.
Something to power the modem, WiFi/router and the 8port switch for at least an hour or two.


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I have a UPS on my equipment rack which has the DSL modem, my router, and the ethernet switches. The switches are POE and feed the wifi hotspots.
 
I have a CyberPower OR500LCDRM1U Smart App LCD UPS, 500VA/300W rack-mount UPS for my network gear. It will power my network for just over an hour.

The equipment it powers includes the cable modem, UniFi Dream Machine Pro gateway/router, four 8-port switches, and one wireless access point.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XJJN60

It is the black box, behind the silver UDO Pro, on the vertical wall rack mount.

NCC 2020-11-05 UDM Pro.jpg
 
Kenny Phillips said:
Please find me one where the replacement battery isn't 90% of the cost of a new unit.
Click to expand...

For the consumer APC units, the replacement battery is about 50% of the device. The knock-off chinese battery is less.
 
weilke said:
For the consumer APC units, the replacement battery is about 50% of the device. The knock-off chinese battery is less.
Click to expand...

LOL. Chinese battery makers are knocking off and undercutting the products of other Chinese battery makers? Imagine that. What has the world come to...
 
Kenny Phillips said:
Please find me one where the replacement battery isn't 90% of the cost of a new unit.
Click to expand...

hmmm, pretty much any of my consumer UPS units cost significantly more than the replacement batteries. And if, rather than tossing the old unit, I replace the batteries, I can easily turn in the old batteries for recycling (there is a local store that specializes in batteries of all kinds).
 
Btw two obnoxious “features” that most of these units have.

1. constant loud audible alarm that you can’t disable (short of physically altering a circuit board). Kinda makes sense in a server rack, plain obnoxious in a home environment when people may be trying to sleep after the power goes out.

2. Not coming back up if fully discharged. I’ve run into this both at home and professionally. I think it’s a bug, maybe it’s intended as a feature. Either way unit fully discharges during a power failure and goes offline. Power comes back and either it doesn’t turn it’s outlets back on OR it attempts a test of the inverter which fails due to a dead battery and doesn’t switch the outlets back on. This to me is a poor design because, presumably if you’ve plugged something into a UPS you need it to always be on or at least on as much as possible.

I’ve had to run out on a number of early morning emergency service calls only to find the only issue was a UPS didn’t come back online after an overnight power outage. Less annoying, I have a setup at home like OP is wanting with my router/modem plugged into a UPS. Woke up a few mornings after outages with no internet because the stupid device ran its batteries out and wouldn’t turn back on. I may have in the end had more downtime with the UPS than I would have without.
 
Almost all UPS units use totally standard SLA batteries. Usually a common shape too. Sometimes with funny wires. So usually the 'knockoffs' are just as good as the originals. If you want to pay for them you can usually even upgrade to name brands.
 
Thanks for all the replies so far.
The amazon reviews of various APC and Cyberpower units appear to be hit and miss. Interesting.

In those reviews I’ve seen comments about certain units not flipping back to normal and charging the battery again after the power comes on. Is there something technical I can look for in the unit’s specs to find this without depending on SGOTI?


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chartbundle said:
Almost all UPS units use totally standard SLA batteries. Usually a common shape too. Sometimes with funny wires. So usually the 'knockoffs' are just as good as the originals. If you want to pay for them you can usually even upgrade to name brands.
Click to expand...
The newer APC units have gone to some proprietary battery packs. There are relatively standard barreries in most of them, but it's worth figuring that out ahead of time as the cost more.

APC has a mixed reputation (though I've got a couple and end up replacing the batteries every 3 years +/-).

TrippLite tends to be a bit better reputation wise, but I think they're more expensive.
 
Question about internet and power outages. I'm fortunate and rarely have power outages and I can't remember the last one. Does your internet ever go out when your power fails (assuming your modem and router were on a UPS)? I would assume it would if the power failure also affected the local cable or dsl station but not if it was a localized outage.
 
My AT&T high speed (100 Mb/s) modem/wi-fi router is powered by a wall wart with 12 VDC output. I just bought a Bioenno Lithium Iron Phosphate 12 VDC 12Ah battery. The specialized charger from Bioenno continuously charges the battery and the battery continuously powers the modem/router. The battery keeps the modem/router powered for 12 hours. Utility power outages are transparent as far as my internet connection and wi-fi router operation are concerned. It's been in operation for two years without a hiccup. It's cheap and works well.

DSC00305 1k.jpg

DSC00307 1k.JPG
 
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ColoPilot said:
Question about internet and power outages. I'm fortunate and rarely have power outages and I can't remember the last one. Does your internet ever go out when your power fails (assuming your modem and router were on a UPS)? I would assume it would if the power failure also affected the local cable or dsl station but not if it was a localized outage.
Click to expand...

Yes. I have fiber and need to also have my OTU on the side of the house on a UPS. Took me a few outages to figure that out, luckily our 100 year old neighborhood wires supply me plenty of outages to tinker :)

So if I have my OTU, Router, and assorted switchgear/wifi mesh nodes on UPS, everything works without skipping a beat.
 
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