Another UPS bit the dust

[Grogan]

On Saturday, but I waited until after the 25th to order a new one so it would go on next month's credit card bill

I got by with just one down here until now, by plugging the modem and router in with my good PC and just sticking the old box in the surge only outlets (it's off most of the time anyway these days).

It was a 5 year old Cyberpower 1500VA AVR model, so old I bought it on Newegg (before I was buying from Amazon) so I guess I did well with it. It started out beeping with an error code on screen. Turning it off and on again reset it, and while the battery showed low capacity, once reset the battery seemed to charge to full. It happened again a few weeks later (self tests I presume) and reset. Unfortunately, while it was showing the battery full, the instant it went on battery (Saturday, when the power blinked) it shut right off.

I considered buying batteries, but that would be a waste of money if the electronics fail. $70'ish for batteries (a set of 2) + shipping for a 5 year old UPS... fuck that.

Anyway, I bought another one of these ("buy again"). Now I have 3 units of this same model in the house (one upstairs). They seem pretty good, and tolerate being on generator power.

CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD3 Intelligent LCD UPS System, 1500VA/900W, 12 Outlets, 2 USB Ports, AVR, Mini Tower, Black
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BCMLLSHL

[Grogan]

I got it set up and in place, just in time for thunderstorms to hit. I did charge it up for a few hours before turning it on to set sensitivity thresholds etc. and it was showing full capacity. (They ship with battery charge though I'd imagine that would depend on how long it has sat in a warehouse) and then it was on main for a while before the storm hit.

The power has blinked out twice so far... I would have preferred not to test it TODAY though

[Zema Bus]

I have a few of those, as well as some other models. Some of them are pretty old, I've replaced the batteries multiple times over the years (cheaper 3rd party batteries). I don't have any of them hooked up right now, after the move I don't know which ones are good and which ones have dying batteries, and I've gotten tired of messing with these heavy UPS units lol! I probably should do something before monsoon season though.

[Grogan]

These Cyberpower units are pretty small now, but they are still futhermuckin heavy (there's no way around it with lead acid batteries, with the amperage you need to deliver for a reasonable period of time). There are lithium ion UPS's of course, but they are all expensive for lesser capacity. If they can make cars powered by them, we should be able to have a lithium ion UPS.

There might be potential for mischief though. "Wait a minute, that unit doesn't look like it was company issu..... blam! hehehe"