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UPS

Portable Power Stations like ECOFLOW Delta 3 Max Plus Portable Power Station 2048W which can be expanded with extra batteries but you are looking at £1K+

It should last a multiple hours at low wattage and your Laptop and MacBook should handle the graceful shutdown internally at the event of using up all of the power stations battery without the need for a USB connection to a dedicated UPS.
 
You literally just told us here that you couldn't afford to replace a 2015 MBP, in the same thread where you wanted to replace your entire - over priced - mesh set-up or buy more nodes to improve your 100mbit speeds, but now you have a grand to throw at keeping said laptop running for 24hrs?
 
One thing that springs to mind is, will your internet still be working if there is a power cut?
Unlike the old days of POTS and ASDL over POTS wiring, with the modern setup for internet connectivity many systems will be relying on "mains" power and at best a fairly short term backup supply (that might be using batteries last tested and replaced 10 years ago) between your router/modem and the ISP's point of presence.

For most power cuts you're not going to need more than a couple of hours of backup, but for anything longer it's not just your equipment that's likely going to need power that isn't there, but the likes of the mobile phone base stations that provide 3g etc, and the street boxes your internet connects to.
 
Would agree with Werewolf here.

I have a router and ONT (the modem) which is connected to their own UPS, switch which covers the entire household, phone, VOIP Box, and all that on a 900W/1500VA unit only just ekes past the 3 hour mark. For 24 hours just for your router, you're looking at needing to get units that provide up to 4KW to 8KW of battery backup power (so somewhere between £1.2K and £2.5K for that covereage at a minimum). The easiest as mentioned above is from a main unit that can connect extra batteries onto it. And that is assuming everything can be reached from one UPS backup unit.

Once you add other devices however, that time often drops hard, so you're better off re-working your battery backup solution if your budget doesn't allow for it instead. Such as keeping your power profile to always switch down as soon as power is off and no battery power. Or on desktop units to just stay shut off.

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For reference, I split the load so no UPS is never needing to power more than 30W or there abouts per hour. And we only get 3 odd hours of up time. Hence x8 of those for 24 hour protection means £280+ for each proper UPS unit (up to £2.5K), potentially less if a generator acting as UPS, etc.
 
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Re the generator, from what I remember it used to be advised you don't run anything like a computer from a cheap generator as they aren't or were not brilliant at how smooth their output was as most cheaper generators were intended for stuff like power tools where it doesn't really matter if the output is harsh/slightly irregular compared to the mains.
There are also then questions about how well the neighbours will take to you running a generator potentially at night, and of course finding somewhere to store and run it safely (and remembering to maintain it, including checking and changing the fuel in it).
 
Werewolf said:
Re the generator, from what I remember it used to be advised you don't run anything like a computer from a cheap generator as they aren't or were not brilliant at how smooth their output was as most cheaper generators were intended for stuff like power tools where it doesn't really matter if the output is harsh/slightly irregular compared to the mains.
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Correct, and don't be tempted to use a cheap/small ups to try and smooth out the output, as a lot of the cheaper ups e.g. APC Back-ups etc use stepped wave which can't cope with the constant fluctuations, so then you end up needing pure sine wave online ups pushing the cost up further.
 
Armageus said:
Correct, and don't be tempted to use a cheap/small ups to try and smooth out the output, as a lot of the cheaper ups e.g. APC Back-ups etc use stepped wave which can't cope with the constant fluctuations, so then you end up needing pure sine wave online ups pushing the cost up further.
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And then welcome to the £2.5K+ club just for your online connection to be up 24 hours. Even more for other heavy power drain devices.

Hence, why UPS has been historically been to allow you to shut things down (gracefully), not sustain them. The price is astronomical for most home environments. And why it's better to modify your shut down routine rather than have a fully powered backup. It's not impossible as Armageus and Werewolf and others have said, but boy do those figures creep ever upwards...
 
This power station could do what you want and its less than £1K.

For just a laptop, MacBook Pro, and router, the runtime will be excellent.

Typical power draw:

  • Router: ~8-15W
  • MacBook Pro while working: ~20-60W average
  • Windows laptop: ~20-60W average
Total load:

  • Light use: ~50W
  • Typical use: ~80W
  • Heavy charging/workload: ~120W
Assuming about 1,800Wh usable energy from the S2000 after inverter losses:

Combined LoadEstimated Runtime
50W~36 hours
80W~22 hours
120W~15 hours
So for a realistic "internet, email, browsing, remote work" setup with a router and one or two laptops, I'd expect roughly 18-24 hours of runtime from a full charge.

As others have said already having your 3 devices running for 24 hours without internet connection would not be very useful IMHO unless you are running a mobile hotspot or USB dongle, and that assumes the cell mast still has power too.
 
Just get a home battery, 16kwh + 6Kw inverter, 2.2k, eco worthy, you can run all of your house (well up to 6Kw) double your budget but more effective.
 
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