Brownouts - From a Business Perspective

[Gary D]

Our problem is that during a brownout the local cell tower goes down as well.

[Hobbit112]

2 hours ago, Gary D said:

Our problem is that during a brownout the local cell tower goes down as well.

a Smart tower?  I use Globe during brownouts as I found them to usually be powered during these outages. 

[jimeve]

4 hours ago, GeoffH said:

I think they're available on Lazada but I can't check right now because I'm still in Aussie organizing the sale of an investment property here and will be for a few more months :(

There are plenty of ups on Lazada. https://www.lazada.com.ph/products/prolink-pro701sfc-line-interactive-ups-with-avr-black-i267887304-s380115986.html?spm=a2o4l.searchlistcategory.list.2.2e2545f53gg9zw&search=1

[GeoffH]

Thanks jimeve, I was having trouble searching it from here, it kept sending me to the Malaysian Lazada web site.

 

This one would suit a router in my opinion

https://www.lazada.com.ph/products/apc-bx650li-ms-325-watts650-va-ups-black-i190892288-s241310017.html?spm=a2o4l.searchlist.list.16.681d47ceVV4lcu&search=1

 

This one would suit most desktop computers (there are ones with larger batteries that would give more standby time and ones with smaller batteries that would give less standby time but personally I wouldn't go below about 500VA for a desktop and monitor system).

https://www.lazada.com.ph/products/apc-bx950u-ms-back-ups-950va-black-i190872530-s241288117.html?spm=a2o4l.searchlist.list.30.681d47ceVV4lcu&search=1

 

Some models will communicate via a USB cable to the computer and do a normal shut down once the battery capcity starts to get low, others rely on the user (the smaller one above doesn't have the socket for the USB cable but the larger one linked does).

 

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by GeoffH

[hk blues]

12 hours ago, Howard said:

You still are using the PC. When you turn on the WiFi hotspot on your phone you are creating a wireless network that you connect to with your PC... there will be a network name and password.... just search for wireless networks on your PC choose the network(ex:IPhone) put in the password and boom you are using the LTE from your phone. Just like connecting to a modem. Try it, you’ll like it! It also comes in handy when you change residences so you can do classes while waiting for your service to get reconnected.

Thanks - I misunderstood your original post.  Yes, I can tether to a wi-fi hotspot using my smartphone but the problem is the PC is upstairs and the signal there is very weak so I doubt it would be good enough for a Skype call.  When I try to connect to my modem using wi-fi with the PC the connection is very poor so it will be even worse with a smartphone.   I could move the PC downstairs when there is an issue but by the time I have done that the lesson will be too late to start. 

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, Hobbit112 said:

a Smart tower?  I use Globe during brownouts as I found them to usually be powered during these outages. 

Same here... I have never had a problem with our Globe modem during a brownout.  The engineer told me each main box has battery back up so should be ok for most brownouts.  Once it did run out though - we had 2 rather long brownouts within an hour or so of each other and the battery had not had a chance to recharge itself between.

[hk blues]

47 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

This one would suit a router in my opinion

https://www.lazada.com.ph/products/apc-bx650li-ms-325-watts650-va-ups-black-i190892288-s241310017.html?spm=a2o4l.searchlist.list.16.681d47ceVV4lcu&search=1

 

 

How does this work, Geoff - 

I assume that when we have an outage we simply turn on the battery unit and then plug in the router to one of the sockets and that's it?  It would then be plugged in to be recharged once it was running low?

Is it as simple as that?  

[GeoffH]

30 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Is it as simple as that?  

 

It is even simpler than that, you leave the UPS plugged into mains power all the time and the charger keeps the battery safely topped up by trickle charging it when needed. 

 

The router power plug is plugged into the UPS all the time (depending upon the socket on the router you buy you might need to use an adaptor but by preference you'd buy one with Japan/Philippines type sockets on it # ) and the  devices plugged into the router run all the time from the voltage generated by the battery and invertor (which is kept charged at the same time by the mains).  This is totally transparent to you, it's just like plugging the router into a power board as far as you''re concerned. 

 

Then when the mains voltage drops too low or stops all together the battery stops being charged but continues to supply power for the inverter and the devices plugged in. 

 

There is nothing you have to do except when the battery gets low it will start beeping and it's better to switch devices off then and push the off button on the UPS.  If it's a smart device like a computer and it's set up with power management properly enabled on the computer then it will even do the shutdown of the computer and UPS all by itself.

If worst case you're not at home and the power is out long enough for the battery to run low then the UPS will (after beeping for a while) shut down anyway long before the battery is low enough to be damaged.  That's just like switching the power off at the wall which is ok for most things.

 

You could use either the smaller one or the larger one for a router, it depends how long you want back up power for.

The smaller one should be ok for an hour or an hour and a half, the larger one two or three times that long.

If you want to run a desktop computer and monitor as well then assume 20 minutes for the small one and maybe an hour for the big one.

There are very large ones that would last a very long time available but they cost 'very large' amounts of money :)

 

NB don't hook a laser printer up, they use a LOT of power.

# The sockets on the UPS for the router I linked has a multi-socket on the back that will take a 2 pin Philippines plug (and an Australian plug and a couple of other types).

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by GeoffH

[hk blues]

3 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

 

It is even simpler than that, you leave the UPS plugged into mains power all the time and the charger keeps the battery safely topped up by trickle charging it when needed. 

 

The router power plug is plugged into the UPS all the time (depending upon the socket on the router you buy you might need to use an adaptor but by preference you'd buy one with Japan/Philippines type sockets on it) and the  devices plugged into the router run all the time from the voltage generated by the battery and invertor (which is kept charged at the same time by the mains).  This is totally transparent to you, it's just like plugging the router into a power board as far as you''re concerned. 

 

The when the mains voltage drops too low or stops all together the battery stops being charged but continues to supply power for the inverter and the devices plugged in. 

 

There is nothing you have to do except when the battery gets low it will start beeping and it's better to switch devices off then and push the off button on the UPS.  If it's a smart device like a computer and it's set up with power management properly enabled on the computer then it will even do the shutdown of the computer and UPS all by itself.

If worst case you're not at home and the power is out long enough for the battery to run low then the UPS will (after beeping for a while) shut down anyway long before the battery is low enough to be damaged.  That's just like switching the power off at the wall which is ok for most things.

 

NB don't hook a laser printer up, they use a LOT of power.

Thanks for the thorough explanation, Geoff - I now get why it's called a UPS!

Let's say I didn't want to keep the unit on all the time and only wanted to use it when there is an outage.  Could I simply turn on the unit when their is an outage and plug the modem in and hey presto,  the modem would work?  Of course, this method would require me to keep any eye on the battery level to keep it topped up.   

 

[GeoffH]

4 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Thanks for the thorough explanation, Geoff - I now get why it's called a UPS!

Let's say I didn't want to keep the unit on all the time and only wanted to use it when there is an outage.  Could I simply turn on the unit when their is an outage and plug the modem in and hey presto,  the modem would work?  Of course, this method would require me to keep any eye on the battery level to keep it topped up.   

 

You can do that but most UPS manufacturers don't recommend it because the battery will self discharge when stored without being connected.

If you're going to store it not connected for more than a short time then the recommended method is to slide open the cover (like you were going to replace the battery) and unplug the leads from the inverter to the battery.

 

Don't quote me because I am retired now and the rules might have changed but it used to be the case that the battery warranty was null and void if the units were stored without disconnecting the leads.  And the batteries have a limited number of charge/discharge cycles, they're designed to be kept full.

 

I guess I'm saying you could... but don't 

Edited January 19, 2020 by GeoffH