Typical last mile battery runtime (protecting against power cuts)

Fri Feb 3 19:11:03 UTC 2023

----- On Feb 3, 2023, at 6:11 AM, Israel G. Lugo israel.lugo at lugosys.com wrote:

Hi,

> I'm looking at the cost/benefit of deploying small UPSes at people's
> homes, to protect their network access when oncall. Just to power the
> home router (+ONT if FTTP), and keep a charged laptop. I figure anything
> smallish should be enough for a few hours.

Living in an area served by PG&E, I've had my share of power cuts. At home
I have a 600va UPS that protects my cable modem, RPI router, and POE switch
which serves 2 APs. That lasts about 30 minutes, which gives me enough time
to fire up my generator.

Tip of the day: I also have a 1000va UPS that protects my garage door opener.
This makes it a lot easier to a. get a car out if needed, and b. get my 
generator out of the garage.

Lastly, in the spirit of happy wife, happy life, I have another 600va UPS
that covers my tankless water heater. It heats using natural gas, but the
control panel still needs power. That thing lasts pretty long.

> Question is, how much battery runtime can I typically expect from ISPs'
> last mile infra.

YMMV, of course, but I went through numerous outages recently. And by
numerous, I mean enough for our City leadership to get pissed off at PG&E
and demand explanations.

So far, my current ISP (Spectrum cable) has had 0 outages as a result of
power loss. Which is pretty impressive, given the instability of the grid
in this area.

Thanks,

Sabri