UPS that can supply a lot of power for a short time

Question

I live in a rural area where power outages happen quite often but my house has been equipped with a diesel generator to counter those outages, yet it takes 17 to 20 seconds to spin up, so all of the electronic equipment I have running on mains shuts down in that time. Now I want to install an uninterruptible power supply that can supply about 500-600 Watt for those 20-30 seconds, but most UPS that I found offer much longer time than I need, cost more and are more bulky.

What equipment should I consider for my setup?

Answer 1

You mentioned that the UPS systems you looked at were far too pricey and bulky, so my guess is that it is likely you were looking at production grade systems. Based on the specs you issued, the cheapest systems I can find are going to be around $100. Both systems also come with supplementary software that can communicate with Windows, Mac, and Linux and I believe, provide soft shutdown options.

CyberPower Ecologic EC850LCD $86.95 (MSRP: $97.99)

• 510 Watt power rating
• 850 Volt-Amperes
• Battery Run-time on full load: 1 minute
• Dimensions: 12.20" x 7.00" x 3.10"
• 7.70 lbs.

This UPS system's form factor is going to be about 2-3 power strips based on it's dimensions.

CyberPower Intelligent LCD UPS CP1000AVRLCD $109.95

• 600 Watt power rating
• 1000 Volt-Amperes
• Battery Run-time on full load: 2 Minutes
• Dimensions: 8.75" x 4.25" x 10.50"
• 15.90 lbs.

If you have the money to spend, consider this option as this will be better equipped to handle the 600 W maximimum specification you asked for. As far as form factor, the site claims the UPS system to be about the size of a "Mini-Tower", so this one will be the size of a tiny desktop computer.