On Thu, 17 Feb 2011 04:54:50 -0800 (PST), N8N
wrote:

On Feb 16, 10:11Â*pm, wrote:
On Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:47:29 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:





Got an *ancient* (and I do mean ancient) APC UPS... Â*all it does is back
up my wireless router. Â*Battery is done. Â*new one I expect to cost
$30-40 (which I find extortionate as I buy them for work at about $10
all day but still.)

options:

1) buy a new battery. Â*Be happy for another 5 years or so. Â*Cost $40 max.

2) buy a new true-online UPS for my PC, and rotate the old, sorta-decent
one currently serving PC to wireless router duty. Â*Would cost $266 for a
750VA unit with trade in (smallest one that qualifies for trade in
credit) or $252 for a 1000VA unit (yeah, I don't understand that either.)

which would you do? Â*This is an old UPS that I scavenged from a previous
employer something like 7-8 years ago, and at that time it was being
discarded because the battery was dead then, so it now could conceivably
be as many as 15 years old.

I want to go true online but worth the cost? Â*Have had no problems with
my setup so far. Â*(touch wood.)

nate

Â*I definitely prefer the on-line, and I DETEST APC, but that's
personal. If you buy the batteries for $10 at work, buy one for
yourself and pay the boss.

Hah. we're so uptight, you have no idea. Worse than ADI. We sell
only to contractors, and I ain't a contractor :/

Who do you like, if not APC? I know they're consumer grade cheez, but
that's what I can afford, and the one with the dead battery has been
serving me faithfully for years, although I know the inverter output
probably looks more like the teeth on a dog clutch than a sine wave.
Not much variety on the shelves at the Big Boxen, but I'm not averse
to ordering from newegg, etc. if I have to. Tripp-Lite? Other?

I have seen rack-mount APCs used for access control system backup, so
I just ASSumed that they weren't that bad, but I'm certainly not an IT
guy, the equipment that I specialize in has the backup built in so I
never have to worry about it...

nate
I generally recommend PowerWare and I buy directly from the
distributor so I can make good markup on them and still be very
competetive. They don't waste a lot of money blowing their own horn
like APC. And they WORK. Haven't had to scrap one yet.
About every second or third APC I get involved in is non-functional
even after battery replacement - gotten so I test them with "iffy"
batteries before buying replacements. (Batteries the still work but
are a bit low on capacity/run-time)
My distributor also carries a low cost line which has served me well.
(no failures, other than batteries, in something like 7 years).
Powerware bought out BEST and absorbed Exide and a few other brands.