A low power UPS that silently switches to the mains when tripped. Useful for power-hungry home appliances which feature a clock (microwave ovens, dishwashers, washing machines, etc). If the power fails while the appliance is in active use, it simply stops, but if the power fails while the appliance is on stand-by, power is still available from the UPS's battery, and the clock doesn't reset.
-- gutza, Jan 20 2009

Is this intended for the whole home, or for each appliance? If the former, then it's likely that a light, heater or some other hungry device will exceed its capacity and cause it to stop. If the latter, then maybe. On the other hand, most modern appliances come with battery-backed (as in 'internal rechargeable') clocks and other 'memory' features.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 20 2009


It's intended for individual appliances. As such, if most modern appliances do come with battery-backed memory features then this is indeed rubbish, but in my experience that's not the case. Of course, I might not buy the right stuff. :)
-- gutza, Jan 20 2009


duh, here I'm thinking delivery men on LSD...
-- xandram, Jan 21 2009


Hmmm. Well, the problem is that most of the older appliances that might not have backed-up clocks (DVD players, microwaves etc) are now so very cheap that it would probably cost more to buy a UPS with a sufficient power reserve to be useful.

Also, the older appliances (without battery backup) are probably the very ones which draw quite high "idle currents", and would therefore drain the UPS quickly.

Like the name, though. (Trip-UPS)
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 21 2009


This could be an outlet add on that provides a few VA of power storage in a capacitor. If the device uses up the stored charge, it goes dead, but if it is adling, it would probably last through a short outage.
-- cblunds, Jan 21 2009


Yes, I think that's what's being suggested by [gutza]. However, it's not just a capacitor - you need significant storage capacity *and* a circuit to generate AC from the stored voltage, so it's not going to be a very small or cheap thing.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 21 2009


If you have an old appliance with a clock, and it keeps getting reset by power cuts, can't you just leave the clock alone? You probably have plenty of other clocks in your house.

Say this thing costs $10. That's an hour's work for most people. That's more work than setting the clock a couple of times a year.

The people who earn significantly more than $10 probably have modern, battery backed appliances. They probably live somewhere with a reliable power supply too.
-- Bad Jim, Jan 24 2009



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