[Greenbuilding] DC stored power for Laptoops for grid outages

[Eli Talking]

In this last year we had two multi day power outages.  In terms of comfort, we do pretty well with firewood, flashlights, a pitcher pump to cistern to get water needed for toilets and washing.  If I could get a stored power source for my laptop, I could actually stay productive.  

Any experience on the list for running laptops off of low voltage direct current batteries?  I checked into UPS and to get a 8 hours at 60 watts, the units were over a thousand dollars.  Since the chords are AC-DC adapters, it seems it would be more efficient to run the computer directly from the DC and not go from DC-AC-DC.  Reading the fine print on my power chord AC-DC adapter, it list the output at 18 volts, I assume DC.  This could be 3 deep cycle batteries hooked in series that could normally kept at full charge with a smart battery charger when the grid is proving power.  

Any thoughts?

Eli 
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