Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Emergency Battery Back-up

In 2013 I bought this for the office as a back-up battery in case of a power failure, to keep our AC "server" (on our P2P network) running:
APC 1500VA UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector with AVR, Back-UPS Pro Uninterruptible Power Supply (BR1500G).

It is not working properly now and rather than struggling with it, I think I will just replace it. The same unit is still available, e.g.:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y24DEU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Should I get the same thing or is there something better?

As long as you were happy with the performance when it worked correctly and you need nothing else.
Buy a new one, it is not worth buying a replacement battery usually.

Or try this one for a few dollars more..
Here is a different apc ups rated at 1500va but has sinewave correction in addition..
This gives you cleaner power to the electronics devices.
APC BR1500MS

It has slightly different configuration on number of outlets.

You can't go much bigger without a huge price jump.

FYI,
Not all ups units are the same.
Your model and the one I suggested are consumer grade UPS
The model you have switches to battery power during a outage so some electronics may see the bump in power.
It depends on how fast they switch to battery.

There are online units than are always on battery and there is no bump at all during a outage. But again they are pricy.
And when the battery goes out the unit does not put out power to the outlets at all.
Last time I priced one they were around $1500.00

Jon, I am not sure I would listen to Ruben. Looks like the surge protector he purchased didn't quite work, lol.

It is funny, because battery backups are one of the few products where the type I get is based on the last one that bit the dust. Cyberpower goes down, then I purchase an APC and vice versa. I do try to keep an extra one around in case one goes down. Also, you always have to think of everything when backing up a key client or computer. I, of course, have the computer protected, but monitors don't draw a lot of power so I put them on the power side of the UPS as well. Always have to think about switches. Depending on your setup making sure the modem doesn't die the moment the power goes out. Unless cable can do PoC.

The one thing that is mandatory. And, one staff member continued to forget this. And, it doesn't matter if it is surge or surger/ups, you should never, ever plug a printer into a UPS.

LOL.
Actually I had to get a online ups for a commercial site it was a radio paging system.
It had a generator but sometimes the generator would not start up and then of course the pagers would not work. for a while
And I needed at least 3 hours of battery time.
Ended up paying $6,000
So I looked at the smallest one for my home and it was around $1500.
Never bought one of them for myself.
Just consumer grade APC units.

Thanks, gentlemen. I will just buy the same one again.

Fyi,
You can get a external battery pack enclosure to increase you battery time.
However it looks like the price is $160.00.
Just replacement batteries for the external cabinet are $166.00
But beware that the battery's and UPS are only warranted for like 3 years.
So that means buy a new UPS and or external pack every three years.

Be happy your ups lasted this long.

But to that fact I have had success with batteries Plus being a lot cheaper. Only if the issue was in fact the batteries.
Then you waste your money buying new batteries to find that the ups itself is failing.
So for consumer grade UPS units I always suggest just buy a new one.

UPS question.. should we replace the battery preemptively? Our server UPS is 4 years old.

Hi Serene,

I often try to replace the battery around this time....when I think of it....

Partly depends on the importance of the computer supported. If server/main computer, absolutely. If workstation not as important.

Gene

I replace my UPS Battery's every 2 years so yes

Thanks for the replies! I will replace it.

No don't buy that. If you really want protection then purchase the APC smart-UPS 1500.
You can tell the difference when you pick it up. The one you looked at is cheap and you can
have a child carry it for you. A smart ups is heavy because it has big battery's and will give you the power you
need to run your server, firewall, and switchs depending on how many users you have.

I have the APC smart-UPS 1500. UPSs are tough, because they work, then they don't work. If you have 900s for each computer and a 1500 for the server, it is difficult to think I need to change all of them A computer can crash as well, but generally you either notice performance issues or your i1 should be an i9 and your 1 GB of RAM could be 32.

My $150 battery worked just as well as your more expensive one would have, for 7 years, so I am sticking with it.
Of course it never was called upon during that time, so....

I'm confused. Whose more expensive one?

It is a tough decision for consumer grade UPS units when they start having issues.
Most of them have a 3 year warranty.
If it lasted longer then consider yourself lucky

If you replace the battery and you still have issues.
Then you buy a new UPS that comes with a battery.
Then what to do with the new battery you just purchased.
They will go bad if not used very quickly.
So you waste your money..

Yes the 1500 va ups battery is like $40.00 at batteries plus.
And the new unit is $169.00
Is it worth the headache of trial and error?

Now if the UPS is say 4 years old then maybe it is a good decision to try just a battery..
If the UPS is still under warranty.
Good luck going through the hoops the manufacturer makes you do.
Most of them charge for shipping and then expect you to return the old battery at your cost for shipping.
For a $40 dollar battery.

So buying a new ups for $169.00 becomes viable versus trying to save a few dollars by just replacing the battery over the possible headache of a end of life UPS that still has issues.

Now if you purchase a large commercial UPS they normally do not come with batteries so replacing the batteries make sense.

Now for a 60 to 80 dollar UPS I would not bother with replacing the battery under warranty or not. I would just replace the UPS.

Just need to get a Central Battery Backup solution. Just a few bucks.

That is a hard question to answer.
It depends on your needs and setup.
If your server has a UPS, then you should have your switches or hubs and router on a UPS.
Which covers your local network.
Sometimes that can be done with one unit.
Then the clients.
Meaning the pc at say the receptionist desk..
If it is a laptop it already has a battery.
If not then the network is still up but the pc loses connection.
Then it would need a UPS for each PC.

The ideal situation although expensive would be a distributed UPS system that covers remote specific outlets where needed.

What did I start here?
I have a little peer-to-peer network and I want to be sure that if the power goes out overnight, I can still log in to the "server", if needed.
This hasn't happened yet, but it might.
If my client machines go out, who cares? I can restart them in the morning.

So I had this $150 APC that lasted 7 years and went dead. Thanks to the suggestions above, I will just buy the same thing again (it is still $150).

Feel free to carry on!

Well, it did get rather complex, BUT since it hasn't happened, I can reassure you that you won't get all night. You will probably get 20 minutes, if that.