ups's and battery warnings

[KnightRid]

Ok, i have an APC BN1250 battery backup unit on my main system. A couple days ago the replace battery light started beeping and yelling at me. I turned the unit off and back on, now everything works fine. I have no noticable drop in the time the computer stays up when the power goes of or anything.

My question - is this just a way to get you to spend a ton of money on a new battery?

My neighbor has a BX800 and his uses the SAME battery as mine! His unit was like $80 on sale and the battery is $72.99 on sale kinda defeats the prupose of cheaply replacing a battery, doesnt it.

more questions - is there a way to recondition these batteries? cheap place to buy replacement batteries? cheapest place I saw was battery warehouse (I think that was the name of the online store) and with shipping it was still between $50 and $60, which when you can buy a brand new unit for around $80 on sale, makes them worthless to buy just the battery.

Mike

I just bought a BX1300LCD from circuit city yesterday!!! on sale for $119.99 - run and grab one if you need any backups! I am going to try and hook it up to my plasma and surround system to see what kind of juice they pull and wether the backup will be enough to handle them. It is a nice backup because you can set all the functions just by using the buttons on the front of the unti since it has a LCD screen! I might buy another one if this one will power the tv and stuff, that way I will have a new one for the computer too

[camaroguy1998]

Before you buy a battery check here!
http://www.batterywholesale.com/
They have the best prices I've found.

[KnightRid]

Before you buy a battery check here!
http://www.batterywholesale.com/
They have the best prices I've found.

THATS the site I found, not battery warehouse

RBC32 is $39.40 plus $13.45 shipping = $52.85

Still seems WAY overpriced copared to just buying one at the store. If it would be $40 INCULDING the shipping I would snag it, but then I am a cheap bastard

Mike

[The gonz]

Here at work in the Court System we have a UPS attached to one of our servers and it is always beeping. My supervisor says its nothing ( ) but its been doing that for weeks now going on months and it still works? <shrug>

[DMB2000uk]

Here at work in the Court System we have a UPS attached to one of our servers and it is always beeping. My supervisor says its nothing ( ) but its been doing that for weeks now going on months and it still works? <shrug>

They had a power outage in all that time?

Dan

[Cordorb]

Most UPS system have a short term test ( My Belkin system using the bulldog software) has a 10 sec test.
Lead acid batteries have lot problems that will cause a loss of ability to hold a charge but may still show a FULL VOLTAGE.

I have the 10 second test set up in software to run once a month.

You can get a complete system many times for less then the cost of the batteries.

NOTE: the 1000 VA + USP systems are 24 Volts and use two 12 volt batteries not one BIG 12 volt battery so cost even more to replace.

There is not much you an do to recondition a gel-pack battery - There are a few trick for vented car type lead bateries use in wind and solar powered system but for sealed batteries best to get a new one.

[Kougar]

I've been using an APC 1100VA back UPS unit since 2003, never had to replace the battery on it. The unit will once a week switch itself over to battery power and load test the battery to ensure it's still holding a charge. Believe it or not I still get over 5 minutes of use off it with the 24" monitor + desktop, although it used to last much longer. ;)

Fry's has been having some insane deals, APC 1500VA UPS, comes with AVR (Automatic voltage regulation), a good LCD display so you can actually see how much charge/time is left while on battery, and a bunch of other things that make my old one from 2003 look pretty cheap. Fry's has them going for $150 after rebate, rather good for a huge 1500VA/865w rating and the range of features. My old 1100VA model cost about that in 2003.