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Comment by xani_ | Hacker News Reader

> Hard to believe USB-PD upses aren't a common products.

Insanely easy to believe. The role of UPS is to prevent data loss when power fails. If something is powered by USB-C it almost always already have its own battery preventing from that.

The only devices that are not are stuff like say, raspberry Pi

Also, there literally are devices like that, just aimed more at stuff like camping, so much bigger battery, usually an inverter on board and solar input.

> Hopefully USB will give us standards for power banks someday so you can get certified ones with a defined form factor and behavior.

If it will be like USB-PD then it will be insanely overcomplicated and nobody will be able to get it right.

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> The role of UPS is to prevent data loss when power fails. If something is powered by USB-C it almost always already have its own battery preventing from that.

That's a very narrow minded approach to both UPSs and items using USB as their power plug imo.

A UPS isn't just "to prevent data loss when power fails." It's also to keep critical (for home, not DC) things running in the event of power outages. Current uses for USB-C power banks as UPSs I have (or have recommended to friends) that aren't "to prevent data loss".

- Power bank running as a UPS on (a few critical) wireless security cameras (that use USB-C for power).

- Power bank running as a UPS on my cats water fountain (uses USB for power), if the power goes out she still needs to drink water, and I may not be home to put down a standard bowl.

- Friend has a baby monitor and took my idea of using a USB power bank as a battery backup on the camera and monitor so that if his power goes out he can still keep tabs on his child. (no sense waking her up to move her if he doesn't have to)

> Insanely easy to believe. The role of UPS is to prevent data loss when power fails. If something is powered by USB-C it almost always already have its own battery preventing from that.

That's a moot point though, IMO. Like if you're travelling, wouldn't it be nice if your charger and your battery bank were the same device? Just because it doesn't have the same specific utility as a UPS, doesn't mean that it's not useful in other ways.

> wouldn't it be nice if your charger and your battery bank were the same device?

Like this?

https://www.anker.com/products/a1621

There’s a lot of these devices. “Wall plug power bank” worked as good keywords for me on Amazon.

These could still be different in operation than a UPS though

I tried this it does provide power like a ups but it cuts out for a moment and restarts the device.

ZMI Plugornot did the same thing

There may be a market for an ATX USB-PD power supply. My desktop has no spinning rust nor discrete video card. A 60 watt power supply could power it easily, especially if there were a small lipo for the occasional burst.

Solar generators aren't specified to be UPSes. Some work, some don't, just like power banks. I love them, but they're not always perfect.

Raspberry Pis are common though. They've taken over like half of DIY electronics and home servers, for a good reason, everything else is way more hassle and less supported.

Not sure why you say PD is overcomplicated. Until you get above 30 to 60w where not everything supports it, stuff just works. Their only big mistake I see is not keeping the 12v power tier.

WAY too many things run on 12v and losing the ability to easily run legacy stuff sucked. But they'll fix that when 12v PPS trigger modules are available, for some reason they are not currently.

> The only devices that are not are stuff like say, raspberry Pi

Or IP cams, I have some here that sounds really benefit but I'm worried about the safety of a powerbank plugged in 24/7 that's not meant for it.

I could see it being a thing. A niche thing but a thing.

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