UPSs are quite useful, but relatively difficult to recommend, since at such a low level, it is difficult to see them as something essential for the home or even the office. The Eaton 3S Mini UPS is one of them, very small in size and capacity, since it is designed for very low consumption accessories.
The intention of these UPSs is to keep these devices active during small power outages such as spontaneous repairs or when the differential trips.
We are grateful to EATON for providing us with the product for analysis.
Table of Contents
Unboxing
The Eaton 3S Mini UPS comes in this box, with plenty of use cases where a spare battery comes in handy. Apart from the usual use of the router to maintain a stable internet connection with the laptop, there are virtual assistants such as Amazon Echo, mini game consoles in the cloud, surveillance cameras that store content in local storage, and central controllers for home automation.
The back is more like a condensed instruction manual, with indications of the battery control LEDs, the connections and the types of barrel connectors that are included in the package.
These are the four connector models that are compatible with the Eaton 3S Mini UPS. With these four, it is very likely that our device is compatible, but being what is obviously a proprietary format and when more and more compatibility is chosen, as is happening with the USB-C connector in mobile phones, it is quite disappointing. opted not to have a power or USB connector to ensure that we don't have to deal with proprietary connectors and have to store them in case we want to reuse this UPS in the future.
It may seem like a small thing that we complain about something as small as having proprietary connectors, but we think ahead. There is always the possibility of the pins being lost or misplaced by accidents, moving things or being forgotten in a drawer. Using a popular unified connector would easily eliminate this problem. Although, on the other hand, we understand that it is done for security and space reasons, since it is one of the biggest attractions of the Eaton 3S Mini UPS, which is really small and can be placed anywhere and put a USB port or of energy, it would have made it even bigger, or that we cannot connect devices that have all the cable and transformer integrated and inseparable.
Designer
Taken out of the box and posing for the camera, you can see the extreme simplicity of the Eaton 3S Mini UPS. It is a simple UPS with a very low capacity, with less electrical capacity than that of a mobile phone and therefore it only has its own brand and the output cable.
The power output, to connect it to our devices, makes use of a cable with a proprietary two-pin female design: the idea is that we use any of the four pins that are standard, although this easily eliminates any device that has an input of energy that is not in them, such as any device that is powered by a key with a USB connection.
A good detail is that it has a series of LEDs to indicate how much battery it has, especially when its battery capacity is less than half of that of a current mobile. But it is intended for small accessories that process very little information and electricity and that would be a huge hassle if their use were disabled.
Characteristics of the Eaton 3S Mini UPS
- Input voltage: 90-264 V AC
- Input frequency: 50/60Hz
- Output Voltage/Amps: 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 15V/2,4A, and 19V/1,89A
- Outlet Connection: 5,5 x 2,5, 5,5 x 2,1, 4,75 x 1,7 and 3,5 x 1,35 barrel adapters.
- Power: 36 W
- Lithium ion battery
- Battery Capacity: 3,7V/2200mAh x 2
- Dimensions: 95,5 x 30 x 136 mm
- 0,4 Kg of weight
- Operating temperature: 0ºC to 35ºC
- IEC 62477-1 Safety, CE Mark and CB Report
- EMC:IEC 62040-2
Gallery
Experience with QNAP TS-233 NAS
First of all, we must understand that we meet a very small UPS. The intention is to provide energy to very low consumption devices, such as a router to have an internet connection during a blackout or to keep the devices in a home automated. However, we understand and contextualize its low battery. For the most common use of such a small UPS, which is to keep the connection point online and not depend on the coverage of our area. According to the manufacturer, in this case reaches 80 minutes in length before running out of power.
In our tests, it came close enough to this promised time. Clearly, this is a home or very small business UPS, useful for when there are power outages. But at least in the case of Spain, the electrical quality is of sufficient quality that makes it hardly really essential, at least at the domestic level, given that power outages are testimonial, once or twice a year. Power outages usually happen because a substation transformer is under repair, which are usually short-lived. It is possible that the problem is serious, such as a particular case in which the substation fuse failed and lasted the entire working day, which in this case, the Eaton UPS has at least given us an hour and a half, close to two, of quality connection to notify acquaintances and co-workers that we are without internet access if we work from home. In this case, it will be appreciated if we have a relatively reduced data plan so as not to spend it in those hours. But we have already warned that this is a really extreme case and thought only with the use of the internet connection.
For offices, the case is much the same, and a long-term power outage is much less likely if you're in a warehouse or office floor. But it never hurts to have a battery safeguard with security cameras elements. With all this, we have not disliked, because has fulfilled its mission of powering our internet connection in case of falls.
We are a little disappointed that you don't have other options. It could have been a mobile charging point by including some USB ports that would have at least made it an additional current transformer in offices or houses where there are many mobiles or tablets, or by having a charger in the living room.
The fact that it works through small proprietary pins is one way that it is going to be used in very low power products. But there is the inconvenience that they are proprietary and we will have to store them knowing where they are in the event that we have to connect the Eaton UPS to another device. In addition, it only allows connection to one at a time, although it is understandable knowing that it is a home and office UPS, not business quality.
We do see a very powerful use for it by requesting several and connecting many simultaneous elements for houses and offices with many elements of home automation or that it is imperative that they are always connected. In the box itself it says that it is indicated for voice assistants and other elements of home automation. It is clear that they will increase the cost of the budget destined to make the house more automated and automatic, but it is the best safeguard we have against possible blackouts.
[one_half][tie_list type=»thumbup»]
- It occupies very little space, and is its greatest attraction.
- Its price allows the easy purchase and installation of several units for an automated home or office.
[/ tie_list]
[/one_half]
[One_half_last]
[tie_list type=»thumbdown»]
- It is not suitable for large devices.
- It does not reach an hour and a half of support for an internet access point, in the event of a long-term power outage.
- It relies on proprietary connection pins, and your device may not be compatible with the compatible pins that come standard.
[/ tie_list]
[/ One_half_last]
