UPS suitable only for a monitor

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OldGeek

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#285898 24-May-2021 10:24

Most existing threads on UPS deal with much larger-0scale UPS needs than mine. My daughter works from home using a laptop with a second monitor. In the event of a power failure her laptop will stay up on its built-in battery. The monitor has 230v to the unit and the electrical specs say 100-250v 1.2A. Now I am sure the ampage will differ for different voltages so it is difficult to size a UPS to protect it. Ideally when a power failure occurs the UPS would support the monitor for as long as the laptop battery supports the laptop. She is adamant that she needs both the laptop and monitor (ie 2 screens). I find the array of UPS devices available to be confusing so would appreciate pointers on what to look for in this instance - ie do I really need a tower-based device? The laptop and monitor involved are on the other side of the house to the ONT/Router/AP

I am am buying 2 Sentry Light devices with the optional 9ah batteries to power the ONT, router, WIFI AP and landline phones. The the first unit has 2x 12v outlets, the second unit has 1x 12v outlet and 1x 6v outlet for my dect phone at an off-the-shelf price.

Thanks in anticipation.

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Dynamic

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#2712071 24-May-2021 10:43

Is this a need or a want? Surely power failures are rare enough that she can just manage with the laptop screen for a couple of hours a year this happens? If there is a power cut at home, can she go to their office to work for the rest of the day? Or go and hang out with a colleague?

If it is critical to her work, perhaps her employer should be covering the cost of a modest UPS like the Eaton 5E that several items can be plugged into. I suspect (but do not know for sure) that these would give a better bang-for-buck than the little 12v/6v models.

If guessing the power requirements leaves too much room for being wrong (over-spec or under-spec), calculating power requirements for the UPS, we'd better find out how long her laptop battery lasts. I'd then use something like one of these https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/elto-power-meter/p/103559 to establish how much power the ONT/Router/WiFi gear needs to run so you can spec up a UPS that will last. This will also need to be done for the monitor. Once you have those, you can accurately start to spec up a UPS.

Once spec'd up, perhaps show her the pricing and where to buy. That may also re-confirm just how important it is if dear-old-Dad isn't actually going to pay for it!!!

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mdooher

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#2712128 24-May-2021 11:40

honestly download "duet" (or Similar) and plug her ipad into her laptop during said power cut. This will also mean she has two screens while on the road.

Both myself and my wife do this, works great

Matthew

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#2712170 24-May-2021 12:44

For the record, my daughter is self-employed working for an Australian company in NZ, paid by the hour. We live in a semi-rural area with the local lines company owned by a community trust - where power failures are a fact of life and frequent enough to warrant a modest investment in keeping the workstation lights on.

I was hoping that someone may have experience in a UPS that protects a mains-powered monitor. I am not looking for other alternatives.

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timmmay

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#2712183 24-May-2021 13:09

The Sentry Lite are good devices. Get a 30AH battery and i'll last a day or so. They're very close to releasing a new model that has some quite cool features, you might like to drop them an email before you order to check.

To power a monitor just buy any decent branded UPS. Use a sizing system to work out how large you need it based on your required runtime. If you have a power meter check the actual current draw, many specs overstate power draw. I had a UPS for a short time but the high pitched screeching noise it made really bugged me. Apparently not many people can hear it.

mdooher

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#2712185 24-May-2021 13:09

OldGeek:

For the record, my daughter is self-employed working for an Australian company in NZ, paid by the hour. We live in a semi-rural area with the local lines company owned by a community trust - where power failures are a fact of life and frequent enough to warrant a modest investment in keeping the workstation lights on.

I was hoping that someone may have experience in a UPS that protects a mains-powered monitor. I am not looking for other alternatives.

in that case just buy a standard mains powered (eton) or similar UPS. it will be the most bang for your buck

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/UPSPWR2555978/Eaton-5E-Tower-UPS-850VA--480W-2-ANZ-Outlets-Line?qr=GShopping&gclid=CjwKCAjw-qeFBhAsEiwA2G7Nl2wrZMrHtACA7Owzk9-SQmZBLSRUrXjdxDoYBhyXN8hqlHW7sIYdYxoCp7AQAvD_BwE

this will be plenty

you don't care about "power" the monitor is only 120W or so. You care about how long long it will last. If you want it to last more than say 1 1/2 hours get a bigger one.

these things are notoriously under rated unless you you buy a $1000 Schneider one of course (they are great I have one)

Matthew

trig42

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#2712261 24-May-2021 13:51

See if you can get one that you can disable the screeching sound on though. If the power goes out, it'll really scream at her until it comes back on.

