A short, useless intro to the question, feel free to skip it:
I had a power outage in my home yesterday. Power outages aren't what they used to be – Back in the day, it rendered me completely unable to do anything, but nowadays I have my laptop, which is still connected to the internet via my phone, which is connected to a strong mobile recharger I have (10 Ah) – and I can hardly care less about the rest of the power.
Except for the part about my fan. It gets really hot where I live. And I currently simply have no solution for this. Small USB fans don't do the trick. And I just can't figure out how nobody I know has a solution for such a simple, supposedly common problem. Is mankind simply not advanced enough to take on such problems? Will we be able to operate fans during blackouts? What level on the Kardashev scale must we advance to before we can solve this?
[/end-rant/intro]
Is it possible to operate a normal, standing fan during a power outage? How?
Is connecting it to a UPS a good idea? I've read elsewhere that the waveform generated by UPS devices doesn't behave well with these sort of devices.
And how long is a fan expected to last on a standard UPS?
Best Answer
A UPS as I understand it is an battery attached to an inverter. I have used portable fans on an inverter with no issues. Assuming they are designed for the same frequency. If you have a AC motor designed for 60 Hz and a inverter operating at 50 Hz it would just alter the speed of rotation.
One thing I don't recommend is plugging an electric digital clock into an inverter because a minute will pass every 30 seconds or so. If your laptop is OK with it then your fan will tolerate it OK.