Yes, most of us are aware that you live in the ideal country where all the people are of above average intelligence, and everything works perfectly.

Must not be 'ferrin' to us "Mericans'."

 

My power went out for a long time (a couple of hours) once because it was linked to supply power to the 'Mericans that brought down the entire east side of the continent due to their mistake. Then the link was cut so that it will never happen again.

Like in 'Merica (drink Lysol to kill the virus), the government in Canada has smart people in one party and stupid people in another party.

I have never been to an uncivilized country. In New York City, Mexico City or Havana I never went to see the slums.

Most massive large power outages in the west are due to natural causes.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/geomagnetic-storm-march-13-1989-extreme-space-weather/

Most significantly, at about 2:45 A.M. local time on Monday, March 13, Canada's Hydro-Québec power utility's grid crashed when safety systems sensed a power overload caused by the currents pulsing through the ground. The failure knocked out electricity to six million people in northeastern Canada for as long as nine hours—the biggest outage ever caused by a geomagnetic storm.

The other outages are from a secret organization I've given my heart and soul for years to destroy.
https://cybersquirrel1.com/

 

Hydro-Qubec's grid crashed and brought down the entire east side of Canada because Hydro-Quebec had no backup system like used in the English-speaking side.

 

There are different approaches I will suggest one briefly.
You have a laptop and an additional car battery that efficiently runs the laptop.
When the battery is low you have a small generator and it charges the extra car battery.
Maybe it will take a gallon or two so you combine that with a solar panel.

 

Um guys, usually when there is a long power outage, the Internet is out, as it is powered as well. Exception may be some cell towers, if you have a data plan. But cable/fiber/DSL usually goes out shortly after a large power failure.
I have a backup generator, can run my PCs and networking gear for a long time during a power failure, but the ISP goes dark on me, so no Internet.

what type of internet service do you have?

 

I have a Wireless link (bridge) to an ISP's tower, powered by UPS/generator at my end. Their end only has a short battery life at the tower. It is fed by fiber from the backbone, but even that needs repeaters to get the long distance they are running.
I can't complain much however, I get my 100/100Mbps for free, as their tower is on my property.... I can always fall back to my cell phone data plan for "must have" stuff, but even cell towers only have a limited power supply (in the order of days...)

 

So far, I'm liking this option, which is essentially the same as was proposed by the OP. Also explains why this may be handy.

 

I've heard some people watch TV by candle light during power outages.

 

I watched the video last night that Lectraplayer posted (#27). A good setup for emergencies but I think a better battery choice my be the Edison Battery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel–iron_battery
This battery can last more than 50 years and probably used most often in warehouses, installed in forklifts. They are still made in China.

 

Notice it says "low specific energy, poor charge retention" meaning daily recharges are necessary to keep peak performance with a typical Nickel–iron cell.

 

A nickel-Iron battery is probably VERY heavy so it is used as a ballast weight to keep the forklift truck from falling over.
Can you imagine a nickel-Iron battery in a Tesla car?

 

Can you imagine a nickel-Iron battery in a Tesla car?

Probably why most electric cars now have lithium ion.

I watched the video last night that Lectraplayer posted (#27). A good setup for emergencies but I think a better battery choice my be the Edison Battery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel–iron_battery
This battery can last more than 50 years and probably used most often in warehouses, installed in forklifts. They are still made in China.

I have been curious about those things. Do you have to handle them any differently than lead acid?

 

get a laptop ?
https://www.zdnet.com/article/best-laptops-with-the-longest-battery-life/

 

Um guys, usually when there is a long power outage, the Internet is out, as it is powered as well. Exception may be some cell towers, if you have a data plan. But cable/fiber/DSL usually goes out shortly after a large power failure.
I have a backup generator, can run my PCs and networking gear for a long time during a power failure, but the ISP goes dark on me, so no Internet.

This depends on your provider. With the hurricanes a few years ago we spent about 3 weeks without power, 1-week per hurricane, and had internet the entire time. I had DSL through the phone company, and the phone being considered a critical service had good backup power apparently.

As for the OP; bigger batteries will do what you want, or a generator if you have the budget. The UPS devices are actually fairly efficient since they are usually approximated sine wave devices, and you can get a lot of run time out of a UPS if you connect it to a deep cycle car/boat battery and keep the load reasonable. We ran a TV this way while the hurricanes were blowing to see the weather news, I used one of those old tan rectangular APC 600's connected to my deep cycle boat battery. Just be sure to match the UPS voltage to the battery, some of the larger UPS are 24V or higher so you would need multiple batteries. Also be sure to use the proper charger, I'm not sure what a charger intended for an SLA battery (the built-in UPS charger) would do for a flooded lead acid or AGM battery. It might be fine, or not, do some homework there.

