Question Battery Backup For Laptop Due to Power Outage?

pauly01

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Where I'm located, there is frequent power outages. The issue is im on the computer most of the day and when im doing a certain thing... it can be at least 8 hours or up to 10 hours or a bit longer. Thus imagine im doing something for money online so when i do this, i can't afford my electricity going out as it costs me money. If power goes out and it doesn't come back say within an hour or a bit more, then I'm screwed unless I go and find the nearest place with an electric outlet. I do have internet on my phone so i tether it so that isn't a big issue for internet. But power is a whole different story. Now before someone says find a different apartment or whatnot, in this city, when there is a power outage, it happens with many apartments. I mean certain areas might not have the power go out but when power goes out due to a storm which is usually almost always the case of when this happens, most ppl lose power. Sometimes it goes out for a few minutes... randomly... other times it could be an hour or even a few hours. There has been rare times when it was out overnight and once for close to 2 days.


So if im not doing anything at the moment or just web browsing online, no big deal. But when i play online poker... well i cant afford this to happen. I could go to a starbucks and walk there or take a cab but the issue is when there is a power outage, there is usually a huge storm and well its raining hard and going to be hard to catch a cab.


My laptop is a dell xps 15 9550 laptop. I get at max 1.5 hours on it on battery with the loest battery setting and 25% brightness. I always have it connected to the power outlet when using it as i use it similar to like a desktop computer. I connect 2 external monitors to it when im using it.


I recently bought a dell powerbank...

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/del...18000-mah-pw7015l/apd/451-bbkv/pc-accessories



I tried using it to practice how long it gets. What i do is say i use my laptop on battery when its 100% full. Let say i get 1.5 hours of battery on it before its 5% battery only. Now i connect my already charged power bank to my laptop and while i continue to use the laptop. It would charge about 1h 45m before the powerbank runs out. And when this happens, i get at max 80% battery on my laptop. So now with battery only.. i get about 1h 15m at the absolute max. So basically if i had to use my laptop on battery and powerbank... i get around 3h45m to 4h30m at the absolute max... before i no longer have any power left. That would not be enough for me since when im on the computer... i have to be on at least 8 hours at the minimum. But if it happens later during the day, well if im done in a few hours... well the powerbank would be good enough. But say it happens early in the day or a bit later on... that is not enough.



I know if i buy another same powerbank, i would get another 2h30m to 3h at the absolute max on it. So that would make it 6h45m to 7h30m with the 2 powerbanks. That is good and usually more than enough. My issue is i am not in the US now and cannot buy this powerbank again. I was in the US for a short time only before i left so i got it in the US.
 

pauly01

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I read about UPS and how it powers your devices when there is power outage. Now i read they last for 20 minutes or 30 minutes at the absolute max but this is for desktops and monitors right? Thus monitors and desktop use lot of electricity correct? But if i were to get a UPS... how long would it last for my dell xps 15 9550 laptop? Because surely it would give me more time than my powerbank? I would only connect the laptop to it and nothing else.


I checked the UPS online and there seem to be many of it and most cost around 100usd to 300usd. Can someone tell me how long a 100 usd one would cost compared to a 300usd one? Such as i see some are 1000VA, others are 1500VA and some are 500VA only.



Can someone tell me how long a UPS would last for my laptop? I mean if it could give me say 3 hours, thats pretty good. If it could give me 5 hours... then that is very good.
 
If you only get 1.5 hours of battery life, you probably need a new battery, unless you are really hammering the system with running programs.

A UPS will certainly keep your system running, for how long depends on how large of a UPS you get. https://www.apc.com/us/en/support/p...ide-for-selecting-a-battery-backup-system.jsp You can even get a setup that uses solar power, of course that depends on the budget and what is available in your area.
 

pauly01

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When i got my laptop new... the battery lasted maybe 2 hours or a bit more when doing intensive things. I got a new battery later on. It was under 2 hours or so. Now its around 1.5 hours. The thing is every laptop i ever got never had long battery. Now i do make it 100% brightness with previous laptops etc.


But i never get anywhere close to battery stated. Example i got a new chromebook a while back. It state over 10 hours. I get max 3.5 hours when i got it new. Now its more like 2.5-3 hours. Again im watching movies, lot of heavy web browsing etc.


