Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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I like this idea, only I think it should be run by the government.

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Wall-outlet UPS

Scaled down multiple UPS devices
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An uninterruptible power supply that plugs directly into a wall outlet, without a cord. Covers the wall outlet and sticks out a bit, but provides a one or two outlets for you to plug in your stuff. Only for with low wattage items - like your Alexa, HomePod, internet & WiFi router. Battery to supply up to 20 watts for up to an hour to keep you online through a short outage.

Compare to the smallest UPS I could find, the Cyberpower 650 series (link). Those are about 9” x 6” x 3”, weigh 7 pounds, and have a 5 foot cord. Eight outlets, can supply 360 watts … for two minutes. Apparently running a full load is a hard thing, at half load it will run for almost nine minutes. Great if you have all the gear in one room... but the Alexa is in the living room, the router is in the office, and so on...

So scale it down, buy several, and distribute them through the house.

a1, Jan 24 2023

Ain't ya got something smaller? https://www.cyberpo...tery-backup/sx650u/
[a1, Jan 24 2023]

Example of low voltage DC UPS https://www.amazon....00mAh/dp/B07W8MCBMS
[scad mientist, Jan 25 2023]

[link]






       You'll be inundated with people demanding to know why their air conditioner stopped working after 2 minutes. Also if you're buying one for each outlet you're better off just getting a big one for the whole house.
Voice, Jan 24 2023
  

       I've always wondered how UPSs are so shit. 2 minutes? What is it meant to power, the oven? A laptop will happily run for several hours on battery; a desktop doesn't use 100x the power.
neutrinos_shadow, Jan 24 2023
  

       i guess the idea for those short runtimes is either “keep the computer from crashing if the power goes out for a few seconds” or “just enough time to save your files and shut off the computer.”
a1, Jan 25 2023
  

       Seems suitable. Lightweight is good to keep the prongs from sliding out of the outlet over time though I suppose it could have a center screw to fasten directly to the outlet itself.   

       And of course you would want it to squawk at you during every interruption in power, and from every room in the house. "AWK! AWK! AWK! Brownout! Brownout! Save the data! AWK! AWK! AWK!"   

       Ahem.
whatrock, Jan 25 2023
  

       The problem is that the hardware to convert between 110V/220V AC and battery voltage is non-trivial, and usually quite inefficient. For small things like Alexa and a router, it's much more cost and energy efficient to use a low voltage DC UPS [link]. Those are not quite as simple to set up since you might have to deal with finding the right power connectors, etc. As USB-C PD (Power Delivery) becomes more common as a universal power connector, that issue may go away as well. A low voltage DC UPS in a wall-wart form factor could be a nice form factor, and I didn't see anything like that actually available.   

       Anyway, I'd say that the existence of low voltage DC UPSs is the reason that nobody sells a smaller 110V/220V UPS. It's just not practical.
scad mientist, Jan 25 2023
  

       [scad_mientist], yes I did see that DC UPS or one very similar when researching this idea. I'd settle for it in the form factor I've described, but as you say getting the right cabling is tricky.
a1, Jan 25 2023
  

       Every home should have a converter and all domestic appliances should run on DC. It would be safer and more efficient.
Voice, Jan 25 2023
  
      
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