 

Do you have to handle them any differently than lead acid?

From what I have read, they are a base vs acid electrolyte. They do have a larger weight to power ratio vs lead acid but can add larger or more cells to compensate. I understand the usage in forklifts was not for ballast, although it does positively add to a needed ballast in fork lift situations, but as a hydrogen hazard reduction issue inside of a building, and long life.

Probably why most electric cars now have lithium ion.

 

Yes, just try and deep discharge and recharge a lead acid battery daily for fifty years. Besides, "poor" charge retention" and low specific energy" are relative terms especially if compared to Li-Ion batteries.

If they were so superior to ordinary lead-acid Fork-lift batteries (that can take deep discharge and recharge daily for very long periods of time ) then they would be the standard.
https://www.rpc.com.au/solar-news/161/disadvantages-of-nickel-iron-batteries.html

 

I had (and still have) AT&T, to this point they have kept going through all storms so far, even through power outages. I wonder if they have better infrastructure due to their history providing phone systems, which were and still are in some places mission critical systems, vs. the other providers which were historically entertainment providers. I used to read dslreports.com and it seemed that "the best provider" largely varied by geographic location, but I haven't read there in a while. Here locally, just going by complaints I get from friends and co-workers, comcast seems to have more frequent problems than AT&T.

 

https://www.rpc.com.au/solar-news/161/disadvantages-of-nickel-iron-batteries.html

This is advertising hype. They want to sell anything except Ni-Fe batteries so they disparage Ni-Fe use. I don't run a forklift so I don't know what is standard now. The Edison battery was still a viable product until 1975 but I am not recommending it over all other chemistries. I just think it is cool that it will last and last and last. I am sure that battery engineering has improved the lead acid battery and little has been spent on the Ni-Fe battery to improve it. Sorta like the VHS vs Beta video recording format war. Sony kept improving their VHS format and the Betamax folks with a superior format did not. Result, they fell by the wayside.

From Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel–iron_battery "It is a very robust battery which is tolerant of abuse, (overcharge, overdischarge, and short-circuiting) and can have very long life even if so treated.[7] It is often used in backup situations where it can be continuously charged and can last for more than 20 years. Due to its low specific energy, poor charge retention, and high cost of manufacture, other types of rechargeable batteries have displaced the nickel–iron battery in most applications.[8]"

and this: " the Exide Battery Corporation discontinued the product in 1975. The battery was widely used for railroad signalling, fork lift, and standby power applications. "

 

This is advertising hype. They want to sell anything except Ni-Fe batteries so they disparage Ni-Fe use. I don't run a forklift so I don't know what is standard now. The Edison battery was still a viable product until 1975 but I am not recommending it over all other chemistries. I just think it is cool that it will last and last and last. I am sure that battery engineering has improved the lead acid battery and little has been spent on the Ni-Fe battery to improve it. Sorta like the VHS vs Beta video recording format war. Sony kept improving their VHS format and the Betamax folks with a superior format did not. Result, they fell by the wayside.

From Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel–iron_battery "It is a very robust battery which is tolerant of abuse, (overcharge, overdischarge, and short-circuiting) and can have very long life even if so treated.[7] It is often used in backup situations where it can be continuously charged and can last for more than 20 years. Due to its low specific energy, poor charge retention, and high cost of manufacture, other types of rechargeable batteries have displaced the nickel–iron battery in most applications.[8]"

and this: " the Exide Battery Corporation discontinued the product in 1975. The battery was widely used for railroad signalling, fork lift, and standby power applications. "

I've spent thousands on personal battery backup systems so I've done a little research. IMO, the hype is in the other direction. The market will decide what's better in the long run.

 

A backup battery does not need to be portable, usually. And those Edison, Iron nickle batteries are durable and reliable and if the total cost of ownership is considered they are cheaper, because of not needing to be replaced very often. In my case, if I needed a high capacity backup battery I would use the nickle iron type. And for computer, The ideal thing would be a 19 volt stack so that the laptop could be powered directly. But in my suburban area the internet connection is not as reliable as the mains, and so when the power fails the internet will fail also.

But I solved the whole problem by purchasing a 5 KW triple-fueled generator set. This assures us that the power will not fail for any length of time ever again. My neighbors assisted by having a whole house backup generator installed.
Since this has been done the very longest blackout has been about two hours. Not long enough for the house to get cool in the winter not long enough for the freezer to thaw in the summer. Preparedness is the best prevention!!