Old UPS batteries (APC SUA 1500)... where do you source them?

[OFaceSIG]

I think I might take this Cyberpower back. Its definitely gassing off. Kind of smell faint traces of it whenever I come back home from work to sit down at the computer. It's not a horrendous amount since if it was the rash on the back of my hand would start acting up (any exposure to stuff like super glue or bleach is enough to make it flare up instantly), but still, my APC unit certainly never did that. Alternatively I could try moving it or something, but dunno kind of undecided.

If it's under warranty or a return period take it back. If it isn't, rebuild the battery pack with new 12v cells from Ebay or Amazon. I've been doing that for over a decade, no issues.

 

[Burticus]

These are the last ones I bought from Amz, $42 for 2 12v 9ah which matched what was in my cyberpower ups. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WRXR223

Says I ordered them in 2020, haven't had any issues. But honestly these things almost never last more than 5 years depending on how many blackouts you had.

LOL, the cyberpower branded one is $86. No thanks

 

[mhenley]

FWIW new UPS batteries are easily available from refurbups.com. I've gotten replacement batteries as well as refurbished UPSes from them and never had a problem. They even have a recycling program if you don't have one locally, just pay shipping. With pirateship being so cheap there's little reason not to.

 

[GoodBoy]

Cyberpower? Yuck. Make sure whatever UPS you buy that it has dual conversion.

This one is still going strong on the original batteries.
They are twice the size, but protect your equipment. They do have always on fans, so be aware.

Be careful if you go with one of the even bigger units, those use a different power plug. The 15A one, both the wall outlet and the wiring needs to support 15A. And the next larger ones use a round shaped metal plug that is a 30A connector. Same as used on electric clothes dryers.

 

[Wade88]

Cyberpower? Yuck. Make sure whatever UPS you buy that it has dual conversion.

View attachment 639140
This one is still going strong on the original batteries.
They are twice the size, but protect your equipment. They do have always on fans, so be aware.

Be careful if you go with one of the even bigger units, those use a different power plug. The 15A one, both the wall outlet and the wiring needs to support 15A. And the next larger ones use a round shaped metal plug that is a 30A connector. Same as used on electric clothes dryers.

I love the 30 amp ones and that my house's upstairs breaker box was only 1/4 populated when we bought the house. Now it has 2 30a circuits for computers and 3 60a breakers for bev chargers or welding plug and the downstairs 30a is unused because I love our 9 cubic feet gas dryer. It could do something else in the future.

 

[applegrcoug]

I think I might take this Cyberpower back. Its definitely gassing off. Kind of smell faint traces of it whenever I come back home from work to sit down at the computer. It's not a horrendous amount since if it was the rash on the back of my hand would start acting up (any exposure to stuff like super glue or bleach is enough to make it flare up instantly), but still, my APC unit certainly never did that. Alternatively I could try moving it or something, but dunno kind of undecided.

I have some of those...maybe not the exact same one, but at least similar and no funny smells.


And since we are talking batteries, has anyone used different chemistries besides SLA? I looked into it and just end up down the rabbit hole of a slight difference in voltages.

 

[Azrak]

And since we are talking batteries, has anyone used different chemistries besides SLA? I looked into it and just end up down the rabbit hole of a slight difference in voltages.

UPSes designed with SLA batteries in mind are constantly charging (float charging) the battery because that's how you keep SLA batteries healthy and ready to power the load for the longest period of time (talking lifespan of the battery here, not uptime while on battery). Other battery chemistries don't like that type of constant charging, so you'd need to swap out the charging circuit for something compatible with the batteries you want to use.

I get my UPS batteries from https://www.champion-battery-sales.com/ Just ordered an RBC7 yesterday and it's arriving tomorrow. The prices of batteries suck, but whatever. Their batteries work well and are reliable.

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

I have some of those...maybe not the exact same one, but at least similar and no funny smells.

About 2 months late, but I'm going to note that the one in my bedroom near my bed doesn't output any smells whatsoever. But the two that I have (or 1 now I guess) that supply the computers that are running Stable Diffusion 24/7 definitely do. After I took that unit back, didn't really have any of that smell again. I believe the one in my other room servicing my 3080 Ti computer is as well, just it's not a room that I am in as much.

So I think it's a load-based issue. I just put my SUA1500 back without any modifications and for some reason the light didn't come on for about 50 days, but now it's beeping at me again. I guess I'll just bite the bullet and try an official APC battery replacement. The 2 cells that I assembled from Ebay didn't work that long so might as well try this.

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

Cyberpower? Yuck. Make sure whatever UPS you buy that it has dual conversion.

View attachment 639140
This one is still going strong on the original batteries.
They are twice the size, but protect your equipment. They do have always on fans, so be aware.

Be careful if you go with one of the even bigger units, those use a different power plug. The 15A one, both the wall outlet and the wiring needs to support 15A. And the next larger ones use a round shaped metal plug that is a 30A connector. Same as used on electric clothes dryers.

Well, I see it for 880 at Provantage. I'm not sure if they're legit.

https://www.provantage.com/tripp-lite-su1500xlcd~7TRP92FL.htm

That said, pretty steep fee. What does Dual Conversion bring to the table?

 

[GoodBoy]

Dual conversion isolates the output side from the input side. All incoming power is converted down to the battery voltage. All output power is generated within the unit from the battery voltage. There is no switchover time, because you run on UPS generated power 100% of the time. Complete protection from brownouts and surges, as well as outages. These also output power in a sine wave, the same as normal AC power does. This is what your power supply is designed to use.

'Line Active' - this is what all of the cheap UPS's do. They pass your incoming utility AC right to your equipment. If there is an outage, there is a switchover time. You might see the lights blink if it is running your house lights. The switchover time measured in milliseconds, but PC's are high speed processors running in the Ghz. If it's idle at the moment of switchover, probably no issue. If the PC is under load, the residual power in the psu capacitors might not be enough to avoid even a 1 ms interruption in the power going to the CPU.. not good, and could make the system unstable. They are not great at handling brownouts if at all, or surges. These types of UPS, when powering your equipment, often output a square wave instead of a sine wave. If it doesn't say 'Pure Sine Wave', then it's Square Wave. It's safe for old stuff like incandescent lights and electric motors (tho inefficient), but very hard on power supplies, ac adapters, equipment that uses Capacitors and convert to DC.
You do not want a square wave AC going into your $4000 pc, or even your $1000 pc, at all. If you have a cheap UPS, as soon as power goes out you need to be powering off the pc within 1 minute.

Online, double-conversion Uninterruptible Power Supply / UPS maintains perfectly regulated output power by continuously converting raw AC input to DC, then re-converting output back to AC. Sine wave AC output with +/-2% voltage regulation powers network equipment continuously, even during severe brownouts and overvoltages, all without depleting UPS battery reserves. Maintains battery-derived AC output during power failures with zero transfer time. Extended runtime options available

 

[toast0]

. If you have a cheap UPS, as soon as power goes out you need to be powering off the pc within 1 minute.

I wish they'd make products specifically targetted for 1 minute. My utility outages are either a couple seconds (auto-recloser found the short was transitory), or long (tree on line is persistent or severed the line). And I've got a automatic generator for the last one. So I really just need to ride out the autocloser cycle and the generator startup delay. I don't need 15 minutes of run time. And I don't mind if the computer starts the shutdown at 30-45 seconds in... If it goes that long, I don't need to fool around with computers, I need to fix my generator / wait for the utility to fix their lines.