In uk.d-i-y, Toby wrote:
PoP wrote:
Might be a lot cheaper and easier to use a UPS rather than a genny.
That way you've got battery backed up CH 24x7 and never need to worry
about switching over.

But Dave's already got the guts of a UPS, in the form of his inverter and
car battery. An off-the-shelf cheapie UPS won't have the runtime he's
getting - lots more stored energy in a 50AH car battery such as the man
says he's already using, than the smaller lead-acids which come with your
UPS. Admittedly, the ones in a UPS ought to be rated for deep discharge,
which a car battery isn't: but even living where he does, Dave's not
likely to run his battery flat all that often.

Course, for "the rest of us", an inline UPS could be a good idea, as it
already has much of the safety-relevant considerations applied (for
completeness giving it an independent earth might be desirable).

One point with the sort of UPS for PCs such as the APC ones, are they won't
power something from cold.

Actually, at least some of the APC ones - the "SmartUPS" range for one -
does indeed have this capability, which their marketroids imaginitively
call "cold start". Could be that their entry-level "BackUPS" range doesn't.

HTH - Stefek