In case you are working on a desktop and you dont want to be interrupted by a power surge or blackout, you simply use UPS to avoid these issues. We know that desktop users commonly use them, but what about laptops?
When doing some important work on your laptop you rely on a steady power supply to support your workspace running. If your battery dies and a power surge happens you can lose hours of hard work, possibly damage your system, and therefore lose money.
In this in-depth guide, you will learn the following:
- What is UPS
- Can we use UPS for laptops
- Can you charge your laptop on UPS
- How long will a UPS run a laptop
- How to choose UPS for a laptop
During my research, I discovered lots of interesting facts about laptops and UPS which I didn’t know before. By the end of the article, you will know everything you need to know about this topic.
Without further ado, let’s jump straight in!
What is UPS – a brief introduction
In simple terms, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a device that provides the ability for a computer to keep operating for at least a short time when the primary power source is failed. It also provides protection from power surges. A UPS contains a battery that turns on when the device feels a loss of power from the primary source.
- Smooths out loud power sources
- Constantly provides power to equipment during line sags
- Automatically shuts down equipment during long power outages
- Monitoring and logging the status of the power supply
- Display the voltage draw of the equipment
- Restart devices after a long power outage
- Display the voltage currently on the power line
- Provide alarms on certain errors
- Provide short-circuit protection.
Can UPS be used for laptops?
Now when we know the UPS is, I really dont know why you could not use UPS for a laptop. Both desktops and laptops are computers so they functionally do the same thing. The only noticeable difference is their physical form.
You can use UPS for laptops. Although you may not need a power outage feature, UPS may come in handy if your laptop’s battery is dead and you want to be protected from a power surge.
When you think about it, UPS actually imitates the power supply of a standard household wall socket as it provides a voltage output of 220V at 50Hz. With that being said, connecting your laptop to UPS is practically the same as plugging it into the wall socket except it has limited power obviously.
I know that the use of UPS for laptops may seem funny since laptops have their own batteries. However, imagine the scenario of something wrong being with the battery and suddenly you dont have one. Now, you can either plug it into a wall socket or UPS. If you plug it into a wall socket, you are placing your laptop at the risk of a power surge.
I lost my first computer due to a power surge because I didn’t want to spend more money on UPS. Please dont make the same mistake. This is especially the case for those who are working on their laptops. If your laptop is older, chances are your battery is halfway dead, so getting a UPS is even more important.
Can we use UPS for laptop charging?
The UPS does not know or care what kind of load is drawing from it, as long as the load does not exceed its power rating.
A laptop charger doesn’t either know or care where its power is coming from, as long as the supply is within its input parameters.
For instance, if a load exceeds the power rating of a UPS – the UPS will disconnect the load. If the supply is outside of the input parameters of a laptop charger, maybe because of a fault with the UPS – it will do one of the following:
In the case of an undervoltage, it fails to create a usable output;
In the case of an overvoltage, trip a resettable fuse;
Only in the dubious case of an extreme overvoltage (lightning strike) could it force damage to the charger and possibly the laptop.
With that being said, here is the conclusion:
Generally speaking, you can use UPS for laptop charging in most cases. However, if there are voltage fluctuations, it is best to use voltage stabilizers since some UPS can damage the charger due to improper current and voltage.
Just dont mix the voltage stabilizer and UPS because they are NOT the same thing. In layman’s terms, a voltage stabilizer is a device that controls voltage fluctuations. The latter is a device that protects equipment from fluctuations and provides power when the main power source goes down.
How long will a UPS run a laptop?
How long UPS can support your laptop depends on its battery, your laptop’s power consumption, and whether your laptop battery is charged or not. Note that a modern laptop doesn’t consume the same energy at all times.
It also depends on how your CPU load, how much your laptop screen shine, and whether you use WiFi and/or Bluetooth. These are likely the greatest power consumers. And yeah, dont forget about RAM. If you use more RAM, your laptop may go down quickly.
For instance, my friend has Ultrabook Lenovo. He doesn’t have a battery for almost two years, so he uses UPS. So when the electricity is gone, his UPS backs him up for four straight hours, which is pretty amazing. His UPS is 800 VA, and also Ultrabooks are known for their low power consumption.
All in all, you’ll have to do some tests; just work in your regular mode and measure how long it will take to deplete the UPS. If you dont have UPS, go to your friend’s home with your stopwatch.
I mean, you could make it work for 5–6 hours, but you have to modify it a lot.
Well, the 15–30 minutes UPS usually has a battery that assumably has a capacity of 7–10Ah, whether 12V or two 12V batteries; typically, 1200VA UPS comes with 2. You can simply change those batteries with a higher capacity one, say a 100Ah and it will provide a solid amount of backup.
However, the issue will be charging that battery because the internal circuitry of that UPS is designed to charge a 10Ah battery in 10h. That means a 100Ah battery might even take more than 100 hours to charge, or it won’t even charge.
Not that practical, right? So what can you do?
You can get a different charger circuit and use a couple of relays to switch between charging and backup mode. It worked nicely with the first mod that my friend did. He used a 1200VA mercury UPS circuit and connected it up with a 12V 130Ah battery. To charge that battery, he made a separate circuit that will charge at around 10–11A so that it will be charged in 15 hours even under high DoD. It turned out pretty well.
So you can likely do it if you want to but make sure to use the right wiring and connectors.
I have a 600VA UPS at my home, and my laptop is 65W. How long can it last?
Regarding your Laptop to be max. 65W, so a 600 VA UPS should easily last about 6–8 hours.
There is no specific answer on how long UPS will run a laptop. It all depends on the UPS size and the overall power consumption of the laptop. With that being said, it can last from 10 minutes up to 8 hours.
Laptop UPS timespan calculator
First, let’s understand the key terms:
VA (VA power rating) – represents the maximum charge of the battery
AH (Battery capacity) – how much charge a battery can store; you can see it on your laptop battery and the UPS
W (Watts power rating) – the power output of the UPS
Wt (Total load) – the sum of the power consumption of all the equipment that is connected to the UPS
Now, to make a calculation of the UPS timespan when using a laptop, use the following formula:
A = Wt/V
Time = AH / A
Let’s just say you are using a laptop with a power draw of 60W, and it will be the only thing you’re plugging into your UPS (this presents Wt). You will require a UPS with 100W or more.
So, if you have a UPS with a 12V battery, a battery capacity of 2.9AH, and a Watts Power Rating of 300W, it can sustain the power demand of your laptop.
Example
Wt – 65W
V – 12V
AH – 2.9 AH
W – 300W
A = 65W / 12V
A = 5.41
Time = 2.9AH / 5.41A
Time = 0.53 h
Which UPS size is best for laptops?
Your battery support depends on your laptop’s force utilization, your ideal support run time, and any extra highlights you need. To measure the sort of UPS, you will require, utilize APC’s UPS Selector Tool and remember to factor in the wattage of any additional gadgets you intend to connect.
When you have your digits, consider usability choices, for instance, LCD screens that show battery charge, power utilization, and other applicable info. Note that some UPS frameworks further help organization and link lines and tell you when some big problem occurs and settle.
For regular desktop users, a 500VA UPS will be more than enough. On the other hand, if you have a gaming laptop, you may need something between 500-700VA, just to be sure. In terms of wattage, 360W will be sufficient for most laptops.