Unbreakable my arse!

My APC Smart UPS 1400 has just died today.

Noticed this morning the battery meter was down to 1 blob so thought we may have had a power failure, no sign of that so just carried on as normal but spotted the battery was charging on my laptop so that had lost power during the "event", still everything was running so thought the battery might be getting a bit weak in the UPS, no warning light though.

Then this afternoon i get a shout from my brother the internets down, so i check, wireless is down, yep theres no power, now the UPS is showing the red battery light but not supplying any power to my devices, bloody thing, tried resetting it a couple of times, now its just dead, no lights or anything, not ideal when its supposed to do everything to keep stuff running, so a dead battery IMO shouldnt stop it powering up. Ive had to bypass it for now but damn its annoying! and a new battery for it will cost a ruddy fortune!

 :rage:

sure its the battery thats dead and not the ups itself ?

Id have thought it should run fine with a nackerd battery ?


sounds like it was running from the battery snstead of from the mains ?

CAnt you just plug it into the wall socket ?

iv had it all apart now, seems to be just the battery, after some fiddling its running again but if it changes over to the battery it dies. id bin the unit but its got like 15 devices hanging off it that the 1 wall socket wont accommodate

Quote from: Binary ShadowThen this afternoon i get a shout from my brother the internets down, so i check, wireless is down, yep theres no power, now the UPS is showing the red battery light but not supplying any power to my devices, bloody thing, tried resetting it a couple of times, now its just dead, no lights or anything, not ideal when its supposed to do everything to keep stuff running, so a dead battery IMO shouldnt stop it powering up. Ive had to bypass it for now but damn its annoying! and a new battery for it will cost a ruddy fortune!

A dead battery will stop if from powering up again once power has been turned off.  They all do that.

A new battery for that should be about £40-60 (Not from APC)

Theres a reason they only have 1 year warranties and thats simply because the batteries do not last forever.  Its not a big deal.

What battery does it take?  Ive got a dinky APC (Not sure of the model) that has a 6Ah in it.  APC Supplier wanted £60, the local security alarm supplier wanted £14.  The difference was the actual contact crimps are higher rated on the Alarm Battery, the specs otherwise were identical.

its 2 12v batteries with screw terminals stuck together, individually they are much like the battery in my motorcycle, cheapest iv seen is £75 so far

I seem to be the only one confused. What do you use an UPS for ?

Quote from: SamI seem to be the only one confused. What do you use an UPS for ?

Not the only one, but I figured theres bound to be some uses I couldnt come up with.

Its not like the power down this neck of the woods is down for more than 5 minutes a year...

depends on where you live, I had a 900VA UPS running my workstation when I was in Cambridge a couple of years ago, the power down there is flakey as hell.

My parents in the sticks get micro cuts every time there is a thunder storm, so they have small UPSs running their router and TV recorder box.


Where I am now I have no need of it, but some places its basically essential if you want to do anything important on a PC.

Quote from: zpyder

Quote from: SamI seem to be the only one confused. What do you use an UPS for ?

Not the only one, but I figured theres bound to be some uses I couldnt come up with.

Its not like the power down this neck of the woods is down for more than 5 minutes a year...

Thats what I was thinking. Like is he running a 24x7 international server operation?

UPS are suitable for any small business running any sort of back end server.  One of the worst things that can happen to Server 03/08 is a dirty shutdown.   One example being an Exchange server, youll end up with corrupted transacation logs and door stop untill you can recover it.  I know some ex IBM engineers that have never been able to do a database recovery on a corrupt exchange.  Its not easy.

Along with that your average power cut is 5-15 minutes if you can keep your equipment running without having to shutdown that can save time getting you backup and running in a few minutes a UPS is a worthwhile investment.

Quote from: BeakerWhat battery does it take?  Ive got a dinky APC (Not sure of the model) that has a 6Ah in it.  APC Supplier wanted £60, the local security alarm supplier wanted £14.  The difference was the actual contact crimps are higher rated on the Alarm Battery, the specs otherwise were identical.

The smaller APC UPS are quite reasonable to replace.

A Smart UPS 1400 takes a 17000mAH 12V battery.  APC new is £150, equivelant 2-power branded battery should come in at at £75-£80.

Quote from: Sam

Quote from: zpyder

Quote from: SamI seem to be the only one confused. What do you use an UPS for ?

Not the only one, but I figured theres bound to be some uses I couldnt come up with.

Its not like the power down this neck of the woods is down for more than 5 minutes a year...

Thats what I was thinking. Like is he running a 24x7 international server operation?

Ive toyed with the idea simply because they are cheap enough now really for a basic one. Since Im working from home, I hate losing anything I havnt saved (even though I know its a bad habit) and having the process of reopening everything and getting back to where you were if the power cuts is a nightmare at times.

Considering people spend upwards of £100 on a graphics card or £50 on a PSU, a similar amount for a UPS isnt a big deal is it?

No I dont think the money is an issue. I just wonder when, really, the last time your power cut out and you lost all your work was.