Well i have a powerbank already for the dell laptop. And that adds about 2h30m to 3h. Thus if i get say another one, i get another 2h30m to 3h. But what about a UPS? What would be the benefit of it vs a powerbank? I mean let say it also gives me a 2h30m to 3h charge like my powerbank... then wouldnt it be better the powerbank? Or not because that could be used for other things as well? Now when i say 2h30m to 3h with my powerbank, i mean it would charge it for 1h45m only then it runs out. Then i have about 1h to 1h 15m on battery on my laptop.


Now if UPS last for 3 hours for laptop, does it run out of power after 3 hours? Then once that happens, well my laptop still has its own 1.5 hour of battery? So the way i calculate how many hours i get with my powerbank is correct or incorrect? Meaning i charge it to my laptop. Then it charges for 1h 45m before it runs out. But i still have a power charge on my laptop though. Does that mean 1h 45m powerbank only or 2h30m to 3h or so?


Well i dont want anything that is ridiculous. Im not looking to spend that much. I got my powerbank on sale actually for under 100 usd. Normally its like 130 or more.
 
Get a UPS that uses just one 12V battery. Fairly inexpensive.
Yank the battery out and make connections to a 12V AGM automotive battery.
When you're not using it, disconnect the battery and charge it with an AGM specific charger. No. the charger for the UPS will not work.
Reconnect it before you start a session.

You'll get all the run time you need out of it.
 

pauly01

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Hi there i dont think thats good idea then to use it inside my apt then.


So anyone that has used a UPS for their desktop and maybe laptop...



Do you know how long you could use a laptop for with that 1000va? What about 1500va?





So to confirm, you could use it when a power outage happens right? Thus power goes out... you connect it to your laptop while laptop is 100%. Then you use it for a while... then once you notice the battery is not charging anymore... UPS is out of power... and now you are on battery right? If it last you over 60 minutes with desktop and monitor... wouldn't that mean with the laptop it would last at least double that at the absolute minimum? Or 3 times at least because a monitor and desktop use much more power than a laptop?





If you or anyone here has a laptop, has anyone here tried using it with laptop and can tell me how long they got out of it? Thus power goes out... you connect to it while your laptop is on battery, how long before UPS does not charge your laptop anymore? Also if let say power goes out.. you use laptop on battery to like 10%. Then connect it to UPS... will it be charging it up similar to like how a powerbank does while you connect to it? I assume yes? Or does it make your laptop work but your battery stays at whatever percentage you connect it to?
 

pauly01

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Hi there. The thing is someone in another forum mentioned when i use my computer intensively and used the term full tilt... i assume this means using it intensively, a laptop probably lasts about 2 hours only. Do you agree/disagree with this? I can't imagine a laptop lasting more than at max 2.5 hours when im using it at full power.


Well its a quad core laptop and i have to use a quad core. Is that what you mean by power hungry discrete graphics?


But a UPS would serve my purpose for this right? Thus imagine power outage, then even though my laptop batter is 100%, connect my laptop to it? Then it would be using the UPS power while staying at 100%? Then once UPS runs out of power, then I would be on battery correct?


Do you know how long a 1000VA UPS would last me assuming i use it for intensively but do close all my chrome tabs? So basically if my laptop was not a quad core and those light laptops, it would last a lot longer right? But with my quad core laptop, how long should i get when using it with my laptop before the power runs out?


Also a 750VA one should last about half the time a 1500VA one does right? Also if you were able to buy say two 900VA and its cheaper than buying just one 1500VA, is it better to get two of them since combined its 1800VA and thus should last longer than the single 1500VA especially if its cheaper? The other thing is you have to pay attention to the watts right? Example i seen some UPS online that shows 1500va/900w. But some that maybe 900VA and 500W only. So the W is very important as well right? Or does it correlate to the VA? Meaning you won't find a 900VA with a 900W? And thus you won't find a 1500VA with like a 500W?
 
A laptop will have both a integrated graphics adapter as well as a discrete adapter(GTX960m) which is more powerful and used for fast action gaming.
Normally, when a laptop needs to run on battery power, a number of speech are adjusted.
Screen brightness is lowered, graphics is switched to integrated graphics, and cpu power is reduced to less than 100%
All done to increase battery run time.
Check your windows power options.
You can set them yourself and perhaps save more power than the default.

The VA rating of your UPS tells how much wattage the unit can tolerate.
For example, my 1500va APC unit can handle 864 Watts, but under load, my power draw is half that or less.
I might expect a laptop to be much lower, perhaps 100w or less.

