I wanted to ask for advice on running high performance computing workloads off-grid while relying on a UPS or portable power system. Since HPC tasks—like simulations, data analysis, or GPU-heavy workloads—consume a lot of power, I’m trying to figure out the best ways to maximize uptime and efficiency.
Some areas I’m particularly curious about:
• How to balance workload intensity with available battery capacity.
• Whether it’s better to run smaller jobs continuously or larger jobs in short bursts.
• Effective ways to integrate solar or other charging sources to extend runtime.
• Tips for avoiding sudden shutdowns or power drops during long compute sessions.
If anyone has real-world experience with this, I’d really appreciate your insights. What strategies or setups have worked best for you to keep HPC workloads stable while off-grid?
Hi @leoarthur This is one of those questions “How long is a piece of string” lol. That said, I managed a high end design network, the workstations were not UPS protected, but the servers were. I also had the software used configred to do an Auto backup of active files every 30 minutes to the server.to minimise loss.
The firs question I would ask myself is; Where I am located, how often does the grid fail and on average for how long? This will advise you of an average duration.
,<br>You then need to put a power meter on your devices (one meter on a power board will do multiple devices). This will give you a Watts load and from that a Watt hour usage. That will then allow you to determine the battery capacity of your UPS.
A;though not computing, I use “smallish” Bluettis for home backup. I’ll note my process in the next post as it may serve yor needs.
I have 3 x AC180’s 1152Wh and 1,800W inverter. 2 x AC70s 768Wh and 1,000W inverter. 1 x AC200P 2,000Wh and 2,000W inverter.
I have 1 x AC70 permanently in UPS on my internet WiFi Router, plugged into the grid socket. it draws 25W on average. I have an indoor generator tranfer switch on my 4 power circuits (GPO outlets in the house). My average load for the home fridge, TV, laptop and phone charging is approx 500W.
My process is to "piggy back 2 x AC180s, their inverter will handle my load. AC180-1’s outlet feeds the house. Its AC charging cable is plugged into the outlet of AC180-2.
Therefore AC180 is full as AC180-2 is acting like an UPS for it. when AC180-2 is near empty, I change it out for another power station to continue feeding AC180-1. AC180-2 is then taken outside and recharged from either a petrol generator, solar or even my vehicle with Charger 1. And so on with the feeding power station, which means as long as I have petrol, sunshine or a usable vehicle, I can last ad infinitum. Lol.
My point is - Yes you need some equipment, but process is also vitally important. Hop this helps.
I forgot to mention, that as the AC70 powering the WiFi is plugged into a power socket, the AC180-1 continues to run it as long as everything else lasts.
Airconditioning, electric oven and other high power consumption devices are not used. However, I do have a Gas stove top and hot water system for cooking and showering. You don’t need a big battery, just 2 or 3 smaller ones with reasonable capacity. Leaving one permanently connected as UPS and the others acting as UPS to it, to rotate out and charge.
You will get the most runtime out of your Bluetti powerstations if you use the inverter in their optimum range of efficiency. This means that you should be at least at half of the rated capacity.
If you have a 2000 watt inverter, it will perform nicely in a wide range around 1000 watts. Avoid using it at 10 to 100 watts because the inverter and the internal electronics of the power station have a baseline power consumption when they are on. If you draw 100 watts, the unit itself may use 180 watts to deliver that 100 watts AC. At maximum capacity efficiency may drop as well because of the unit producing more heat and requires more active cooling.
So for small loads, use power stations with small inverters. I don’t have exact numbers. But I just want to explain the concept. If you use the unit at a location that has people who attend the equipment, you can consider to use a traditional UPS (APC, EatOn etc) to power your HPC loads directly, with the benefits of higher UPS reliability, faster switchover times and UPS software that can provide a graceful shutdown.
Then have a big Bluetti power station with multiple batteries charged and standby for extended outages. During a power outage you can just turn on your big Bluetti unit and plug the UPS into it’s outlet. Then you can bring your system update during outages from minutes with the traditional UPS system to hours or days with the big Bluetti units.
Of course, you can also have the Bluetti always on, but then you will have the drawback of it’s considerable idle power usage.
Not absolutely the case. The Elite 100 V2 has a no load idle discharge of around 11W with the inverter on. It’s a 1,800W inverter. I use an electric toothbrush in my RV, but agreeing with your reasoning, not from the Elite 100, it’s overkill as it’s 240VAC charger is only 0.9W. I do have a small PSW 150W plug in inverter to the RV house batteries for that.
The Elite 100’s load efficiency is around 86% for a load under 100W, which, over roughly a 12 hr period is around 15W per hour not 180W. Its UPS is 10ms switchover.
Office stand by UPS are upto 25ms, high end UPS are 10ms or less. A trully zero changeover UPS usually runs from an internal inverter that is always on providing base power.
I agree to an extent, use a small power station for small loads, however, sometimes capacity is more important. As I mentioned, my home backup is only an 1.800W inverter, but daisy chaining everything I have avaialble, the total capacity is near 10kWh. Although my house loads are around the 500W mark, I do have spare power capacity if needed for short bursts of time. “Swimgs n roundabouts” lol… i.e. If I wanted to use the home microwave, during a grid out, at 1,800W for 5-10 minutes, I would plug it directly into the AC200P 2,000W inverter.
