So there you are, checking the news, the footy results, Tweeting, FaceBooking or Timing, reading emails etc. The list goes on. You don’t worry about power – why should you? After all, your iPad has a battery in it, so does your laptop, your tablet, your phone.
But what about your modem?
We’re all used to connecting to WiFi. In fact life would be so much different without it. We don’t even need to plug in any more, as long as we’re within range of that blinking box life is good – until we get a power cut. The laptop is on, but the screen dimmed a little. The iPad is still working away but I can’t play Boom Beach as it won’t connect to the server. My phone’s now at risk of exceeding my bandwidth allowance as its reverted to data mode. And my internet phone is now incapable of receiving (or making) any calls. Without power to this little box, the big, big world of the internet is unreachable. Your modem is the gateway to the internet, and is usually combined with WiFi and Ethernet connections and we call this a router. But hey ho, that’s just semantics. The point is that without power your modem or router is dead and you can’t get online.
So I Buy An Uninterruptible Power Supply – Right?
Great idea, there are some great products here at Power Inspired that will work well, albeit a little overkill for something with low power as your router, but that’s OK. I don’t know about you but my routers in my hallway. On a shelf. With a lead running down the wall behind the coat pegs, to my 13A socket where its plugged in via the ubiquitous 12V dc “Wall Wart” power supply. So I unplug the wallwart, put the UPS on the floor, where we normally we keep our shoes, plug the UPS into the wall and plug the wallwart into the UPS.
OK, that works and when a power cut happens the UPS kicks in and we’re still online. There’s a few beeps which is OK, except at night, but it doesn’t happen that often. The main problem is that it keeps getting kicked with dirty boots, used as a shelf to store extra boots on, or a stealth weapon designed to stub your toe and trip you over when you least expect it. After all, you can’t see it under the coats. What’s more, my router takes a 12Vdc power supply. The incoming power is AC and the UPS converts that to DC to charge the battery. During a power cut, this DC is then converted back into AC, which powers my wallwart. My wallwart then converts this new AC into DC again to power my router. This is inefficient! My router itself needs about 6 Watts of power to run, so I’ve got to be using triple that to keep the UPS and my router active. Not ECO friendly!
The Solution?
Power Inspired have the solution. A device that occupies no extra space as it replaces your existing wallwart. A device that is ultra efficient as there is no unnecessary conversion losses. A device that can provide back up power to your modem for up to an hour. More than enough time to defeat Dr Terror, update your status and check the latest scores. The iPower is here and you can buy it now:
For 12V Modems / Routers: IP2100-12