Portable power unit and UPS device for keeping your laptop and external monitors running during outages.
Portable power unit and UPS device for keeping your laptop and external monitors running during outages.
I face occasional power interruptions in my area. My main income comes from playing online poker, which is the only thing keeping me afloat. The earnings are modest but sufficient for basic living. My setup includes a Dell XPS 15 9520 laptop and two external monitors—a 32-inch Samsung 4K and a 24-inch Asus monitor at 1920x1200 resolution. I work from a 6-foot folding table, positioning the monitors diagonally. My laptop sits on the left side of the larger screen, while the smaller one is angled to the right. I use a wired keyboard and a Logitech trackball mouse. A Cyberpower UPS powers everything, but it’s failing—it has been dead for years. During outages, it shuts down instantly, cutting power without warning. I need replacement batteries soon.
My UPS requires two batteries, yet it sometimes stops working on its own, restarting after brief failures. It displays numbers on the screen, but they’re useless when power cuts. I rely on my laptop as a desktop, keeping it plugged in most of the time. The problem is that the battery drains quickly, and I often have to switch devices manually.
I also use two power banks: an Anker 737 (24,000 mAh) and a Dell PW7018LC (18,000 mAh). Testing shows the Anker drains the laptop battery rapidly—within about an hour and five minutes—when left unplugged. The Dell’s performance is slower, lasting roughly half an hour before it fails. This contrasts with my older XPS 15, which lasted longer with a different power bank.
My current XPS 15 uses an Intel Iris Xe graphics card and Nvidia 3050, while the 9520 has an i7-12700h. The higher-end GPU and GPU usage explain the faster drain. I’ve noticed that using the Dell PW7015L on my older model lasted longer than the Anker on mine.
I also use a USB-A to USB-C adapter for charging, but it only powers my laptop, not the monitors. This limits my ability to run multiple games smoothly during outages. The main concern is losing access to my 32-inch monitor and struggling with performance when the power goes out.
When the electricity goes down, I need to activate my data on my iPhone first. Then I switch on the personal hotspot feature. After that, I connect my laptop to the hotspot so I can keep playing. I usually charge one of my power banks while I continue using the laptop. I remember reading that it's best to charge your power bank before using the laptop, even if the battery is almost full. This way the bank lasts longer. It’s true that using the laptop until it drops significantly and then plugging in the bank can drain it faster. During this process, I often play games on my laptop screen alone, which makes it really tiring. If the power cut persists and my Anker 737 battery dies, I switch to another Dell power bank. But if that runs out, I’m left with just my laptop battery, which typically lasts about two hours—maybe a little less, around one and a half. In that case, I’d have roughly three and a half hours of backup power. If the outage occurs near the end of my session and I need more than two hours, it becomes problematic. Playing tables on the laptop screen for long periods isn’t ideal. The problem is especially serious if it happens in the middle of my game, like when I have several tables left and expect to play another six hours or more. If this happens, I’d have to leave my venue immediately. Usually there’s no power nearby, and sometimes heavy rain blocks access to backup sources. If the outage starts right at the beginning of my session, it’s even worse. I’ve experienced this before—disconnecting my cables, switching hotspots, and then returning to play. By the time I got back, many of my chips were damaged, which cost me a lot. Imagine losing a significant portion of your day’s earnings just because power failed.
So based on what I described, the first thing I should do is buy 2 replacement batteries for my Cyperpower 1500 VA UPS right? Because the moment a power outage happens, well I would have at least 30 minutes or so? I think the UPS I have probably gives me an hour or so before it runs out? I would be connecting my laptop and my 2 monitors to it. The thing is when playing online tournaments, there is a 5 minute break every hour at 55. So I have a few minutes to figure out what to do if my power still hasn't come back. The thing is the UPS probably gives me 1 hour of backup? The thing is I read people connect their routers to the UPS but for me, I'm fine just using my data on my phone as a personal hotspot. The thing here is I believe the internet is down when a power outage happens so connecting a wireless router wouldn't work when the internet is down. Of course, I have to make sure my iphone has enough battery since it uses a lot of battery when using it as a hotspot. I asked this a while back and recall people said you could buy multiple UPS but that would cost a good amount of money. Some people said a UPS isn't suppose to be meant to be used this way. I recalled someone saying you could buy a car battery and charge it and if you buy a few of them, it could even last 12 hours or more? However, I never owned a car ever and don't even know where to start. The other issue is I read it gives out fumes and is dangerous and you cannot keep it inside the apartment right? I do have a balcony but that isn't a good idea? I then read about power stations but never knew what it was. I then read about jackery, ecoflow and bluetti power stations. Does anyone have experience with these things? Like when I check ecoflow power station, one is 768wh and 800w input Some are even less wh. The thing is how long would that last if I connect my XPS laptop to it and my 2 monitors? What about just my Dell XPS laptop? Now if the Anker 737 powerbank that has 24000 mah gives my XPS laptop 1 hour 5 minutes... what would that ecoflow power station with 768wh give? What about jackery? Now if I want say 5 hours of power backup for my laptop and 2 external monitors... what would be the minimum amount of wh I would need from the power stations? Which power station or power stations should I buy? Do people just have 1 or many buy 2 of them? There seems to be some that cost 3000 dollars which is ridiculous but those are for people who are living outside the grid or want to charge everything. For me, I only need it to charge my laptop and 2 external monitors. I don't need it for my fridge since a power outage here usually isn't more than 48 hours at the max. It's more like 24 hours at the most. But most power outages here are minutes to a few hours at the most. But many are like an hour or so. But having no monitor while playing on my small laptop screen is basically almost unplayable. So a UPS would give me at least 1 hour right? Then which power station should I buy? So in my situation, when a power outage happens, continue playing while I still have immediately backup power with my UPS. Then the moment the 5 minute break happens, disconnect all my charging cables from the UPS and plug it all immediately to the power station right? Now... if it shows I have still over an hour on my UPS, use it for another hour before I then disconnect all the cables and then connect to the power station? I'm curious if anyone here has these portable power stations and how long it would charge their laptop and say 1 monitor or 2 monitors during a power outage while you continue to use it? Thanks.
The battery has been inactive for several years, though it didn’t stop working suddenly like before. The shutdowns were frequent but resolved quickly when I turned it back on. With two new batteries, could the laptop and your monitors run for about an hour? Or is that a short time? You’re aiming for around five hours total with your gear, including the large 32-inch monitor. I’d need a UPS equipped with fresh batteries and a power station delivering at least that amount of capacity to meet your needs without overloading the system.
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To find your XPS 15 9520's power draw, you can check its manual or use online calculators that estimate based on model specs. There’s no built-in tool, but you can measure it with a wattmeter if you have one. For the Samsung 32" 4K UJ59, typical consumption is around 60-70 watts. The monitor alone draws about 59 watts. For your UPS, a 10,000 mAh unit should handle short bursts, but for continuous use with both devices, plan accordingly. If you connect an Anker 737 (24,000 mAh) to your XPS, it might last several hours depending on load. The math you did about the power bank seems reasonable if you account for efficiency and runtime.
A watt meter isn’t required if you already have the right setup. For backup power, a reliable generator or a high-capacity battery system would be ideal to support your laptop and a large monitor.
AFAIK, for precise measurements you need actual data. For instance, if MSI Afterburner shows 240 watts, but your PSU is only 80% efficient, the real power drawn becomes 300 watts. Unless you're comfortable with high values, it's better to know your true wattage usage.