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misleading UPS/battery backup advertising
My mom's power went out this evening during a storm, and by the time she called me, her UPS was beeping in alarm mode indicating it would soon be out of power. It's a UPS I had gotten her earlier this year so that her home phone (which uses VOIP) would still work during a power outage. My mom said she didn't have the TV or anything else turned on, so the UPS should have only been powering the internet modem/router, and maybe a few other devices in standby/off mode.
She wasn't home when the power went out, but I estimate it shouldn't have been out for more than 2 hours. The modem/router shouldn't use much power, so I was surprised that the UPS would already be low. So I checked the specs... It's a CyberPower 375 Watt unit and from what I found online, at full load, it can only run for 2 minutes!!! I can't believe I would have bought it knowing that. At the time, I had taken a photo of the side of the box (which listed the specs) for reference, but it doesn't say how long its runtime is. That must have been on the front of the box. This is the only image I found online of the front of the box. The image quality is low, but I decipher it as saying "Four outlets provide up to 65 minutes of runtime during a power outage".
I bet that when I read that, I assumed that time must be for a near-full load. (Because you can always plug in something which uses way less energy, so how could they give any specific number, if not for full load?) Maybe I assumed that for a smaller load, say 37.5 W, it could run for 10 times as long. I do remember looking at the different models in the store and debating which to get, and deciding that this one, even though not the biggest, should suffice for my mom's needs.
But if it can only run at full load for 2 minutes, the 65 minutes would be for a load of... about 12 W?
I did a few more searches.
This 810 Watt model says on the front of the box "Up to 420* Minutes of Backup Power for your Home Theater or Computer". You'd think that would mean at minimum watching TV or using a computer with a monitor.
But the other side of the box says that the 420 minutes is only for using a DVR in record mode (no TV). For a desktop computer, it only provides 58 minutes. For a TV and game console, it only provides 24 minutes.
I finally found another image of the box for my model... not sure if my box was the same. But this one says 65 minutes for DVR while recording, 24 minutes for a computer, and 6 minutes for a 32" TV and game console.
So maybe I should have known better. Maybe I thought a modem/router uses less than a DVR, or that my mom wouldn't need more than an hour's worth. I dunno.
She wasn't home when the power went out, but I estimate it shouldn't have been out for more than 2 hours. The modem/router shouldn't use much power, so I was surprised that the UPS would already be low. So I checked the specs... It's a CyberPower 375 Watt unit and from what I found online, at full load, it can only run for 2 minutes!!! I can't believe I would have bought it knowing that. At the time, I had taken a photo of the side of the box (which listed the specs) for reference, but it doesn't say how long its runtime is. That must have been on the front of the box. This is the only image I found online of the front of the box. The image quality is low, but I decipher it as saying "Four outlets provide up to 65 minutes of runtime during a power outage".
I bet that when I read that, I assumed that time must be for a near-full load. (Because you can always plug in something which uses way less energy, so how could they give any specific number, if not for full load?) Maybe I assumed that for a smaller load, say 37.5 W, it could run for 10 times as long. I do remember looking at the different models in the store and debating which to get, and deciding that this one, even though not the biggest, should suffice for my mom's needs.
But if it can only run at full load for 2 minutes, the 65 minutes would be for a load of... about 12 W?
I did a few more searches.
This 810 Watt model says on the front of the box "Up to 420* Minutes of Backup Power for your Home Theater or Computer". You'd think that would mean at minimum watching TV or using a computer with a monitor.
But the other side of the box says that the 420 minutes is only for using a DVR in record mode (no TV). For a desktop computer, it only provides 58 minutes. For a TV and game console, it only provides 24 minutes.
I finally found another image of the box for my model... not sure if my box was the same. But this one says 65 minutes for DVR while recording, 24 minutes for a computer, and 6 minutes for a 32" TV and game console.
So maybe I should have known better. Maybe I thought a modem/router uses less than a DVR, or that my mom wouldn't need more than an hour's worth. I dunno.