How long would an Amazon Show last on a UPS?

[Wade Lippman]

I have an Amazon Show on a 425wh UPS. I figure that will keep it working as an alarm clock
It draws 3w, so I figured it would last 4 days. It actually lasted 4 hours.
Am I misunderstanding something, or do I just have a nearly dead battery?

I also had a lamp on it, but the LCD didn't like the square wave at all.

[Steve Demuth]

You don't say how old the UPS is or what kind of battery it uses, but I suspect the battery is past its useful life. I just junked a UPS (old enough to contain a sealed lead acid battery) that showed its battery holding at 90% charge. Tried to run a router off it. Lasted about 25 minutes. You could see the charge meter falling.

[Bill Howatt]

I had to replace the 2 sealed lead acid batteries in my UPS after about 7 years which I believe is the typical lifetime although only 1 was real bad. I have never had it last as long as the specs or metering indicate it would.

[Mark Wedel]

I suspect to look better, most UPS are advertising the battery capacity of brand new batteries, and real life use is going to be less. The batteries will age, but there is also some inefficiency in convert that battery back to AC current. Depending on the UPS, the price of a new UPS might not be much more expensive than just replacing the batteries. I remember rescuing some UPS that were going to be thrown out, only to find out that the batteries had virtually no usable capacity which is why they were being thrown out.

[Alan Lightstone]

I built a homemade UPS this year with a deep discharge 100Ah battery and a sign wave RV inverter. Cost less than most UPS units, and will last several days with the fridge. Far better than a computer UPS.

[Bill George]

I have an Amazon Show on a 425wh UPS. I figure that will keep it working as an alarm clock
It draws 3w, so I figured it would last 4 days. It actually lasted 4 hours.
Am I misunderstanding something, or do I just have a nearly dead battery?

I also had a lamp on it, but the LCD didn't like the square wave at all.

You have a Amazon Show on a UPS?? What are you talking about a internet programs or ??

[Dave Fritz]

Bill, I googled 425wh UPS and came up with this: https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Protector-Back-UPS-BE425M/dp/B01HDC236Q
I think that's what they're talking about.

[Mark Wedel]

The amazon (echo) show is a device. Like an echo dot, but also has a screen so it can show you videos or you use that as an alternative selection method. IMO, not the best name as it is easily confused with videos/tv shows that amazon produces.

For that to be useful on the UPS, it would seem that the internet also has to be operating. One can control the devices in your house, and make sure the modem/router is in a UPS. Upstream may be a different matter.

[Bill George]

So its a Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) | HD smart display with premium sound, motion and Alexa, sold by Amazon. That makes sense the Amazon Show does not!! Ends a lot of confusion.

[Wade Lippman]

Do you have plans for that? I've got two big lithium batteries I only use in the summer.

[Alan Lightstone]

Do you have plans for that? I've got two big lithium batteries I only use in the summer.
If that question is regarding the UPS I built for the medication fridge, the answer came from smart people here.

1.) Large Battery (I used a deep discharge, 100Ah AGM battery that I had been using outside for my off-grid landscaping lights)

2.) 12V-120V inverter (I bought this one on Amazon, but I would but a higher output model in the future, maybe 1500W.) For your Amazon Show, this should be more than sufficient). I wish mine could support a Keurig coffee machine, for a quick cup of coffee if the power goes out, but 1000W sadly isn't enough for that. It easily works on our small fridge for medication.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08T5JB36D?th=1

3.) RV Transfer Switch
https://www.amazon.com/AC120V-Automatic-Transfer-Switch-HD060/dp/B0BRQ7KQQ7/

4.) 12V/24V Smart Battery Charger (I bought a variation on this one):
https://www.amazon.com/Kinverch-Battery-Charger-Automatic-Maintainer/dp/B0BZTSBWKC

My calculations have it working for days to keep the fridge cold (only uses 85 watts, when it's cycling). And I could always drag upstairs an additional battery if need be.

Massive overkill for a 3W Amazon Show, but it would clearly work.

[Brian Elfert]

For that to be useful on the UPS, it would seem that the internet also has to be operating. One can control the devices in your house, and make sure the modem/router is in a UPS. Upstream may be a different matter.

The Echo Show may still work as an alarm clock with no Internet access.

[Wade Lippman]

The amazon (echo) show is a device. Like an echo dot, but also has a screen so it can show you videos or you use that as an alternative selection method. IMO, not the best name as it is easily confused with videos/tv shows that amazon produces.

For that to be useful on the UPS, it would seem that the internet also has to be operating. One can control the devices in your house, and make sure the modem/router is in a UPS. Upstream may be a different matter.

I am mainly interested in having it work as an alarm clock, but my router is on a UPS and a automatic generator, so I should only be without internet for a few minutes.

[Alan Lightstone]

I am mainly interested in having it work as an alarm clock, but my router is on a UPS and a automatic generator, so I should only be without internet for a few minutes.
That does assume that your cable doesn't go out when the power does, which is clearly not the case here.

[Wade Lippman]

That does assume that your cable doesn't go out when the power does, which is clearly not the case here.

My cable has never gone out. The power goes out frequently. That does seem kinda odd, since they are on the same poles. Maybe cable has better redundancy.

[Bill Howatt]

Don't know your cable method and topology but it could be they have power generation backup like the cell towers to keep things going. If your access is via a cell service then that explains it.

[Mark Wedel]

Possible that the cable also has battery back up (POTS systems have so, as do I think cell towers). It may also be that where the cable terminates (needs power) was outside the area where the power outage happened - which does mean you could get the odd situation where you have no cable because the power is out for it, but you still have power.

I do wonder how long those battery backup for cable/cell towers last. I think there have also been cases where they were not properly maintained and then did not last as long as expected because going to all the cell towers and replacing the batteries is a bit of work.

[Bill Howatt]

From what I see the backup time requirement is not firm and may be dependent on how much load, likely more meaning important, is on the given tower. One thing said 2-4 hours and then later there was mention of FCC requiring 8 hours so take your pick. Batteries are commonly backed up by diesel generators and there are special long-life cell tower batteries but it wasn't clear if these were available or in development.