In case of a blackout, batteries etc. will give me ...
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- By the end of 2026, how useful do you think agentic/multi-agent AI systems will actually be in your daily work or personal projects? Posted on March 11th, 2026 | 25 comments
It's not the battery time... (Score:5, Funny)
It's the beeping, THE BEEPING!! from all the UPSs in my apartment, and my upstairs neighbor.
All the beeping, and blinking, and flashing and beeping...
Re:It's not the battery time... (Score:4, Insightful)
You can programmatically turn them off on some models. For the others, I often opened them up and remove the beeper with a soldering iron. I get email notification and even automated phone calls when the power goes down. It is also pretty obvious when power goes down. I have 24 hours autonomy then I have to manually start a generator to reload the batteries.
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You don't need to de-solder the speakers. Just put a piece of electrical or duct tape over them. You can still hear the beep but its so muffled as to not be ear piercing.
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Ehe.. yup.
I've got 4 of them. Luckily 2 could easily be disabled from the front panel controls (although this required the UPS be powered off for some reason.. what the hell APC?). Two of them however (becklin) you needed to use their windows only tool to change the settings. Until I finally broke down and installed vmware _and_ windows just to shut them the hell up.. was quite fun waking up at 3 in the morning (power failures _always_ happen at 3 in the morning) to the un-harmonized beeping symphony.
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It's the beeping, THE BEEPING!!
Yup. If we lose power here at work we've got so many batteries beeping that it's downright deafening.
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Until my oldest was about 7 years old, he was TERRIFIED of a power outage. It wasn't the darkness that scared him. Nor the thunder and Lighting. It was the BEEEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP (thanks APC) that started as soon as the power blinked.
Until recently he would absolutely freak the hell out if the power failed, even after we got rid of the UPS.
Why get rid of it? Because our solution to calm the child was to RUN in there and HIT THE BUTTON ON THE CAUSE OF THE SOUND... So yes, child > filesystem integrit
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All it takes is a little epoxy on the piezo.
Laptop (Score:2)
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Can you seriously run Crysis on laptops ? I can't on mine, I tried just for fun. I assume it could be possible on recent and most powerful laptops although..
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Specs are a Core 2 Duo (2.26 gHz), GeForce 9600M GS, and 4 gigs of RAM, if you care to know.
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Thanks for enlightening me ;-)
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He forgot to mention that he has a 7" screen with a max of 800*320 ;)
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I have the same GPU, a Core 2 Duo at 2.56MHz, and the same RAM and I need to run Crysis at Med-Low or drop the resolution to get good framerates. If you look here [notebookcheck.net] you can see about what the performance of the 9600M is with Crysis (my laptop is full HD, so that is probably the main issue). The primary use of my laptop is development (graphics related, but no real need to maintain framerates), so a top of the line GPU isn't needed.
. A quick check on notebookcheck.net shows the 470M SLI [notebookcheck.net] as the best overall gra
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Ah, Isabel. From Hampton Roads myself --- that storm was so weird, seeing all the kids and whatnot outside away from their xbox/ps2/[insert something here].
The creek behind me flooded so high... didn't hit our house but I too loved the generator. No internet with Cox though for quite a bit.
Good and bad times, we remember the times that were different... it is interesting how that works.
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Ah, Isabel. From Hampton Roads myself --- that storm was so weird, seeing all the kids and whatnot outside away from their xbox/ps2/[insert something here].
Oh, good, when you started that sentence, I thought it was going to end with "...seeing all the kids and whatnot, flying around in the high winds like leaves."
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Oh there were those idiots too... they kept themselves to the waves in VA beach and NC. Without power, however, I had a laptop and the modem running within a day - at least 5 days before some people even turned on their refrigerator :)
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Crysis can actually run on a wide range of systems, it just depends whether the graphics are set to "HL1 quality" or "Beowulf quality."
