Oh, sorry. I see what you mean. I've had the power go out and the cable was still working while I was on UPS. But, I think if a power outage is more than just a local transformer blowing it will take the cable signal down too.
You are quite right on this. Everything depends on the power backup of the cable infrastructure. I found it rather difficult to get any definite answers on this from the cable company. Verification/testing is almost impossible. Some months ago, during a short power outing, I saw that my cable signal also disappeared! Lilboy, you couldn't say it better: " or, your cable provider MIGHT be smart enough to include their own power for those boxes."
I am also thinking about using an inverter to get power from my car. Can it power the computer for indefinite time as long as the car is running? Thanks.
assuming your connection didn't go down. make sure your car's radiator fan works. it will able to power your computers. depends on the inverter tho. make sure you get a good (expensive) one.
Why not just hook up a car battery to your UPS? Every one I've seen uses 12V gelcells internally. That way you'll have enough amp-hours to run for a trading week. Wire your house so you have a cable between your garage and your office, with an A-B (internal-external battery) switch at the UPS battery pack and a pair of jumper cable-type hookups near the car's engine. When the elec goes out you can pop the hood, jumper up and continue on your merry way. I'm not being facetious. I've done it myself. Also you can use your UPS to power small compact-flourescent bulbs at night to keep the house lit. At 11-13W apiece there's plenty of spare power for them.
Just be careful if you leave your car running in your driveway overnight, the car may not be there in the morning. It may not be too good for your car to leave it idling for days. I've left mine running for a few hours and it has been fine though. I think it would cost a dollar or two in gas for each hour you leave it running, probably a lot more than running a generator. But it would take a long time before you could justify spending hundreds or thousands for a generator. The other thing is too, its a lot quieter to leave your car running in the driveway than it is to run a generator. I remember the last power failure when the neighbor left his noisy generator running at night, I felt like going over and shutting it off.
Of course, I would shut it down after market hours. The inverter is directly connected to car battery, right? Any inverter brand you would recommend? Thanks.
Go to a boat supply store like West Marine (WMAR) etc. This is all standard marine equipt. Deep cycle marine batt less than $100, automatic charger/ inverter( only charges batt when it needs it, prolly 2-3 times a year if not used) about $125. I've run 4 crt monitors and 1 cpu for 12 hrs off this setup, 2 batts. What you won't have is the auto roll over from 110 power to 12 volt when power goes out. If you have a standard back up for 15 min or so there is time to shut down and restart. This is good for brown out areas, hurricanes etc.
You can actually get a ups that will last 3 or so hours. I know because I have all my clients on them so they can finish and save.