Battery back up for router.

Norman_Castle

Anyone use or is well informed about battery back ups, uninterruptable power suppy (UPS) for pc's specifically to keep the router working during power cuts?

matelodave

Interesting that you are also looking - it could be an opportunity for someone.

I've been exploring the options as we've now been transferred to BT Digital Voice and so far ,apart from some odd stuff on Amazon, it seems that the only viable solution is for something like an APC 230v backup ( APC Back-UPS ES - BE325-UK - Uninterruptible Power Supply 325VA (4 Outlets, Surge protected) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories )

or possibly a CCTV camera back-up supply like this - 12V2A 22.2W UPS Uninterrupted Power Supply Backup Power Mini Battery for Camera Router 12V2A22W on OnBuy

My Optical Terminal Unit has a backup supply (provided by BT) which utilises four rechargeable Ni-Mh cells and give a couple of hours, but AFAIK they don't even provide that anymore.

I've got a couple of ideas spinning in my head to use a 12v alarm battery with a charger and buck converter to stabilise the 12v for the router . There are a several DIY solutions on YouTube which would require some general electronics expertise to put together which could be worth looking at. this - https://youtu.be/IlEnEn7ptmc

Looking forward to see if anyone else has solved the problem

knightstyle

Does it matter if there is a break between losing power and the router connecting to an alternative power source?
If you need no break in the supply it becomes more expensive.  the modem will run all the time in the battery with an AC adaptor and the normal power charging the battery.
if a short break is OK then a simple switch to a battery powered AC adaptor, when the mains is lost, will work and be cheaper.
Also be sure what power you need to power the modem and any other equipment.
I haven't used them for modems but used lots for telephone systems.

Sandtree

Norman_Castle said:

Anyone use or is well informed about battery back ups, uninterruptable power suppy (UPS) for pc's specifically to keep the router working during power cuts?

Are you wanting specific models?

You'd need to clarify what you need to keep running, its unclear if you want a PC and a router or just the router? How long do you want/need it to be able to run for?

Having property in a part of the world that suffers fairly frequent power supply issues if you go to Office Depot or equiv there they always have a large number of UPS options from little things that just give you time to save docs before your desktop loses power to ones for small offices that can run a few devices for a reasonable period - beyond that you tend to be in generator territory.

That said an ex-boss once worked in a small office but happened to have a load of servers in it. At 10am every thursday there was a terrible rumbling noise and the whole room shook. After a few weeks of this he went outside and found an always locked door was open and inside was a generator and a chap making some adjustments and he said it was a power generator for the office in the event of an outage longer than the UPS could last (~10 minutes) and he had to come each week to check it worked.

About 3 months later there was a powercut, the UPS kicked in and a couple of minutes later the generator kicked in but after 10 minutes the lights dimmed, the computers all went off but the generator was still running. The next thursday he waited for the engineer and asked "what happened? Thought you tested it every week". The chap said "My job is to make sure it turns on and it does... it hasnt been hooked up since they redid the server room 4 years ago"

matelodave

The problem is that unless the router stays up for a second or so after the outage to give time for the backup supply to restore , the router re-boots and all the stuff that's connected to it has to re-aquire the DNS connection so you need a fast transfer to backup or no-break supply

We get quite a few short term power dropouts where we live and the BT router takes a minute or two to reboot which is actually slower than some of the stuff that I've got connected so they cant find their IP address and start sulking.

It's probably not a big problem for telephony although you'd lose the connection and have to redial but other stuff can take 10-15 minutes or more before restoration

matelodave

This looks like the perfect item but I reckon its too cheap to be reliable -  8000mAh UPS Uninterrupted Backup Power Supply for Router Attendance Machine | eBay

[Deleted User]

I looked at UPS and found that the capacity vs cost is not good for uninterruptible vs an portable power pack - I'm happy to accept an interruption and power up the router again when I'm ready.

You will find a lot of UPS will only give you a few minutes for a PC and maybe an hour for a router - they are designed to deal with short or transient power interruptions and to give time for a safe shut down rather than long term power backup.

