Internal UPS for desktop computers?

I was wondering, are there internal UPS'es available for desktop computers?

Every laptop has something like a UPS in it: The battery pack. Desktop computers don't consume that much power, it should be possible to integrate a battery pack, that is able to fully supply the computer for say 20min. The idea is to have the battery pack behind the PSU, so it would power the mainboard and drives directly, and not through the PSU, as conventional UPS'es do.

To put it simply: Port the convenience of laptop computers to their desktop counterparts. Since there won't be too many users using their desktop computers from the battery alone, this would only serve as UPS, and let the computer running for no more than 20min or so, just enough to skip small outages without shutting down, or safely shut down the computer after a certain amount of time.

I don't believe I'm the first ever person to state that idea. Is something like this available? And if yes: Where? Conventional UPS'es would be then sufficient to power the monitor and other periphery, like network switches, etc.

As a side note: I've seen a lot of people putting much effort in securing their servers with UPS packs, but not powering the network parts with a UPS. They've lost all connectivity to the servers on an outage, the servers just went powerless once the batteries died.

polemon

Posted 2011-05-20T07:16:07.543

Reputation: 2 531

Read an interesting article on a similar topic - will try to find link again. Evidently google use standard batteries connected to the motherboard for each of their servers as a cheap, scaleable alternative. – James – 2011-05-20T07:33:35.243

"and let the computer running for no more than 20min" I've got an APC CS 500. I would say two minutes is more realistic (2,5 kg lead/acid battery) http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=RBC2

– Aki – 2011-05-20T09:19:29.560

@Aki: Well, your APC powers the PSU of your computer. A Laptop battery pack powers the PC and the Monitor for several hours. – polemon – 2011-05-31T07:41:01.997

I wondered about this today as well. I wonder if the internal ones just aren't cost effective nowadays since companies are manufacturing PCs that they want to run anywhere on earth regardless of power standards? Thus without the OEM demand they eventually fall out of the consumer market all together. – MetaGuru – 2013-01-29T15:59:24.470

@ioSamurai It seemes just reasonable to me, as most large laptop batteries don't last much longer than two hours or so. Essentially, that's an internal UPS. I don't see, why something like that shouldn't be available for desktop computers... – polemon – 2013-01-29T16:56:27.123

Answers

There used to be a few 'battery cards' on the market some time (>>5 years) ago that plugged into an ISA slot but I haven't seen sight of anything like that recently, but you can get units that fit into a standard 5.25" drive bay - do a Web search for "PC Internal UPS":

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Linker3000

Posted 2011-05-20T07:16:07.543

Reputation: 25 670

My company have just designed a ups as you have described it. Our ups sits between the PSU and the motherboard and we have managed to drive an i7 CPU pc with 2 HDD's and monitor for 2 Hours. We have a USB connection to the pc that controls the ups and shows status etc. We can extend the ups up time in increments of 2hours in addition to the internal battery in the 5.25" ups.

Steve Legrange

Posted 2011-05-20T07:16:07.543

Reputation: 56

What's the name of your company or product. I am interested in such solutions. Please send me a private message, even though I wouldn't consider this as self-promoting when it answers the question. In fact I wish we had OEM's answering questions here. – user1319829 – 2016-07-18T23:52:33.687

While you are not directly promoting the product with links or anything right now, please be aware that this type of self-promotion is often taken negatively by the community, and can lead to anything from spam flags on your posts up to suspension of your account. Posting word-for-word duplicate answers is generally best to avoid, especially when promoting a product. Please tread carefully in the future, and ensure that if you're promoting products in your answers, that it's only happening naturally when you see a relevant question - not that you go searching for questions in which to promote. – nhinkle – 2013-07-15T17:44:37.833

How do you send power to the monitor? Do you have a power cable going to the monitor from within the PC tower? – polemon – 2013-07-16T19:29:48.520