If I have a USB powered device, could I leave it plugged into a portable power bank (like the kind you charge your phone with) as a power outage backup?
Basically as the title says. We have semi frequent power outages where I live. The noise machine in my daughter's room goes out and wakes her up. If I were to buy a USB powered one, plug it into a power bank like one of those 10000ma ones you get for charging cell phones, would it have continuous power. Basically like a cheap UPS
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DO NOT leave a lithium battery both charging and discharging indefinitely in your daughter's room. The suggestion below of a small UPS device intended for routers and they like is the way to go.
Since you didn't explain why... Using a normal power bank as an UPS is a bad idea because lithium batteries have a limited amount cycles it can charge and discharge. With a power bank the power has to flow from the charger into the battery then out to the load which eats up those cycles. An UPS is a little more clever as the power goes straight to the load via a capacitor bank and a mosfet bypassing the battery. When the source power is cut the UPS runs off of the capacitors for the milliseconds it takes for the mosfet to switch the load over to the battery. This vastly extends the life of the battery and reduces the risks of fire and toxic fumes from being released.
Any recommendations of a modem/router UPS that would keep one up and running for a few hours? I've been needing to get one for WFH.
I personally use an APC pro 1500 and it will run my (admittedly large) network for an hour. If your router and modem are around 50 watts you could probably get about two hours.
If you need anything longer than that you should look at solar generators that have an UPS mode like from what bluetti or ecoflow offers as they are a significantly better value than a purpose built high capacity UPS with the added benefits of being able to hook up portable solar panels to extend the run time even further.
Hey forgot to say thanks a ton for this info! I'll be pulling the trigger on one of these soon.