All the items linked by previous comments will not last long at all.

I have the following for my emergency power cut situations - 2 of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08RNPYLQW/

That will last about 8-10 hours for just my router and modem or will recharge my laptop 4 times if needed or power other 200 watt or less devices around the house.

If the power cut exceeds that or I need to power other devices, then I use this:

https://www.aldi.co.uk/scheppach-1,76hp-inverter-generator/p/806491470899400

Heedtheadvice

@[Deleted User] has it right again (I'll be looking for my tip later!).

Really the need has to be specified before anybody can make sensible suggestions.

@Norman_Castle you should tell us what you are trying to achieve, many hints in above posts.

Such as:

Just filter out brownouts, dropouts, longer mains failures (how long?)

Is it just the router, PC/Laptop more that you want to supply (total power you need to supply)

Presumption mains AC supply you want to maintain (not lower voltage AC such as plug in device psu, DC e.g 12v,5v or other )

Any other special need such as portability "landline" digital phone(s), locations, wifi extenders etc.

As has been posted there are off the shelf sytems such as UPS, that posted by tallmansix other battery backup systems, generators, combination devices etc.

They are generally not cheap and the price rises considerably the higher the power and the longer it maintaines power loss and what functionality is has. So how much power and how long is fundamental so you can then assess the risk of a power problem and implications (such as personal convenience through to business loss) vs complexity and cost. Until you specify those we are all shooting in the dark!!

Norman_Castle

The back up would be just for the router. The situation is for a rellative in a village with multiple problems. Currently with talktalk for landline but has to have internet included as well but internet through the phoneline is almost unuseable, because of this she also has gigaclear for internet which is very good, she has thick stone walls making mobile phone signal indoors very poor, sometimes unusable. She also pays an extra £10 to talktalk for any time calls. She wants to keep a land line as there are occasional power cuts and is concerned she may need help during a power cut but cannot contact anyone. She's also considering a wearable call alert. Currently unavoidably paying over £80 per month for all the above. I've suggested wifi calling to help with the mobile but without power that won't work during power cuts. Gigaclear are the only fibre option, they can include a landline through their fibre but this doesn't work without power plus I looked on their website last night and their introductory price, £30 will almost double after 18 months which is next month for my aunt. Satelitte internet is an option which may be taken up if the gigaclear price rise is unavoidable, however the satelitte internet has a signal booster to supply the village which is powered from one of the properties and will not work during a power cut.

Its a difficult situation possibly quite common.  

I had considered a back up for my cctv using emergency lightiing. I've got a few emergency lighting bulkheads containing batteries and charging transformers. These power the light at a lower illumination during power outages. For anyone looking for a diy solution it might be possible to adapt these.

matelodave

If you aren't bothered about a short break in supply and are quite happy to shift the plugs around then a inverter and car battery would do the job.

We can run a 240v  22" TV from our 12v caravan battery for a fair amount of time using a cheap 150W Maplin inverter. (a bit like this DollaTek 150W WATT Car Power Inverter DC 12V to AC 220V USB Port 5V 2.1A for Notebook, IPad, Smartphones, Iphone, Camping, ect.: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo )

I've no doubt that you could connect the battery to a suitable charger and run the inverter continuously to power the router, giving you a no break supply.

onomatopoeia99

Routers take very little power, consequently even a basic UPS will provide plenty of running time.  Any major supplier of IT components, e.g. ebuyer, will have a range, and there are loads on ebay.  APC is a decent brand in my experience, but I tend to buy rackmount rather than things intended for domestic use.

The problems you might face are that UPS typically come with IEC C13 sockets (basically matching the end of a computer power lead) to supply their power, not UK three pin mains sockets, meaning if the router is powered by a little "brick" mains adapter you won't be able to plug it in directly to the UPS.  There are some that provide UK 3 pin socket outputs, but they are less common. Also they all use lead acid batteries so are heavy and the batteries will fail after a few years.