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I know what you mean. I didn't watch television because of the load my TV (which is old) would place on the inverter. But the sony laptop that I had at the time did okay. I must admit that it spent most of its time charging the laptop rather than running the laptop. The laptop would charge during the day, and it would just run off its batteries at night. If I had planned better, I would have just used a car adapter designed for the laptop and eliminated the 12v to 108-120v to 19v conversion but the inverter
Tested this just recently (Score:3)
Re:Tested this just recently (Score:5, Informative)
Did you find this?
http://pdonline.brisbane.qld.gov.au/MasterView/masterplan/enquirer/default.aspx?page=home [qld.gov.au]
then select Interactive Mapping
You can then turn on various map bits such as Contours 0.5m and lots of other stuff
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You stress out too much, during my last blackout, I simply had a nap until the power cut back in. For computer geeks consider hibernation, it is the simplest solution.
Anybody ever have a thinkpad beep wake them up? (Score:2)
I have. Dozens of times.
It's like, wake up, and shut me down properly, asshole! No sleep pho me, no sleep pho you!
it all comes down to who's the strongest haha (Score:3, Interesting)
3-8 hours depending on my need for multitasking (Score:2)
5+, but only if I can use each computer serially.
I have a netbook that will run ~3 hours, a linux desktop on a 1200VA UPS that will last about an hour, my wilfe's iMac on a 1200VA UPS that will last about an hour, and a low power home server on a 1500VA UPS that will last ~3 hours.
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Here's what I can do if I want to go for maximum online time:
- Power up the networking equipment on the small UPS that powers all of that and the home server. Then enable the DHCP and built-in wireless on the ADSL modem, and switch off the wireless router. This way I can get online with only one box running.
- Use only the N900 to get online, and use the USB battery pack as a backup. When that runs down, use the big UPS on my gaming desktop to charge them both back up to full.
- When the small UPS dies, hook
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Yeah I don't have a 3G connection for my N900, unfortunately...and EDGE is just way too slow.
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Where I live, the power sometimes goes out for a few seconds, a UPS really helps in that case. Also, a UPS helps if there is a short (or too much load) somewhere else in the house and the circuit breaker trips.
Re:3-8 hours depending on my need for multitasking (Score:4, Interesting)
APC Smart-UPS 2200 (4x 12V/18Ah batteries) - it would last about 30 minutes powering all of my computers and the monitor, but if I knew about the outage in advance, i would turn all of the computers off and just connect my laptop to the UPS, in that case, it would last much more than the 30 minutes. I also have other UPSs:
Smart-UPS 700 (2x 12V/7Ah)
Smart-UPS v/s 650 (1x12V/12Ah, connected to the fiber-to-UTP converter, so the internet connection would work).
Back-UPS 400 (1x 12V/7Ah, I could use my other batteries, when the internal one is discharged).
2200 and 700 have sine outputs so I could use them to power my fans in the summer and a tape deck or radio to have music, if I wanted to. 650 has modified square output, which is not as good for transformers and motors. 400 has square output which is bad for transformers and motors, so it would not be as useful for the tape deck. Or I could just use a portable tape deck with its own batteries and 12V fans.
Also, I have some 12V UPS batteries of varying age and condition. I could use some of them for lighting (as I do not like daylight) a 12V light bulb and could use others with a 12V->19V adapter to power my laptop. I do not know how long they would last because their actual capacity is lower than what is written on the battery, since the batteries are 1 to 6 years old (and some of them no longer work in a UPS at full load because their internal resistance is too high, but a light bulb would not care about the slightly lower voltage) and I do not have a capacity meter.
Re:APC Smart-UPS 2200 (4x 12V/18Ah batteries) (Score:2)
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I have considered using car batteries, but I do not like the smell of sulfuric acid. I am thinking of some way to put the batteries outside and bring the cables in, but I would probably need very thick cables, since the UPS will not like the voltage drop, that is, it will think that the batteries are discharged when they are not. Also, I would need 4 batteries, since my big UPS is 48V.
My UPSs are all old - the 2200VA was made in 1998, 700 was made in 2002 and I do not know about the others. The UPSs still w
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One suggestion though, I'd add a computer fan to your UPS to keep it cool (at least while running on the battery) as I don't think they're made to run for more than a few minutes and heat is probably what took mine out.
