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September 17, 2003
Engineering Question

I have two uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) for my home PCs and network.

Now, with Isabel on it's way, the odds the power will be knocked out are good enough to bet on. A near certainty, if history is any guide. Hence, everyone's rush to the stores for batteries.

So, not being an electrical engineer... I wonder how long a fully-charged UPS would power a radio? A table lamp?

More importantly, how long would it be before the UPS's alarm beeping would drive me insane?

Posted by Russ at 08:22 PM, September 17, 2003 in Geekery

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Comments

I'd speculate that a "typical" UPS has about 500 Watt-hours of energy, depending on size. So a 25W radio should last 20 hours or so; a 100W lamp might last 5 hours.

You could always try it and find out!

Posted by: OpenCourseWare Community at December 2, 2003 12:30 PM