# Never lose the call: two battery backups, under $200

**What it does:** keeps your internet and your computer running through a power flicker. A
five-second blip in a storm normally costs you two to three minutes of internet while the modem
reboots, which means a dropped call, a lost meeting, and an agent job that died halfway. Two
battery backups make that blip a non-event: the lights go out around you and your call keeps
going.

**What it saved:** every dropped Zoom call in a Nashville thunderstorm, and every unattended job
that used to die with the power. This is the cheapest, least glamorous upgrade on this list, and
the one with the highest hit rate.

**Shown at:** AI Open House, by Colton Mulligan.

## The two units, and why you want both

| Unit | What goes on it | Rough cost |
|------|-----------------|------------|
| **CyberPower EC850LCD**, 850VA / 510W, 12 outlets, LCD, eco mode | The computer, one monitor, the always-on Mac | about $130 |
| **APC Back-UPS 425VA / 255W**, 6 outlets | The modem and the router, and nothing else | about $60 |

The big one is the obvious purchase. **The small one is the one people skip, and it is the one
that saves the meeting.** A modem and a router together usually draw somewhere between 15 and 30
watts, which is almost nothing, so a small battery carries them a long time: well over an hour in
practice, and often much longer than the big unit will carry a desktop and a monitor. A laptop
already has its own battery. Its internet does not.

Put them together and a power cut becomes: screen stays on, Wi-Fi stays on, call keeps going,
and you have a calm hour to save your work rather than three seconds.

## How to size one without a spreadsheet

Two numbers, that is it:

1. **Add up the watts** you want to keep alive. A modem and router: about 15 to 30W. A laptop and
   a monitor: about 60 to 120W. A Mac mini: about 10 to 40W. A desktop with a real graphics card:
   300W and up.
2. **Look up the runtime chart** for the model you are considering, at the load you just added
   up. Every manufacturer publishes one. Runtime falls off a cliff as load rises: the same unit
   that holds 30W for two hours may hold 400W for three minutes.

Then buy one size up from what you calculated, because batteries age.

## Five things worth knowing before you buy

- **Only the "battery backup" outlets are on battery.** Every one of these units has two banks:
  battery plus surge, and surge only. Half of all UPS disappointment is a modem plugged into the
  wrong half. Check the labels on the back, then test it by pulling the wall plug.
- **Never plug a space heater, a laser printer or a vacuum into one.** High-draw appliances trip
  the overload alarm and can shorten the unit's life. Printers go on the wall.
- **A USB cable makes it smart, for free.** Connect the UPS to your Mac by USB and macOS sees it
  natively under Energy settings: battery status, and an option to shut the machine down after a
  set number of minutes on battery. For an always-on machine, set that, so a long outage ends in
  a clean shutdown instead of a hard one.
- **Test it on purpose, twice a year.** Pull the wall plug and watch what actually stays up. The
  failure you want to discover is one you caused on a Tuesday afternoon, not one a storm caused
  during a client call.
- **Batteries are consumable.** Expect to replace them every three to five years. The unit will
  usually start beeping about it. Replacement batteries are cheap; a surprise is not.

## The prompt

```text
Help me size battery backups for my desk. Here is what I want to keep running during a power cut:
[LIST YOUR GEAR, e.g. a laptop, two monitors, a Mac mini, a cable modem, a router].

For each item, estimate its real-world power draw in watts and say where your number comes from.
Then total it, and split it into two groups: (1) network gear only, which I want to survive for
an hour or more, and (2) computer and monitors, which I want for 15 to 20 minutes.

Then recommend one battery backup for each group, with its VA and watt ratings, and show me the
manufacturer's published runtime at my actual load, not at the headline load. Tell me which
outlets on each unit are battery-backed versus surge-only, and anything I should NOT plug in.
```

## Stack card

```text
WHAT IT DOES:     Keeps the internet and the computer alive through a power flicker or outage
AI / MODEL:       None. This one is just hardware.
STACK:            One 850VA UPS for the desk, one 425VA UPS for the modem and router
WHERE IT LIVES:   under the desk
COST TO RUN:      About $190 once, plus a battery every three to five years
TIME SAVED:       Every call that used to drop, and every unattended job that used to die
TIER SHARED:      the exact gear list plus the sizing prompt
```

Prices move, and model numbers get replaced. Check current runtime charts before you buy.

Built by Colton: https://builtbycolton.com

From the AI Open House free library: https://aiopenhouse.co/guests/#library