Topic: UPS is good to have, sad when one goes out...

[saratogaWX]

I'd just finished doing a backup of the development system when the CyberPower 1500 UPS running the system emitted a couple of beeps and went offline (dead).  Sigh...

Off to Fry's Electronics to pick up a new one, crawl under the desk to the mini-rack and replace it.  Getting harder for these older bones.

Fortunately it worked out of the box just fine.  Not so good was my accidentally hitting the power-off on the adjacent 1500 system, which downed the network switch and caused confusion to reign in the LAN.   Ok, power it up, shutdown and restart the weather system (which without IP connectivity had become very confused).

Now all systems are back online.  Guess I'll pick up another one for a hot-spare, but this time at Costco (less expensive than Fry's, but harder to get to in rush-hour traffic).

Quite an afternoon.. think I'll take a little break to recharge myself

[W3DRM]

Ken, sorry to hear about your UPS failure. 

Doesn't Cyberpower have a 3-year warranty on their UPS systems? If you've had yours less than that long, I'd check into it.

[saratogaWX]

Thanks Don,
The one that went out is about 5 years old

[W3DRM]

Thanks Don,
The one that went out is about 5 years old

Well, if the old batteries are still good you save them for future use. Just be sure you keep them charged... You might even be able to use it for parts on some other project.

[DanS]

Well, if the old batteries are still good you save them for future use. Just be sure you keep them charged... You might even be able to use it for parts on some other project.

... or if it was the battery (ies) that went bad then the UPS still may be good and just swapping in a new battery will give you a spare UPS.?.?

[WeatherHost]

Well, if the old batteries are still good you save them for future use. Just be sure you keep them charged... You might even be able to use it for parts on some other project.

... or if it was the battery (ies) that went bad then the UPS still may be good and just swapping in a new battery will give you a spare UPS.?.?

I've replaced batteries in mine several times over the years.  Far less expensive.

And a possible bonus.  Sometimes those batteries are too weak for a UPS, but can still be used for other less load intensive items like LED ligthing.  I have one powering some automotive accessory  LEDs inside a closet that would be difficult getting AC wired to.

[gwwilk]

Sorry to hear about your UPS biting the dust, Ken.  Keeping a spare on hand is an excellent idea.  I use a number of UPS's here on all of the computers/electronics I have running.  I keep spares of various capacities on hand, the latest of which I used and replaced when a very old low-capacity UPS whose battery had been replaced several times bit the dust leaving me without the base station to my wireless phones.  As a bonus, APC's newest small UPS configuration has the plugs on the side so the UPS can stand on edge thus taking up less room than the old-style one it replaced.  By 'replaced' I mean I immediately purchased another spare.

When I installed my Lenovo server I also installed a UPS to power and protect it.  To my great frustration the new UPS would only supply power via its battery when I turned it on!  Hmm...the problem and solution eventually occurred to me.  The socket it was plugged into had become slightly deformed over the years and wasn't making contact, so when I bent the prongs on the UPS plug slightly outward, voila, it worked!  Unfortunately when I tried to power up the 'dead' UPS that it replaced, it was indeed dead.

[miraculon]

I have had a few UPS that "went bad". They seemed to exhibit a weak battery based on the symptoms and indications, but a new battery did not remedy the situation. I recently had to replace both my own and wife's UPS. I went with Tripp-Lite this time. They seem to be working well. I also like the voltage display on the front panel.

Then there is my 24 port switch failure, but that is another story...

Greg H.