Building an Alternative Power Supply

Page One: What am I talking about?

By: Orinthical

What am I talking about? Well, chances are that no matter how involved with computers you are... you've heard of a UPS. And un-interuptable power source that powers your computer for a small amount of time in order to let you save documents and such in case of a power outage.

Well if you're like me, you're probably wondering why in the world you should pay upwards of two hundred dollars just for twenty minutes of power? Well, what if I could tell you how to get allot better results for just about the same amount of money or less? Personally, I'd be happy... but wait, it gets better.

How about 10 hours or more of power for around $200? or even $250? Yes, you heard me right... 10 HOURS of power for the same amount of money. Well, I suppose right now you'll be going crazy and asking me to explain how to get this done, no?

Well, let's start with the basics...

UPS's (Un-interuptable power supplies) used to only be found in bank branch offices or industry giants where mainframes were in use and millions or billions of dollars were at stake if the power ever failed during a number crunching affair. Well, like everything else in the world... times have changed. These smaller devices have now found their way into almost every serious computer users office collection.

How they work is by using a set of voltage regulators and a few relays to measure input voltage and then react by switching over to an internal power supply (batteries) if the input voltage should fall shorter than a given range. The idea is, that it will switch over within enough time that the device(s) it is protecting won't feel the fluctuation. Therefore, allowing them to continue running as if nothing had happened.