UPS vs. Battery Powered Generator/Station
I see lots of battery power generators on a market along with traditional uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) used for computers. Wonder what's the real difference or just a marketing thing to call it something else.
Battery powered station/generator example:
https://www.amazon.com/Jackery-Portable-Power-Station-Generator/dp/B07D29QNMJ?tag=generadvis-20&th=1
Traditional UPS example:
Battery powered generators do look better with more ports maybe. They do not have an external powers (some do) like gas engine or solar panels. They cannot power up a regular refrigerator or A/C unit either.
For a regular apartment household in the event of a power outage. What would be recommended to keep power for a couple of phones, tablets, laptops with external computer screens? Traditional UPS will do, or Battery Powered Generator/Station.
Thoughts?
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Can't see much difference except at stated one has a handle and can be powered from 12v car as well as mains. There is no energy efficient bypass mode for the battery power station, it has a 12V power brick so isn't fed directly from the mains. As to capacity they go up to 1000Wh at 1000W so you could run four average computer servers off one for an hour*.
Bit of a price difference, a 1000VA pure sine APC UPS is half the price of the 1000W Jackery unit. That's probably down to battery cost Lithium Vs Lead Acid, Lithium will take more duty cycles, UPSs aren't meant to be charged up and discharged every day whereas the Jackery one is.
*Oops, there's a 2000WH/2000W one as well.
Bit of a price difference, a 1000VA pure sine APC UPS is half the price of the 1000W Jackery unit. That's probably down to battery cost Lithium Vs Lead Acid, Lithium will take more duty cycles, UPSs aren't meant to be charged up and discharged every day whereas the Jackery one is.
*Oops, there's a 2000WH/2000W one as well.
First question you have to ask is:
How long do you want to keep these devices running in the event of a power outage?
Then comes the math... look at the power draw of all the devices you want running.
That will tell you how big you need to go.
They make small and pretty quiet gas generators these days.
I have two smaller UPS systems to keep things running for about 20 minutes. One for the computer and one for the DVR system on my TV.
That gives me enough time to drag out the extension cords and fire up my small generator:
https://www.yamahagenerators.com/Yamaha-EF2000iSv2-p/ef2000isv2.htm
It is pricier than some of the smaller ones but I can run my computer, TV and DVR and the full size refrigerator in the kitchen when poser wants to stay off for a while.
I might be able to run more but that is pretty much all I've needed during long outages!
Think the current record is about a week! I get about 6-8 hours powering the TV, computer and fridge on a tank of gas.
How long do you want to keep these devices running in the event of a power outage?
Then comes the math... look at the power draw of all the devices you want running.
That will tell you how big you need to go.
They make small and pretty quiet gas generators these days.
I have two smaller UPS systems to keep things running for about 20 minutes. One for the computer and one for the DVR system on my TV.
That gives me enough time to drag out the extension cords and fire up my small generator:
https://www.yamahagenerators.com/Yamaha-EF2000iSv2-p/ef2000isv2.htm
It is pricier than some of the smaller ones but I can run my computer, TV and DVR and the full size refrigerator in the kitchen when poser wants to stay off for a while.
I might be able to run more but that is pretty much all I've needed during long outages!
Think the current record is about a week! I get about 6-8 hours powering the TV, computer and fridge on a tank of gas.
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>>But shouldn't one try the best to avoid any fossile fuels like GAS or OIL these days
Where do the products to make batteries and the processes that manufacture them come from?
If you are out of power for days, how do you plan on recharging them to keep the devices running?
Where do the products to make batteries and the processes that manufacture them come from?
If you are out of power for days, how do you plan on recharging them to keep the devices running?
Avoid using gas and oil by charging it via electric? Where the heck do you think your electric supplier gets the fuel for their power stations?
Dams & Rivers.
Hydroelectric is all very well if you live in a mountainous country but the US where Tiras25 is gets 60% of their electricity from burning fossil fuel.
