Using Laptop Battery And Surge Protector Instead Of UPS?

I was thinking of using battery and surge protector instead of UPS. With UPS you have to:

Do checkups
Ship for battery replacements

i.e it is a hassle. With laptop battery you have nothing to worry about if you keep it charged in a frame between 40% to 60% and in temperature below 25 C so you prolong battery life. Besides i never use battery because my laptop is a good substitute for desktop to me since i don't use heavy applications at all.

The problem might be that in my country, temperature in summer is 30 C - 32 C. What i don't know is if i will save money and if yes, then how much.

What do you think? Are there other advantages and disadvantages i did not mention?

Boris_yo

Posted 2011-07-13T15:40:54.960

Reputation: 5 238

1This is a rather subjective question, and the FAQ discourages "I use X, what do you think/use?" questions. Try to reword it with specific criteria: "Does a laptop battery degrade faster than a UPS battery?" "Does a UPS provide more equipment protection than a surge protector?" Also, you'd have to do regular tests/checkups on a laptop battery as well, and if your laptop has a built-in battery, then you have to ship it off for replacement as well. – Darth Android – 2011-07-13T16:14:01.140

1Agreed with @DarthAndroid. Very subjective -- please ask a specific question. It seems you already know what you want to do. Asking "What do you think?" and how much money you will save is not a good fit for Super User. – slhck – 2011-07-13T16:22:25.227

Answers

UPS batteries are not Li-ion like laptop batteries. They will last longer.

Higher-end UPSes condition the power they receive, better than what a simple power strip can do. This can lengthen the life of your equipment.

You can also power multiple devices off of many UPSes, such as external drives or perhaps your router/cablemodem.

LawrenceC

Posted 2011-07-13T15:40:54.960

Reputation: 63 487

Power Surge Protector does not condition power? It protects against surges, brownouts - isn't this power conditioning? What else could you possibly want? Surges and brownouts are main dangers. – Boris_yo – 2011-07-14T15:31:01.577

Power conditioning makes sure the power frequency is 60Hz, is a pure sine wave, and that the voltage is 120v. The voltage regulation is probably the most significant thing with regard to extending life of components. – LawrenceC – 2011-07-14T17:28:48.120

One disadvantage is you are constrained to laptops for hardware availability and updatability.

It will be hard to upgrade your hardware when better stuff comes out, you will need to replace the whole laptop instead of the component. Also expect the laptop to cost more for the same hardware specd desktop.

modern UPS's have replaceable batteries, you don't need to send the whole unit off and they will have a lifespan as long if not longer than laptop batteries being lead-acid instead of Li-ion.

Scott Chamberlain

Posted 2011-07-13T15:40:54.960

Reputation: 28 923

And a decent ups can also protect your monitor, printer, router, phone charger and .... – Nifle – 2011-07-13T16:14:28.377