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The 2200VA UPS has a fan that turns on when the UPS is on battery or it is charging the batteries after they were discharged. The design is a bit bad and the fan does not turn on based on temperature, in the summer the temperature inside my room can reach 40C, then the temperature in the UPS is 60 and the batteries go bad sooner. When the UPS is running on battery (and has the fan on) the temperature drops to a few degrees above the room temperature.
Generator (Score:2)
Between the batteries in the UPS and a Honda EU2000i I can keep the house humming for a couple days before having to dip into gas from the cars.
I've tested it on everything I have. I can't run everything at once, of course, but with a bit of load shuffling I can keep the fridge cold, the house warm (enough power to start the furnace fan) and the computers on. If really desperate, I can even run a load of dishes or laundry.
Laptop - All I need is diesel (Score:3)
I have a DC-AC inverter in my car with battery backup. So After 2-5 hours, I can run the engine, and run the laptop. :D
so smartphone connectivity will be pretty long.
Often I go on long trips where the only source of electricity for laptop and mobile is the car. Moreover, in India such remote areas often have 3-4 day long power cuts.
I guess such a concept is alien to the west
Even in cities, in summers we have 4-6 hour power cuts, so all companies have diesel gensets, which even run Air conditioning.
5 days during the aftermath of Hurricane Ike (Score:3, Informative)
When Hurricane Ike caused massive wind speeds and damage to the midwest, we were without power from Sunday to Thursday due to all the downed power lines all over the state. I ran a laptop, wireless router, and cable modem off of a 300watt inverter plugged into my car the entire time. I had to go outside and run the car for 30 minutes every 12 hours to keep the battery charged but I never once lost internet access. The neighbors couldn't believe I still had working high-speed internet access in that kinda situation.
0 seconds; I live in an apartment (Score:2)
I live in an apartment. Unless I grabbed some car batteries with an inverter and found some way to keep them charged, I'd be down for the count. I have one laptop, and its ancient (p3-700 256mb ram 20gb HD) but there would probably be enough wattage to run my dsl modem and the laptop. I'd skip the router because I'd not need it since all my other PC's (4 of them) are desktops that would not have enough power to run.
This poll got me thinking: If I were to lose power for any extended amount of time, I'd lose
I get 14 hours for my entire home office... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Very cool! I wish I had room (and the coin) for a setup like that.
Sca-rewed (Score:2)
Blackout? (Score:2)
The last time I've personally experienced a blackout was in 1992 and in a former soviet republic. For that reason a personal UPS would be waste of money and it is not like I would do important things on my PC.
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I had one when I lived in Guildford, UK. The power went out only once in the three years I lived there (spectacularly, I might add - they ended up powering the street from a containerised generator for several days, pity the poor bastard who had that parked outside his house).
But I already had a UPS by then, because the power was horrible - brownouts all day, way over-voltage at night. I didn't realise just *how* bad until I bought the UPS and started logging it, but that was my reason for buying it. I wasn
only around half an hour (Score:2)
...but that includes network access :) i plug all my network gear into a UPS along with my primary computer. in the event of catastrophic power grid failure i can still be spammed for a solid 29 minutes; go america!
About 2 hours (Score:2)
After that I can use car batteries, 1 to 4 of them depending on how many are full. Each one should give me at least 10 hours of use
After that I can use a small petrol generator, depending on how much petrol I have laying around. I can also get 9600bps intenet from my satellite phone and recharge it with a solar panel. If i'm really stuck
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One 7Ah battery lasts you 2 hours running a server? Either its a 1000 volt electric car battery, or your server is one of those pico plug devices...
I have a modest "Server" (an old pc drawing ~110w typical) and its backed by 36Ah @12v (along with the modem and switch) and it would be lucky to run 90 minutes.
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or good light (Score:2)
how about LED flaslight longevity?
Off the grid advantage (Score:2)
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Physical books just laugh at a blackout.
Do you read by firelight, candlelight, or moonlight?