Hydroelectric in the USA is only 6.3% of the total energy produced, and just under 1/3 of all renewables in the USA. It should be noted that California does not consider Hydroelectric power to be part of their renewable portfolio. They still get roughly 10%-15% of their electricity from Hydroelectric. Not counting Hydro, they get roughly 1/3 of their energy from renewables.
In the USA, Coal is 22% and Methane is 38%, so 60% of all energy produced is from fossil fuels. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us.php
Currently, the USA produces and uses mostly its own fossil fuels and isn't very dependent on foreign sources. They raised production in recent years to become energy independent from foreign sources, when they once imported half the oil from OPEC.
The current pricing is due to OPEC+ choking the supply to profit themselves. American producers are also purposely not drilling or pumping all their currently available sources, because they're also benefiting from record profits with the higher pricing. They're putting out a false narrative that the government isn't opening new areas to drill. In fact, they're perfectly capable of pumping enough oil to supply national demand with current sources, because they did so just in the previous few years. They just want the current high profit price gouging. They're also using the narrative to attempt open up more drilling rights in places that have been denied to them.
Just a few years ago, the USA out-produced OPEC in barrels of crude. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/where-our-oil-comes-from.php They went from more than 50% dependence on foreign crude to nearly 0% dependence and basically more than doubled their production in just a few years.
OPEC+ is just sitting on much larger reserves of oil and specifically of thin crude, which is much easier to extract than the thicker crude that the USA uses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves The USA has plenty of fossil fuels available for their current demand. Their neighbor Canada also has known large reserves of tar sands and shale. Whether or not it's prudent to be using all those reserves when the military depends on it, is a completely different issue.
The USA also has the largest known coal reserves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves It's a resource rich country in multiple types of resources, not limited to energy.
High prices in oil will just spur faster adoption of alternative sources and increased fuel efficiency. I've seen this happen previously, then oil prices would drop and the alternative sources would get abandoned again. Rinse and repeat.
In the USA, Coal is 22% and Methane is 38%, so 60% of all energy produced is from fossil fuels. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us.php
Currently, the USA produces and uses mostly its own fossil fuels and isn't very dependent on foreign sources. They raised production in recent years to become energy independent from foreign sources, when they once imported half the oil from OPEC.
The current pricing is due to OPEC+ choking the supply to profit themselves. American producers are also purposely not drilling or pumping all their currently available sources, because they're also benefiting from record profits with the higher pricing. They're putting out a false narrative that the government isn't opening new areas to drill. In fact, they're perfectly capable of pumping enough oil to supply national demand with current sources, because they did so just in the previous few years. They just want the current high profit price gouging. They're also using the narrative to attempt open up more drilling rights in places that have been denied to them.
Just a few years ago, the USA out-produced OPEC in barrels of crude. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/where-our-oil-comes-from.php They went from more than 50% dependence on foreign crude to nearly 0% dependence and basically more than doubled their production in just a few years.
OPEC+ is just sitting on much larger reserves of oil and specifically of thin crude, which is much easier to extract than the thicker crude that the USA uses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves The USA has plenty of fossil fuels available for their current demand. Their neighbor Canada also has known large reserves of tar sands and shale. Whether or not it's prudent to be using all those reserves when the military depends on it, is a completely different issue.
The USA also has the largest known coal reserves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves It's a resource rich country in multiple types of resources, not limited to energy.
High prices in oil will just spur faster adoption of alternative sources and increased fuel efficiency. I've seen this happen previously, then oil prices would drop and the alternative sources would get abandoned again. Rinse and repeat.
No Swiss commodity brokers involved there then.
Traditional UPS still mostly use lead acid batteries which work best if they're constantly charged. Discharging below 80% too frequently will shorten the life of the batteries. Fully discharging them down to 0% will shorten the life by 4-6 months. These deep discharge lead acid batteries will generally last 5-7 years if they don't get discharged, but that also means the capacity is reduced as it ages. You really need to change them out at 4 years if you need more than half the capacity. I've twice had to replace lead acid batteries at 2 years because of quarterly full discharges caused by power utility failures. They're still far cheaper than lithium batteries.