Backup Battery Power - What You Need to Know - Comments Page 2

If one is unfortunate to live in an area with frequent power outages, it certainly would be wise to invest in a whole house generator. They're made by Generac/Honeywell and by Kohler Power Systems (a sister company to the plumbing fixture company), and others, and are available in sizes from about 5 KW, for a smaller house to keep the basic necessities alive - some house lights and circuits, a furnace, a garage door opener, a refrigerator and/or freezer, to over 150 KW, which can power just about everything electrical in the property- even on a home the size of the Biltmore Estate.

As for UPS boxes, they are worthwhile to have, even if one has a whole-house generator, as they can be connected to computers, modem/routers and other electronics that may need to be reset or reprogrammed once the utility power goes out and the 10 to 30 seconds it takes for the Generac to kick in and begin supplying the house with power. The smallest one available should be sufficient to keep sensitive electronics running.

Virtually all UPS units have replaceable lead-acid batteries that usually last about 4 to 6 years. Too often, UPS users will scrap out a UPS box not knowing that they can buy new batteries for about 60%, or more, of the cost of a complete new unit. Unfortunately, the replacement batteries aren't sold Best Buy, as they would rather just sell a new UPS box.

Replacement batteries can be found at
Amazon and eBay, but I've been lucky to have a Batteries+Bulbs store a few miles away, that sells replacement batteries of all kinds, from coin-type watch batteries to massive vehicle batteries, at a reasonable cost. The folks there know which batteries will fit your UPS box, and can often install the batteries while you wait (if it's not too busy, which it usually isn't). I've picked up several smaller capacity, supposedly dead UPS/surge protector combos at garage sales, for five bucks, replaced the batteries, for about $20 to $30, and plugged all my computing and entertainment gear in each room, into a re-batteried UPS unit for less than half the price of a new unit.

Many years ago I owned both Trip Lite and APC UPSs.
There was a distinct difference between these brands and one had an annoying design that limited its usefulness. As you know, battery capacity diminishes over time. One brand, unfortunately I cannot remember which one, would continue to function with a diminished battery, and would even function as a surge protector, with the battery removed.
The other brand COMPLETELY shut off when the battery weakened to a predetermined level and ultimately not allow the computer to start up at all, just gave a loud alarm noise. This alarm can come on even when the computer is shut off and is usually initiated when the power goes off. Imagine in the middle of the night when the power goes off and the UPS starts howling in a pitch black house.
Some people may want a UPS that will not start if there is only a little battery life left, and know when it is time to buy a new battery or UPS.
Others like myself, only need a minute or two of power to shut the system down, or just a few milliseconds of buffering during a utility system switching maneuver from one line to another, as frequently happens here. A weak battery is not a big issue for me.
Just be aware that there are different design strategies.

I had a major disaster a few years ago with a regular (high THD, dirty power) generator. These generators are OK for power tools and incandescent lamps. I blew out a TV, a microwave, a frig and a few CFL bulbs. I guess these things did not like dirty power! I now have an inverter generator and have used it with no issues.

I always go to ebay for replacement batteries. Mine costs about $18 w/ free shipping

If you are going to use a computer on UPS, then you should have a set of earplugs on hand. The UPS will cry until power is restored or you shut it off.

I have owned 3 of the large tower APC units and two failed prematurely. They wanted me to run all kinds of time consuming resets and tests and troubleshooting here, and while they WERE WILLING to work with me, I don't spend a lot of money on stuff expecting to have to work on it myself under warranty, especially with a bad back and crawling around. One unit they actually kindly replaced, and then THAT unit failed in under a year.

Oddly enough, the THIRD one is fine but it's got very high end low power draw audio gear connected to it (not power amps drawing KW) and not power hungry computers.

I ALSO had a 14 month old and JUST out of warranty expensive computer FIRE that destroyed it when my APC was hooked up to it, though I have NO honest idea if that was what caused it, but I do know it started at a SATA power plug into a SSD drive, after diagnosis.

As for me, no more APC purchases. Your mileage may vary, and they may be building them different now. Today is 1-6-2020 and this happened a couple years ago.