Tiny UPS for Tiny NAS Reloaded

Last time when I wrote Tiny UPS for Tiny NAS – I fucked up. I did not tested the solution enough and provided false information – I apologize for that. This time I did the homework and after I get many comments and recommendations I decided to try two other solutions that actually work as UPS and provide the power all the time.

They are:

• EATON 3S Mini 36W 2200mAh UPS
• ZMI QB826G 210W 25000mAh Powerbank

Lets check how they compare.

EATON 3S Mini 36W 2200mAh UPS

Lets start with EATON 3S Mini as some people suggested that using powerbank may not be the best idea due to potential overheating issues or literally killing its battery over time. You may check its page – https://eaton.com.cn/gb/en-gb/skuPage.3SM36.html – for details and all specs.

Here is how it looks like.

… and also the bottom view with its specs.

Its nice that EATON 3S Mini came with four dedicated plugs.

The following possible power modes are available.

OUTPUT  36W  9V/3A  12V/3A  15V/2.4A  19V/1.89A

The mode switching is nicely and graphically explained in the Quick Start guide.

Here is how much space EATON 3S Mini takes being under the Dell Wyse 3030 LT and its disks.

While the Baseus 100W 20000mAh capacity allowed about 500 minutes (or 8:20 time) of offgrid operation the EATON 3S Mini 2200mAh allows about 1 hour of power time. More than enough for my limited needs.

ZMI QB826G 210W 25000mAh Powerbank

The second working UPS like solution is ZMI QB826G 210W 25000mAh powerbank … and yes – it does not stop passing power while You attach or detach power source to it – tested thoroughly this time 🙂

It is even listed in the UPS category on the manufacturer’s page – https://reasonone.ai/collections/ups-backup-batteries – available here.

Here is how it looks like.

It comes with two USB-C slots and one USB-A slot.

It also supports many power modes – a lot more than EATON 3S Mini for sure.

The following power modes are available on ZMI QB826G 210W 25000mAh powerbank.

OUTPUT 1  USB-C  100W  5V/3A  9V/3A  12V/3A  15V/3A  20V/5A
OUTPUT 2  USB-A   45W  5V/3A  9V/3A  12V/3A  15V/3A  20V/2.25A
OUTPUT 3  USB-C  100W  5V/3A  9V/3A  12V/3A  15V/3A  20V/5A
TOTAL     -      210W  5V/6A  9V/6A  12V/6A  15V/6A  20V/10.5A

As Baseus 100W 20000mAh capacity allowed about 500 minutes (or 8:20 time) of offgrid operation the ZMI QB826G 210W 25000mAh powerbank allows even longer 620 minutes (or 10:20 time) of power time.

Other feature of ZMI QB826G 210W 25000mAh Powerbank I like very mush is that it is capable of powering my ThinkPad X220/T420s laptops. Unfortunately not the ThinkPad W520 as it requires 135W minimum.

Costs

Lets now check how the prices compare to the rest of the solution. I also added additional 2 TB WD Elements 2.5 HDD as I recently passed the 90% on the ZFS pool capacity.

Solution cost with EATON 3S Mini below.

 $18  Dell Wyse 3030 LT
 $80  5 TB WD Elements 2.5 HDD
 $40  2 TB WD Elements 2.5 HDD
  $8  Lexar S47 USB 3.0 Pendrive
 $25  EATON 3S Mini 36W 2200mAh
$171  TOTAL

… and with the ZMI QB826G 210W 25000mAh powerbank.

 $18  Dell Wyse 3030 LT
 $80  5 TB WD Elements 2.5 HDD
 $40  2 TB WD Elements 2.5 HDD
  $8  Lexar S47 USB 3.0 Pendrive
 $69  ZMI QB826G 210W 25000mAh
$215  TOTAL

Summary

Core NAS cost about $146 (with additional HDD for total 7 TB of storage) and the price increased slightly to $171 with EATON 3S Mini 36W 2200mAh UPS and to $215 with ZMI QB826G 210W 25000mAh powerbank.

Regards.

UPDATE 1 – AA Batteries Powered UPS

While I have the topic covered I also wanted to browse the Internet once again to check if I did not missed anything … and I found the Huawei 18W BBU15-D-T AA battery powered UPS gem.

Its a very simple solution that has one 5.5mm/2.1mm input and one 5.5mm/2.1mm output.

It was also dirt cheap – I got a used one in great condition for about $10. One can add additional $10 for a set of 1.2V Ni-Mh 4 x AA battery set to make the cost complete. That makes $20 for the whole UPS solution.

… but my first attempt at using it failed. I used typical GP 2500/2700 mAh capacity batteries as shown below.

… and not matter what I tried the UPS always ended in the FAULT state.

I though it was broken or something like that so I contacted the seller to send it back … but one last idea came to check OTHER AA batteries for it – and that is what helped.

This time I used GP Pro and SANYO Eneloop AA batteries and … everything worked as it should this time.

So now You have three possible UPS solutions to power your tiny NAS solution 🙂

EOF