Anybody using a power bank as a UPS for VIP7802?

Thosh
Contributor III

My community experiences frequent power interruptions, usually just blips of a second or so, enough to kick the FibeTV off for the couple of minutes it takes to reboot. I have the HomeHub on an old computer UPS so it stays up and the TV can restart in seconds. I had the same issue with Cogeco Epico but noticed a potential advantage for the FibeTV box - it is powered by 5VDC, not 12VDC, and I happen to have a few rarely used USB power banks.

I first tried with the smallest (4000mAh) and likely oldest one. Booting up bombed out just after the Android splash screen. Besides, it's input was rated at 1A max so, even though it's output max of 2A matches the spec for the VIP7802, a fully charged battery would be drained in hours supplying the difference.

The second one I tried is rated at 2A in and out (and 10,000 mAh battery capacity). Those current ratings match the wallwart power supply supplied with the FibeTV box and its specified maximum load. When I inserted the power bank, its charge indicator showed over 3/4 and charging. The FibeTV booted normally and a few hours later the bank is fully charged, indicating that the STB pulled less current than the wallwart was delivering. That's good news.

The bad news came when I pulled the wallwart to simulate a power interruption. The FibeTV box rebooted! So that power bank did not act like an uninterrupted power supply - there was a short interruption. Some switching must go on between charge and discharge modes.

Hence, my question. Maybe there is a power bank that does behave as a 5VDC UPS should.

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Accepted Solutions

Thosh
Contributor III

Maybe the bad news is not so bad. I repeated the test four more times and the receiver carried on. So it's a sometimes UPS. We'll wait to see if it proves effective in the long run. At least, there was no new out-of-pocket cost.

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Thosh
Contributor III

Maybe the bad news is not so bad. I repeated the test four more times and the receiver carried on. So it's a sometimes UPS. We'll wait to see if it proves effective in the long run. At least, there was no new out-of-pocket cost.