How long it can run is determined by the battery that is used in the UPS.
Some units like the 1500 have the provision to attach an auxiliary battery.
If you are using a UPS, the laptop will be running as though it was plugged in.
When you have a power outage, the laptop will continue to run as normal with a high power draw.
At that point, you should switch to a lower power profile to extend run time.
When the UPS power is exhausted, you will continue to run on a fully charged laptop battery.

I just did a check, and while using 250w, My APC 1500 calculates a run time of 22 minutes.



For a more authoritative analysis, contact APC with your specs and requirements.
Their on line configurator should give you at least a first approximation.
I think you are looking for a UPS in the 200va range with a extended battery run time.


Normally, the available runtime will be shown somewhere when running on battery power.
Do some experimenting while on battery to increase run time.
Switch to integrated graphics, reduce screen brightness, and reduce cpu power from 100% to a lower number that still does the job.
It is not clear if you have a 56WHr or 84WHr battery.
If, for example, your battery now shows 3 hours run time and you need 9 hours, look for a 112WHr or 168Whr UPS
 
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pauly01

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Hi there. I have a 56whr battery. Laptop goes 1h15m to 1h30m at the max. This is with brightness very low and lowest power mode on laptop.

You say UPS in the 200va range. First off, most UPS are much higher than that.

1. https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.m...ion-recommendations/element&c_element_order=1

2. https://www.amazon.com.mx/VICA-Nobr...keywords=ups&qid=1556832154&s=gateway&sr=8-13

3. https://www.amazon.com.mx/Tripp-Lit...&keywords=ups&qid=1556832154&s=gateway&sr=8-5


How long would something like this last?
 
Verify that when in power saving mode that you are not using the nvidia graphics.
If you right click on the desktop, you should get a control panel that lets you explicitly select which graphics adapter to use. The integrated adapter will use much less power.

You can also explicitly select what % of the processor capability to use.
You app may well do ok at 20% power.

If all else fails, I suppose you could buy a couple more dell powerbank units.
I
 

pauly01

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I went on power saving mode well the lowest mode you can put.


I opened the nvidia control panel.




I see there is

3d settings
Adjust image settings with preview
manage 3d settings
set physx configuration




What do i click on?


In the middle of it, there is a green thing spinning and top says Adjust Image settings with preview.



Options are


Let the 3d application decide
use the advanced 3d setting
use my preference setting



Its on the 1st option at the moment.
 
Right click on the desktop to open the nvidia control panel.
Select 3d settings.

On 3d settings, you should have an option to select one of 3 choices.
  1. let app decide
  2. nvidia graphics
  3. integrated adapter.

The integrated adapter will consume the least power. Try that and see how long you can run.
 

pauly01

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Its currently on auto-select. Okay i will change it to integrated adapter.


What about Set physc configuration?


Shows

Auto selected is checked and recommended


There is option of

Geforce GTX 960M

or

CPU
 

pauly01

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Hi there. So choose Cpu.


Right now its on auto-selected recommended.



So if i choose cpu, my battery will definitely be longer if i choose cpu as oppose to auto-selected recommended?


What do you mean electrical failure and switch to integrated? You mean in the manage 3d settings? I already changed it from Auto select to integrated graphics. You mean electrical failure as in what? I don't understand what you mean by this.
 
When you have electricity and you are plugged in, the battery is charging and will be fully charged.
Plugged in, there is no battery drain.
When an electrical interruption happens, then is when you need to go into battery savings mode.
Windows is supposed to do this by following your options in the power settings for battery operation.
That should include dimming the screen and lowering the cpu performance to less than 100%.
Windows should also select your cpu integrated graphics which draws much less power than the nvidia graphics.
You can select integrated cpu graphics yourself even when plugged in so you can see the difference in performance.
 

DSzymborski

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Do you have a car? Since the places I've worked for over the last decade are a company in suburban Hartford and a company in Arlington, VA that doesn't have a physical office and I live in Ohio, I'm fairly reliant on having electricity as well. When there are storms or something that knock out the power, I'll always go right to the car and plug a laptop and my phone into the car's power inverter while the car is running. It's not that much more gas consumption than simply idling; the amount of energy needed to propel a 3,000 pound metal box down a highway is a lot more than needed to run a laptop. One hp comes out to about 746 watts.