Define "computer"... (Score:2)
Or do something useful (Score:2)
There are lots of useful things to do during a blackout, like:
- get some extra sleep
- help out that elderly neighbor who's having a real problem handling it
- organize an impromptu block party
- have a picnic somewhere.
- Spend some quality time with a person of the appropriate sex. (nudge nudge wink wink)
None of those involve sitting in front of a computer.
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That was "Spend some quality time with a person of the appropriate sex." Hence the (nudge nudge).
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This is /.
No one would believe him.
You must be new here.
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Clean your room, aka mom's garage.
Laptops (Score:2)
Laptop number one should last ~1 1/2 hours
Laptop number two should last ~3 hours
Laptop number three should last ~3 1/2 hours.
Assuming they're fully charged.
But I'd probably keep them off, light some candles and read.
Internet connectivity during power loss confirmed (Score:2)
Have my cable modem, firewall/router, tower, and monitor all on UPS backup and have confirmed during a power outage that I am able to surf the internet. I had no expectations of being able to do so on a residential cable plan, so I was a bit surprised.
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This recently also happened to me. I had previously tested that if I pulled the power to everything, I had the appropriate things in my house UPS'ed. But, much to my dismay, when the power in our area did go out for several hours, the internet only stayed up for about 15-20 before, I assume, the UPS on the equipment in the area gave out.
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And when the rest of the neighborhood is dark, and my generator is humming away I have really awesome bandwidth on the cable too ;-)
Well, as long as the other end of the cable isn't dark.
first comes the UPS with 1500VAh (Score:2)
Then there are two WLAN point-to-point connections to user operated WiFi mesh nets:
http://sar.informatik.hu-berlin.de/research/wireless_mesh/wireless_mesh.htm [hu-berlin.de] [hu-berlin.de]
http://www.net.t-labs.tu-berlin.de/papers/SKFR-SIMWM-07.pdf [tu-berlin.de] [tu-berlin.de]
http://www.funkfeuer.at/ [funkfeuer.at] [funkfeuer.at]
Forever. (Score:2)
where? (Score:2)
At home, I'm basically offline instantly. I've got a small UPS on our home server that will keep it up long enough for it to shut down gracefully... But that's about it.
At work (a hospital) we've got enough batteries to keep everything up and running for about 30 minutes or so. But the generator kicks in within seconds, so they just carry the load for a moment. The generator can (and has) kept us going for a half-day easily. If we need to, we can always get more fuel delivered for the generator, to kee
Own a car? Own a typical UPS? got a generator! (Score:2)
I have an old 1750 VA UPS that the battery has died in - but it still functions. I grabbed some jumper cables and hooked it to the car, started the car and ran a couple of extension cords in the window. With the help of CFL bulbs and judicious use of the rest of the power, I ran the phone switch, modem, firewall and some other items.
We even ran the microwave oven to heat stuff.
Good thing the gas tank was full though -
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See PriUPS [priups.com] for the ultimate application of this.
50v (Score:2)
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While "line" voltage is 48 V, ring is over 100 V, and both are at very low Amperage. I seem to recall that POTS is only about half a Watt.
Good luck making a DSL modem that operates on half a Watt, much less one with WiFi. (I just got a new ultra-low-power DSL modem, and with my Kill-A-Watt, I measure 2.5 Watts of power usage, and this is a modem [i]without[/i] WiFi.)
In parallel or sequentially? :) (Score:2)
I have 5 laptops ranging in battery life from about 7 hours (my Lenovo ideapad with double battery) to about 2 hours (one of my Macbook Pro-s, the damn Apple battery really is useless after 2 years). Total of about 20 hours, may be more.
Of course when power is out, I have to use iPhone for internet connectivity, so total *useful* time is limited by iPhone battery (although in a pinch I can juice it back up from one of the laptops)
Forever: (Score:2)
I just go in to work at the University. We have our own coal fired power plant and the distribution system is underground. We also have backup feeds from the local power companies.
Building power failures tend not to involve weather, but backhoes and JULIE missing something.
Probably 10 hours of "computer", 24 hours of inter (Score:2)
I have my cable modem, router, and VOIP box on a large UPS that lasts about 10 hours nonstop (although when we have a power outage that is expected to last more than an hour - about once a year - I turn it off when not actively using phone/internet.)
