
Losing power in the middle of the day can have a real impact on business. Losing power for an extended period of time can really impact business. After the last two hurricanes that hit Florida, we’ve been on a mission to prevent extended power outages.
In summary, we’re starting to use and recommend EcoFlow power stations as battery backups for computers, routers, and more.
After hurricanes Helene and Milton here in Florida, that was enough for me. I knew I didn’t want to see power interrupted at any key devices/areas, from the business systems here in Florida, to the home theater and refrigerators at home.
I also didn’t just want to jump right to “whole home” generators. There are a lot of options, natural gas isn’t an option where I live, and I didn’t want to jump in without doing a ton of research. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last few months. 🙂
Looking at this from a bare bones and simple perspective, preventing power outages on the outlets for critical equipment was the main goal. We already implement battery backups (a.k.a. Uninterruptible Power Supplies) for our customers’ consignment/resale computers + routers/network equipment, so “keeping a computer afloat during a power blip” isn’t new to us. That in and of itself, is one of the best parts about a battery backup — the device you’re using doesn’t shut-off in the middle of, well, using it. Whether that’s a computer, the Internet modem/equipment, or a TV, just preventing the blip from happening is ideal.
Battery backups provide a bit of run-time, but they’re not meant to function like generators — i.e. they keep your computer or Internet up during a power blip, but anything over an hour or so and they are going to shutdown. While you can buy larger battery backups, we’re still not talking generator-like performance.
Enter — Power Stations. a.k.a. Solar Generators, SoGens, Mini Generators, etc.
Power Stations
I think of power stations like battery backups, but also as mini generators. 🙂 Anywhere I would put a battery backup — e.g. a computer, router, modem, etc. — I’d put a power station.
Which one though? There are so many brands, options, and sizes, which ones are right?
To quickly summarize a few key details:
- Not all power stations can function like a battery backup, since not all brands/models are fast enough (i.e. <20ms) to transfer from power to battery.
- The power station needs to supply clean — i.e. pure sine wave — power, especially for computers.
- I look at these in “chunks of 1,000” when it comes to watt hours and “what can it power?” A standard size for the batteries in a lot of these power stations is 1024wh (watt hours), but there are also models that are fractions of that. What that can run varies, so I’ll try and simplify that with some relatable real-world examples in this post.
EcoFlow River 3
For the money (~$200.00) and what you get in return (multiple hours/a business day of runtime), the EcoFlow River 3 is our first recommendation. An EcoFlow River 3 has a 245Wh battery and with a router + modem typically consuming 10-15Wh, that gets you roughly 15+ hours of WiFi runtime. A computer + monitor(s) can typically consume 25-50Wh, so 4-5 hours of runtime.
Places we recommend installing these:
- Modem/router — One EcoFlow River 3 will typically keep a modem + router running for 8-10 hours and will prevent network “flickers” during power events.
- Each computer — For any computer that is an important part of your store and that you’d be in a bind if it were down, I’d put that computer’s power supply on an EcoFlow River 3.
- Network switches — For stores with larger networks, anywhere you have network switches I’d recommend powering them from an EcoFlow River 3.
These are small, portable, and powerful, keeping most computing electronics running for 8+ hours. The Computer Peeps utilize EcoFlow River 3s to power each of the Peeps’ Support stations, our test servers, cable modem + router, fiber ONT + router, and more.
Current Amazon link -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB1S36YP/
EcoFlow Delta 2
This is one of my favorite EcoFlow power stations. The EcoFlow Delta 2 has a 1024Wh battery, so a big step-up from the River 3. These also allow for adding an expansion battery @ 1024Wh, so you can have an EcoFlow Delta 2 providing 2048Wh of battery backup power. With these you’re starting to get into the 24-48 time-frame for keeping your electronics up and online.
Places we recommend installing these:
- Modem/router — For larger, higher-volume stores, keeping Internet up and running is a huge help. While outages from the ISP can happen, power outages or power fluctuations can trigger a variety of network problems. I’d rather keep the network and Internet up and running at all times, in regard to power, so I don’t think it’s overkill to implement an EcoFlow Delta 2 for your modem/router/network area.
- Servers — For stores with dedicated server systems, you’d be in great shape if you had an EcoFlow River 3 in-place, especially if you’re running a MiniPeep Database Server. However, I’ve been in far too many situations where power disruptions have a major (and negative) impact on the store’s operations, so knowing the server has a day+ of time on battery and will never drop due to power flickers, is a huge asset.
These can also power things like refrigerators for almost an entire day, so they’re a beefier device. I use these to power our entire server/network rack here, with another one behind it as a backup to the backup. 😀 That’ll eventually grow, but this proved to me we could implement inexpensive generators that would keep operations running for 24+ hours during a power outage.
These are also great at ‘insulating’ your server system from power disruptions — e.g. from space heaters, grid/infrastructure problems, storms, etc.
Current Amazon link -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9XB57XM/
There are a lot of other EcoFlow models and plenty of other brands, including Anker, Bluetti, Dabbsson, Jackery, and more. For the consistency, the features, the app integration, the simplicity, and the price, The Computer Peeps recommend EcoFlow power stations if you’re going to implement them as battery backups.