[RndTbl] UPS batteries

[Trevor Cordes]

On 2013-01-30 Dan Keizer wrote:
> Funny timing ... I bought two APC 750 units just over a year ago and
> use them to keep my servers running in the rack.
> 
> A week or so ago, one of them started to complain (beeping wildly in
> the night) and flashing it's lights etc ...

As much as I love APC, I must say their non-Smart lines are generally
complete crap now.  They live for 2-6 years then fail in strange,
different, and noisy ways, creating support nightmares, even after new
batteries are put in.

The Smart ones live a lot longer but can still do incredibly wonky
things if the batteries are dying/dead.  You will sometimes not get any
warning via the software or the UPS even though the batteries are
gone.  In some cases I open up the UPS to find the batteries bulging to
insane widths.  Moral of the story is set yourself reminders at 3-4
years to start thinking about pro-active battery replacement and/or load
testing (apctest in apcupsd in linux is good for this).

I still haven't found a better UPS brand, so I stick mostly with APC
Smart.