I have multiple WiFi and battery-equipped computing devices with "active use" battery life ranging from 2 to 10 hours. (From a powerful laptop to an iPad, in terms of WiFi-browsing battery life.) If I stagger all of my devices out, and save smartphones (not re
Being an SCA Geek... (Score:2)
Being an SCA geek, I actually built myself a really nice "off the grid" power source for running my computer and Sprint hot spot so I could upload photos while at Pennsic War.
When I'm not doing the SCA stuff, the unit sits in my hosue and is kept fully charged. It's got enough oomph to keep my router, switch, and a laptop running for a good 12 to 24 hours.
MMM, deep cycle marine batteries!
Worst case scenario: 2 hours (Score:2)
Technically, my computer will last between 2h of Minecraft, up to 5-6 hours or normal use... My Internet connection with VOIP phone, wireless router and stuff will work for 2 good hours. If I'm recording stuff on the boobtube or if the PS3/360/Wii are up, then it drops down dramatically to 20 minutes (But enough to save my game and kill everything ASAP).
At that point, I'll be able to tether to at least 2 different devices, so by being smart, I could work up the whole 6 hours of battery with Teh Intarwebz.
Th
Can Be Off the Grid (Score:2)
I have a gasoline generator that I can run when power falls over... I have it set so I have to start the generator as opposed to automatic... so I get to decide when or when not to start it. Have only needed it a couple of time in the last few years fortunately.
It is such a peaceful feeling knowing that everything will work in the house even if main power is missing. My partner is not adept at operating technical stuff so if I was not at home and the power went off then she would have to wait for my return.
Done that on a airline flight. (Score:2)
I saw a movie and other things on a airline flight with any external power for about 5 hours on my laptop.
However, being connected to internet at home the router is connected to a UPS that will last about 3 hours, At work we have generator power also so as long there is fuel for the generator, we can last a long time,
I basically never lose power. (Score:2)
It's kind of boring here. Over a year in my current house, and I've spent a total of about ten minutes on one occasion without electricity. If it ever becomes more frequent, I might consider making other arrangements (generator, UPS, etc.) In my last house (in which I lived for six years) we only lost power a couple of times and only once was it more than an hour, IIRC.
Not that difficult (Score:3)
This might become harder with the next generation of DSL, which will be fiber to a local box and then copper from there.
That the ham radio keeps working is more important. Hams routinely set up battery power.
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a lot less if I let my wife use after she has drained her battery flat checking on her family
Computer nope. Will die a quick and horrible death - no power backup at all.
Smart phones count? If so, missing option: I generate my own power with a solar powered phone charger.
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missing option: I generate my own power with a solar powered phone charger.
At night? This is a blackout, not just a power cut.
Re:My mobile phone will last a couple of days (Score:4, Interesting)
How much did it cost? How long does it take to charge the phone?
I'm not sure, it was a gift but definitely well under $100. It takes as long as any other charger, it charges from an internal battery and trickle charges that from solar. Direct sunlight in good conditions is almost enough to cover charging a phone without going to the battery, definitely enough to keep a phone idling.
It's pocket sized too (for large pockets) so you can take it with you and you never need to worry about your battery dying.
What would be neat is if manufacturers started making phones with solar panels at the back.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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I really like the Solio:
http://www.solio.com/charger/ [solio.com]
Even though I had my last one die. The three panel ones you can stick anywhere (I've put them up in an airline window before) and they provide enough running power to keep a cell phone topped up easily..
The largest three panel one is $99, and pretty compact when folded.
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In the great blackout in 2003, I remember my cell phone was more or less unusable. I had to get to the blackout border to so it could talk to a live tower... so I expect my newer (smarter) cell will be even less useful in a future blackout.
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I didn't have a cell phone in 2003, but I do remember using the internet while the blackout was occurring. It was a useful to find out what was happening.
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I have warcrack raided during a blackout from a laptop with a UPS powering the network gear.
