My Poor UPS

[giza]

So... I was minding my business on Saturday afternoon, when all of a sudden, my UPS, an APC LS500UC starts feaking out. It wasn't the normal kind of beeping that I get it goes on battery, so I went under my desk to check it out. Turns out that the "replace battery" light was on. I did some experimenting and discovered that it could run off of the battery, and a few reboots later, the light and alarm went off.

I checked on APC's website and discovered that when the "battery fail" light goes on, the battery should be replaced in "2 to 4 weeks". I then checked out pricing for a replacement battery, weighed that against the odds that my battery might give out before it arrives, and decided to just get a new UPS instead.

So, one trip to Micro Center and $63.59 later, I now have a Back-UPS 725 ES. I replaced the LS500 with it and moved the LS 500 over to my TV and Play Station 2, so I can now play Sly Cooper during brownouts and thunderstorms! (And when that battery does fail, it's just $30 for a new one)

I also, for the first time ever, tried out the USB interface for the UPS. I plugged it into my Powerbook, and it just... worked. I saw a second battery icon appearing next to the laptop's battery icon, and a second percentage charge appeared too. I unplugged the UPS and my Powerbook automatically displayed a dialogue box AND wrote a line to syslog. How cool is that?


Also, Happy Yerfday nidonocu!

Comments

Buying a new one is best

[wildw0lf.livejournal.com]

I got six of them several years ago when they were priced at 10-20 after rebate. It's cheaper to buy a new one than to replace the battery.

I've also seen them die all at once without much warning at all, typically after 5+ years of solid use.

And I've never tried using the USB cable on any of mine personally.

[tosdragon.livejournal.com]

Wow, I have to try that! :)

[andrew7782.livejournal.com]

I really need to get a UPS for my DSL modem and server, so when the power goes out I won't lose my IP and the server doesn't go down.

[pyesetz]

I plugged it into my Powerbook, and it just... worked.

Yay AppleCorp!  It is *supposed* to "just work".

[furahi.livejournal.com]

It is very cool :)

With the UPS I got for my mom I tried the serial interface... depending on the settings on windows, it either does nothing regardless of wether or not the UPS has power, or... shuts down IMMEDIATLY after booting even when it does have power =P

[orca-and-mommy.livejournal.com]

Get the correct driver for your particular UPS and that won't happen. :-)

Orca _)\_

[furahi.livejournal.com]

I would, but it's a Mexican generic UPS..
They did point to a web page with a software that supposedly works with lots of UPS, but you have to buy it =Pd

[cheetor.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, the bueaty of working for a Security company.. my UPS batteries cost me less than $10 :D
hehe, same batteries we use in some of the alarms we service :)

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

I'm still waiting to replace the battery on my UPS. But the guy in the brown suit won't sit still long enough.