modifying an ups to power a router

[Srack0verflow]

good morning
don't even ask why, but i'd like to modfy an old preused ups to power least the adsl modem part of the router our beloved isp for life sells us, during those 1 min power failures we seem to get so many of close to month end.
i sold my multimeter many moons ago for drug money so i can't really test how much juice it's sucking...
anyway, anyone think one could even do it?

 

[seymour7]

Yes, this can be done and infact its actually quite easy providing you have the right resources. I have done something similar to this before.

First, find yourself an extension cord. Then cut off the three prong plug at the end of the extension cord. Ok, then find a PSU (Computer) to UPS cable. Cut the male end of the cable off. Now connect the copper wires from the extension cord to the UPS cable and of couse wrap some insulation tape around it.

Plug it into your ups and now the plug sockets at the end of your extension cord will be kept powered by your UPS. Personally I think that its important to hook that UPS's com cable to you computer to make sure that the load isn't very high on it. For example, I have a 450W PSU connected to a 600VA UPS and my average load is about 25%.

Incase you still don't understand, I drew a picture for you: http://albums.kimag.es/albums/seymour/49835767.png

Hope it works!

 

[mancombseepgood]

good morning
don't even ask why, but i'd like to modfy an old preused ups to power least the adsl modem part of the router our beloved isp for life sells us, during those 1 min power failures we seem to get so many of close to month end.
i sold my multimeter many moons ago for drug money so i can't really test how much juice it's sucking...
anyway, anyone think one could even do it?

First give us a clue about why you want to test how much juice it's sucking... and why the mod? Does your UPS not output 240v? Can you not just plug the power supply for the router into the thing? If you can't, then just get a male 'kettle' plug to connect to the other end, or take a PC power extension cable and replace the female end with an extension cord fitting (any hardware store). No need for multimeter. Just make sure you get the live / neutral the right way round.

 

[BTTB]

Yes. Easy.

I have a Fax Modem, Router, PABX, Irrigation and my Alarm System all attached to a UPS with one cable going from the UPS to a set of plugs.
Total Wattage for the 5 items above is 46Watts. The UPS I am using is a 1500 APC Unit which should give me about 2 and a half hours in case of Load Shedding.

I did this by cutting the wire (kettle side) and joining it to the set of plugs.
This is not advisable if the set of plugs is in a position where people who don't know that a UPS is powering the set of plugs, as they may unwittingly plug high wattage units into the set of plugs, like a vacuum cleaner or a heater. You had better label the set of plugs accordingly.

You may be able to see how much "juice" the Router is using by software installed on a computer, likely through a Serial Port seeing that you say it is an old UPS. Check the back for a Serial Connection. Winpower may work for this purpose.
A router uses very little power as indicative of the 5 units I have plugged into my set-up above only draws in total 46W.

Hope this helps.

 

[Srack0verflow]

thanks guys. sounds quite simple and very doable.
erm, i'd like to keep the conniction alive during a sheding episode, bradbowlllama

 

[quovadis]

Srack - you can buy a Kettle plug that'll fit better than doing a solder or electrical tape job.

 

[mancombseepgood]

thanks guys. sounds quite simple and very doable.
erm, i'd like to keep the conniction alive during a sheding episode, bradbowlllama

So you want to know how long it will keep the router up then? The unit should give you a rating at the back in watts or VA. The UPS is rated in kVA - you can calculate from this, but the most reliable method is connect it up, drop the switch and time it

 

[ttygt]

UPS uses

I bought i new 600va ups, did the cord extention trick, and connected it (in house)
to my ac gatemotor. The cabling for the gatemotor terminates at a wall plug in house.
The ups is good for at least two gate openings, but one was enough for the first spouse
to get into yard (then open manually if needed). Works brilliantly.

 

[mancombseepgood]

I bought i new 600va ups, did the cord extention trick, and connected it (in house)
to my ac gatemotor. The cabling for the gatemotor terminates at a wall plug in house.
The ups is good for at least two gate openings, but one was enough for the first spouse
to get into yard (then open manually if needed). Works brilliantly.

Eish... please explain the spouse thing... how many live there?

 

[Srack0verflow]

thanks for all the help again guys.
but to anyone new considering buying a ups just for that, don't bother. since writeing this post my connection has allready been killed 3 times from their side.
using a ups to power the gate is a fantastic "boer maak n plan" idea though. if you have more than one spouse, save money on the ups, just keep the lesser spouse chained to the gate...