What is the right product for me?

[Anonymous user]

What I am after is not really a UPS, but rather a battery based power supply.

Our organization has built a cart that holds four laptops (with batteries) and an all-in-one PC. All four devices are plugged into a power strip within the belly of the cart. What the team wants is a solution that will allow this arrangement to operate without being plugged into shore power.

The laptops have dedicated batteries. No big deal there. We plug them in when not in use and they will last for the duration.

The all-in-one does not have a battery. It requires 110v at all times.

Is there a UPS that will work for my needs WITHOUT having the annoying tell-tale beep for up to eight hours?

Thanks!

Tim

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Some UPSs can have the beeper disabled if you want. I am not sure if there are any more economical options out there but you'd then have to size a UPS to provide the amount of runtime you want for the wattage this PC requires. How much runtime are you looking for? Plus, this sounds like it'd require very frequent if not daily discharges of your battery which will cause a lead acid battery to not last long at all versus something a laptop battery. With minimal usage, batteries last 3-5 years typically. A discharge every day of your UPS battery would make it last no more than a year I imagine. Then depending on the solution, you'd need external battery packs which can take up space. Everytime the UPS discharges, you'll need to wait for it to recharge which can take a while depending on the amount of battery packs you have - it might not charge up for at least 24 hours even if you have a lot of batteries (depending on the requirements you decided).

I am thinking a UPS might not be the correct application personally because it will be very expensive in the long term and you might be paying for features on a UPS you don't even need.

I am having trouble figuring out though what else you could do..

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