How would they ever know that you weren't using their supplied adapter?

Yeah, it's not like you throw the adapter away. If it breaks you just plug in the original PSU and hide the UPS. However so far so good, and I've had it for a year. An ONT might cost similar to a router, at a guess, they're mass produced and purchased in bulk so they probably get a pretty good deal.

Just had a quick look at the powercube specs. 120V output?

A lot of my small networking devices have 110-240V input for their powerpacks, but not all of them. 120V output for the powercube pretty much rules that device out. 

Just had my Constant Vigil Sentry Lite turn up a few days ago, now just waiting for my battery to arrive.

Looks very nicely made and I have to say I was surprised at the small size of it.

To anyone concerned, the Sentry Lite is probably a much higher quality power supply than the DC ones that ship with the ONTs - there is no reason to worry about using this instead of the official adapters.

Has anyone used the Sentry Lite with a battery other than a SLA?

I have a few 16+Ah 14.4V  Lipo packs that rarely get used.

spearsniper:

 

Has anyone used the Sentry Lite with a battery other than a SLA?

 

I have a few 16+Ah 14.4V  Lipo packs that rarely get used.

 

Charging is different between SLA and Li, I would be very very careful. Ask the manufacturer, they're quite responsive.

Yep - had a lipo pack inflate like a balloon on a lipo charger before, let alone on a SLA charger.
I was looking at throwing a diode in there, simply to stop the ability to charge the pack from the Sentry Lite.
I'll get in touch with them, just to make sure :)

spearsniper:

 

Has anyone used the Sentry Lite with a battery other than a SLA?

 

I have a few 16+Ah 14.4V  Lipo packs that rarely get used.

 

Hopefully people don't mind if I semi necro this thread, but it isn't that old and I came across it while looking for something else. 

Anyway if you want to use Lipo, the OpenUPS should work. However it's much more of a DIY option, but I guess if you're using Lipo you should expect that. (In the sense that if you don't know what you're doing I don't think you should be attaching Lipos to anything unless they were both sold for the purpose.) Also more expensive especially since it doesn't come with a power adapter. And you'll need to make the ONT connector yourself. 

I'm currently evaluating both myself although only for SLA. Sentry Lite seems simple and it also supposed to be relatively low internal power draw. But OpenUPS does have some nice features besides support for multiple chemistries including ability to change max discharge via the firmware. (It sounds like SentryLite can be adjusted during production, but not easily after.) Also 6A max (10A peak) instead of 4A max output. And the ability to monitor the UPS over USB or SMBUS. (Battery with Sentry Lite is too small to be of interest to me.)

(There are the other mini-box.com options including some with higher maximum power but none of them seem to quite do what I want. While for my purposes I don't need a UPS per se, I'm fine with a delayed switchover; I would like it to be automatic switchover plus automatic charging when power is restored.)

I looked at OpenUPS, but it would've required much more work. Sentry Lite does have more power draw than I'd expect, but it's still quite low - I forget the number. For the hobbyist OpenUPS could be fun, but for people who just want a simple battery backup for their ONT/modem Sentry Lite seems easier.

timmmay:

 

I looked at OpenUPS, but it would've required much more work. Sentry Lite does have more power draw than I'd expect, but it's still quite low - I forget the number. For the hobbyist OpenUPS could be fun, but for people who just want a simple battery backup for their ONT/modem Sentry Lite seems easier.

 

To me the biggest advantage for OpenUPS isn't really the powerdraw. Really it's the ability to adjust max discharge, and to a lesser extent the monitoring. (In particularly, it should provide a bit more detail when evaluating then battery than a simple discharge until end test.) 

That said, power draw is a consideration. I'm thinking of adding a fast car charger or even 2 for phones/tablets. I think I can just use the USB on my router but it will be slow. Also if I get sick of the ISP supplied router and end up going with a fancier possibly Linux or FreeBSD box.

Nil Einne:

 

 

 

To me the biggest advantage for OpenUPS isn't really the powerdraw. Really it's the ability to adjust max discharge, and to a lesser extent the monitoring. (In particularly, it should provide a bit more detail when evaluating then battery than a simple discharge until end test.) 

 

That said, power draw is a consideration. I'm thinking of adding a fast car charger or even 2 for phones/tablets. I think I can just use the USB on my router but it will be slow. Also if I get sick of the ISP supplied router and end up going with a fancier possibly Linux or FreeBSD box.

 

Not sure how adjusting the max discharge helps. Two devices are connected, ONT and router, you either give them the power they need or you don't.

I have a device that takes 12V and charges two phones at a good rate, from ebay, cost virtually nothing. I linked to it from one thread or another, I forget which. I have an 8AH battery always connected, plus a 33AH battery sitting there not connected for if there's a real emergency plus a couple of spare 33AH batteries. I charge those batteries occasionally from the Sentry Lite, but I've been considering getting either solar to keep them topped up (helpful in a real emergency) or a car charger to condition them.