Not addicted at all. :P
Re:My mobile phone will last a couple of days (Score:4, Insightful)
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Ha, my ION server and network gear will stay powered on for a good hour or so on the UPS. The problem is that Verizon's FiOS will trip out upstream after ~5 minutes (not the box in my unit, which is on another battery that can last for ~2 days, but probably the neighborhood distribution box). So yeah, bitter.
But I can turn my UPS units off, and occasionally turn them back on to charge my cell phone. And worse comes to worse, I could run out to the car and charge things from the inverter until I run out o
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Re:Generoators (Score:5, Funny)
Besides that I used mine more camping keeping my car battery charged while I pump beats and run a bar fridge full of cold beer!
I was waiting for you to get to the camping part.
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The need of generators depends on where you live. I live in an area that is neither prone to floods, nor earthquakes, nor storms. We have a pretty stable grid*. During my entire life I can remember four blackouts, the longest lasted about two hours. So currently I have no need of a generator.
*This may change if photovoltaic and wind energy increase and the planned extension of the grid is delayed. But for now, it's sufficiently stable
Re:Generoators (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't have a generator. I don't know anyone that does. The last time my home had a power cut was 2006, and that affected about 10 houses (some workmen had accidentally cut through a buried cable while fixing a problem with a water pipe). I don't know how long it took to fix -- it was broken when I got home, and fixed when I came back from the pub.
Power cuts in Britain are newsworthy events, if they last more than a few hours they might even make the national news. If they affect part of a large city they make the news even if it's less than an hour.
Example [bbc.co.uk] (affecting just 51 flats, made the local news), another [bbc.co.uk] (600 people for half a day, local news). This [bbc.co.uk] was national news: an area of London loses power for half an hour (not even the centre, but it affected all electric trains, i.e. almost all trains). "Network Rail spokesman Kevin Groves said the situation was "unprecedented"", Major of London says "We've never had this catastrophic failure before and we clearly can't have it again,".
I chose the "mains only" poll option, but it's never been an issue worth preparing for for me.
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I almost never lose power myself since power lines are buried here, but I have a UPS for any brief outage (like when they were replacing utilities on a nearby street this past summer) and a generator from when a tornado destroyed the transmission substation and I had no power for 2 1/2 weeks (some people didn't have power for more than a month).
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You must be one of those people who "prudently" spends his "money" to pay his "bills" "on time".
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I (along with probably 100,000 other people) invested in one after we got hit by hurricane Juan and power was knocked out for about 2 weeks for some.
No computers, no TV, and we were supposed to stay off the roads... so no hanging out with friends. I'm amazed I didn't actually lose my marbles.
Anyway.. the irony is that they upgraded all the infrastructure afterwards due to all the damage.. and power has been stable as a rock since. I kind of wish it would go out so I can use the damn thing!
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I’ve always wondered if that’s bad for a UPS running it on battery with extremely minimal load. When I upgraded the UPS on my server I basically used the old one to just power my router and switch.
The runtime on it is not in the months... but yeah.. could probably keep them going for a pretty damn long time. As it is though, I’ve got it setup to automatically power down at the same time as the other UPSes.
16 Days (Score:3)
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That would be an inverter. My guess would be yes since that would much easier than setting up each device to run directly on 12VDC.
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Wow. A 25 meter dish? That's HUGE. I happen to work with 25m dishes in radioastronomy (WSRT and Dwingeloo telescopes). You can communicate with interplanetary probes with those!
I wouldn't even know how to move such a piece of equipment for a reasonable price from Ukraine to Poland, let alone what it would cost in the first place to buy it.
Do you have any pictures of your setup? I find it hard to believe.
I can see that if you were in the space program, you'd have the knowledge, but still we maintain 15 25 me
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He probably meant 2.5m (which is still rather large) since there would have been quite a bit of trouble getting a 25m dish across the border, even assuming the necessary transportation. Also, maintenance is probably less essential for such a (relatively) short range on a redundant/correcting system like TCP/IP.
If all of that is true, he could probably offset costs by reselling service to his neighbors, especially those that are close enough for shotgunned wifi. If there's an office area nearby, he could