Soluition for 20 second power failure

bobbyalex

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My apartment has a generator that kicks in automatically when the power fails. The problem is that it takes about 20 seconds for the generator to start and supply the juice to the apartment. Because of this the set top box powers off and I have to wait for it to initialize before I can resume watching. This is a royal pain because the STB wont remember the channel I was watching when the power loss happened and I have to search from the list and switch back to it.:annoyed:
It is also a problem when the power comes back as when the line is switched back to the main, there is a one second power loss.
This is even a bigger nuisance when I am using my PS3 because the power loss means hours of loss effort (yeah I know its not the end of the world but if you are a gamer you will understand):sad:.
I know I can use a UPS to fix this but is there another solution? I ask this because I dont want power backup per se. Just enough juice to prevent the power loss to the STB/TV/PS3 during the 20 seconds and the one second when the power comes back.
Suggestions?
PS: I dont want to spend an arm and leg on this.
 
UPS/inverter is the only solution AFAIK. You can use an ordinary UPS for connecting your settop box and ps3. No need for going to an online one or sinewave UPS. I'm using a 6 year old frontech 600VA UPS to power my STB, LCDTV, Blu-Ray player, DVD player and media player. The battery is almost dead, but it gives me a backup time of 2-3 minutes. With a brand new battery it will give atleast 30 minutes of backup.
 
I know I can use a UPS to fix this but is there another solution?

No. That's what UPSs are for! :)

But I don't think you have to spend either the arm or the leg, as you only need capacity for a very short time. However, there are two things to consider when buying a UPS, and only one is how long it will support the stuff plugged into it: the other is the amount of power it will supply, and you have to have an idea of how many watts your equipment will draw. I would have thought the set-top box and the PS3 would be minimal and something like this small APC unit would be more than enough. It might take the TV too, for really-uninterrupted viewing, and certainly a table lamp for emergency lighting.
 
On the other hand, I am actually leaning the other way - run
the power through a manual reset type of GFCI/RCD device, so
the equipment will not be powered back on after this kind of
short failure till I reset it.
The RCD will also protect against leakage to earth kind of faults and
may save your life.

Industrial Electric Switches: GFCI ~ manual reset vs. automatic reset

Residual-current device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

GFCI White Paper

Uh... how will this help me again?
 
Hi!

An UPS will protect u from intermittent power failure. But there is one problem in India which can be catastrophic. This happens when the neutral & phase in in incoming feeders get crossed. Then the other 2 phases develop 440v & all ur equipment gets fried. This happens more so if the incoming feeders are overhead wires.

The only protection for this is to place a high voltage rupture disc in the circuit, preferably as close to your main fuse as possible. I have a couple of posts on this topic, including photos. Do & search of my posts and implement the same asap.

regards

Sridhar
 
The OP wants to prevent stb from resetting during his 20 second power outages, he could float charge a 12v 4ah battery with the 12v adaptor of stb. ofcourse the tv will be switched off during the outage(20 sec), a series diode may be needed to ensure current flowing only to stb and not towards the adaptor

If dont want to load the stb adaptor ,may try a lm317 based float charger(google for schematic) or any similar system for the battery and run it parallel with stb adaptor(OR function with diodes)

Ofcourse the ups is a better solution but the OP already knew that before he started the thread
 
I think I will just dust off an old computer UPS I have lying around and see if I can get that to work. Thanks guys.
 
If the batterries still have life in them, it should do what you want --- and if they don't, then replacing the battery[ies] will be cheaper than buying a new unit.
 
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