Also, be aware of fans - if the unit is nearby to her work area, it could be annoyingly loud. The bigger ones (that you'll need to run a monitor for a few hours) are intended for use in commercial/office environments, not home offices.

ratsun81

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#2712262 24-May-2021 13:51

Most UPS's will work,

I will chime in as an owner of an Eaton 5E, they are fine until they are charging or running on battery with one of the most obnoxious fans heard outside of a datacentre.

Avoid this ups for anyone that is wanting to run a workstation and have a non-disruptive work environment.

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tripper1000

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#2712263 24-May-2021 14:01

I don't envy you, many OEM's are unable to provide propper specs, let alone the retailers.

Running a monitor for say 3 hours is not trivial. You're certainly not going to achieve this on a UPS the size of a shoe box. I think you will probably looking at at least a 15-20 kg UPS, which is going to dictate your form factor to a large degree.

You'll notice that most pro-sumer grade UPS's are rated at just a few minutes at 100% or 50% load and are intended to give you enough time to save data and safely shut down the computer, not to keep on computing for hours and hours

You'll need to bounce back and forth between the seller and OEM web sites to compare what is available with it's endurance, but you really need to define the load by measuring it first. (older or larger monitors used more, smaller/newer monitors use less).

You'll see that this Eaton (avialble at PB Tech for $212) has a graph in the specs that shows it lasts for about an hour at ~60 watts, (60watts = what my 24" monitor uses, yours might be different - best to measure it to be certain), so I would need something 3 times this size to last for 3 hours.

Also note that most UPS's have annoying alarms that sound in a power failure, so make sure you can silence the alarm on what ever you buy.

mdooher

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#2712271 24-May-2021 14:13

If you really want a good solution you could see if you can find a second hand APC UPS, something in the 1000 to 1600VA range

https://www.ebay.com/p/133932680?iid=390309738993&rt=nc something like this, then get a couple of new batteries, $50 each at you local electrical wholesaler. You can add battery boxes to these to increase the run time if you can justify the expense

Matthew

timmmay

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#2712407 24-May-2021 16:09

trig42:

See if you can get one that you can disable the screeching sound on though. If the power goes out, it'll really scream at her until it comes back on.

Also, be aware of fans - if the unit is nearby to her work area, it could be annoyingly loud. The bigger ones (that you'll need to run a monitor for a few hours) are intended for use in commercial/office environments, not home offices.

I suspect the screech is a quality thing.

Jase2985

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#2712422 24-May-2021 16:26

you will be spending a bit of money to keep a monitor going for a few hours

Mehrts

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#2712450 24-May-2021 17:21

I have a CyberPower UPS & a Dynamix UPS which are both totally silent during normal use.

Under power failure/on battery, the Dynamix unit makes a buzzing sound from the inverter, while the CyberPower unit has a quiet fan which kicks in.

The Dynamix UPS casing stays quite warm under normal use, and with minimal load (100w or so). The CyberPower remains cool to the touch.

Be aware that most cheaper UPS only have "modified sine wave" inverters such as the Dynamix one, which basically output a smoothed out AC square wave. This is fine for most power supplies inside electronics, however it can wreak havoc with others.

Meanwhile the more expensive units will have "pure sine wave" inverters, which output a nice smooth AC sine wave which is exactly what comes from wall outlets, so everything is compatible with these.

Senecio

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#2712588 24-May-2021 19:31

One thing to consider. How is the laptop connected to the monitor? If its connected via a docking station, often these will also require power to send a video signal to the monitor so it will also need to be protected. If its connected via USB C and that cable also provides power to the laptop then your UPS will need to be sized appropriately to power both the monitor and laptop.

SomeoneSomewhere

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#2713441 26-May-2021 22:58

Consider replacing the monitor with one that can run off 12V (or getting a third monitor...). They're generally more efficient and you avoid the losses associated with stepping the voltage up and back down, plus the standby losses associated with generating 230V.

A typical monitor will be <40W.