Want to make sure your computer doesn’t shut down abruptly in the event of a power outage? You can buy an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with a battery to keep your device running the power goes out.
Now CompuLab has a new UPS designed specifically for small, low-power computers. The fit-Uptime is a compact power supply that can provide up to 3 hours of battery life after the primary power supply cuts out.
The fit-Uptime is available for $68, and it begins shipping in November.
While the fit-Uptime isn’t the cheapest UPS around, it’s certainly one oft he smallest, measuring about 3.1″ x 2.7″ x 1.3″ and weighing about half a pound. That makes the fit-Uptime smaller than an Intel NUC.
It’s designed to work with CompuLab’s line of mini-PCs including the fitlet and fit-PC products. But it can also work with an Intel NUC. The system has an 18 Wh lithium polymer battery and supports DC 12V to DC 19V input and output.
During a blackout, the fit-Uptime provides power from the battery. When the power comes back, the battery will charge at the same time as the UPS supplies power to your computer.
Note that the 3 hour battery life estimate applies to systems that typically use about 5 watts… so you probably don’t want to use this system for anything but a tiny, low-power PC like an Intel NUC or CompuLab Fit-PC.
via LinuxGizmos
Do a search for “Pi UPS”. Something like that makes more sense. But at around $45, even the Pi UPS is over-priced.
Not seeing the value here. That price will buy you a UPS that will run a load that light for an hour at least plus give you the option of powering a display, router, etc. for a shorter but still useful period along with giving you a power fail indication to permit unattended shutdown.
Building a battery to give uninterrupted service on the DC side vs the extra losses and parts to rectify/invert AC/DC is a good idea, this one is just coming up a little short.
Buy a low power laptop and use it with BT keyboard, mouse and hdmi out screen. When the power is out just use the built in screen. Buy a ups for the ap wifi and cable box. This has worked for me during a several day power outage, by rationing the ups cable box and modem.
I think a better use would be to power my router, so I dont lose internet when the power goes out.
I agree – I have a normal UPS on my router and a low-power server both, and it was about half as expensive as this (plus it has a larger capacity battery). Of course, it’s also quite a bit bigger.
I ALMOST see the point in this. The problem is that any scenario in which I see this being almost useful there’s a catch.
As Kary mentioned most situations where you actually care you have a screen and that pulls more power than 5 watts. Small computers are not that powerful so I doubt you’d leave it doing heavy calculations (though there are cases where this might be it definitely is far from the norm) and the ones that DO have the power for those calculations generally end up drawing a lot more power at those times. You might also be using the computer for some file transfer (whether ftp, bittorrent, or whatever) but then you need a power supply for the modem (I actually saw one two days ago on amazon designed for low power devices which claimed to be more efficient and to often last longer for things which had small power needs).
The main use for this that I see would be giving the system a chance to put itself to sleep to prevent data loss (but as there’s no data connection to the UPS it would only serve to prevent data loss if the power outage lasted less than the battery).
Then again this is only for THEIR devices as it plugs directly into the device so if your device has a different connector then it’s basically uselss.
Time for an open source DIY solution stringing together old laptop batteries. That would get some attention. Recycle, build, geek out…
I am in the process of making one for myself. Old working cells from laptop batteries + Liion charge controller and a buck converter for 12V output.
This UPS would be super sweet if it would have a empty box of say 3x or 6x 18650 cell holders.
For a commercial application there are similar and cheaper alternatives although I will bookmark it. What makes it expensive is 60VA (12V/5A) output with 18Wh which is quite a lot.
Cheaper alternatives: https://www.powerbank.com.tw/products.php?lang=en
I don’t really see the point of this. Any device with a built in screen already has a battery, and without a built in screen this device seemingly doesn’t power your screen too, so your computer would just chuck along doing whatever until it shut down due to low power. You wouldn’t be able to use it, unless mybe you could control it through your phone. Unless space as an huge concern, a traditional UPS would be much better.
Probably more aimed at business and commercial “headless” applications, then (or which there are more than you think).
Indeed, if you read their blurb, they’re pitching the UPS as protection against unexpected power outages causing system reboots and the risk of whatever application that was running not restarting correctly once power is restored, and thus requiring a technician call-out to get things up and running properly again.
So this isn’t meant to be a consumer device, nor one where laptops are a better alternative.
Also probably good for a string of emergency-lighting LEDs. But not certified.