I have an APC going on a bunch of years too, waiting on a deal on the Cyberpower pure-sinewave 1500VA. 'Cause I’m worth it, but not worth full price.
I own both APC and Cyberpower UPSes and both seem equally reliable to me. No issues with either brand. When a battery runs out of cycles, I snag a cheap 3rd party replacement battery off Amazon.
Last deal I saw here has been a while back
Yeah, I think I have a camelcamelcamel for like $125.
I did that once years ago and the terminals on the battery weren’t quite right, so the wires wouldn’t stay on. Never tried again.
I had a cyberpower die on me rather quickly recently, but I think it was already an old model when I bought it and the battery was already several years old.
I got home just now and my power supply was off. When I press the power button on it, it does a loud beep and turns off again.
I guess that’s all she wrote. Still, if 8 years is as impressive as you guys say, I should stop at Micro Center tomorrow and try to get the same model again that I got 8 years ago from there.
Oh you sweet summer child, as my wife would say.
I can tell my UPS is already gone, because my force feedback steering wheel no longer works when plugged into the battery side. Now it’s just a really inconveniently-sized power strip.
Even if the battery is dead, the ‘battery side’ should be working when power is on (unless this model is always operating the backup rectifier online even when the line is ok).
I still like using quite old APC UPSs, and I have several from the '90s which are very durable with all steel cases, and unless their power electronics go bad, I would rather keep replacing their batteries every few years than buying new ones. The APC branded batteries are quite spendy, but other mfrs like PowerSonic have direct replacements too. The exception might be if they start making affordable consumer models with Lithium power cells instead of the Lead/Lead-Calcium batteries.
Hopefully nothing was on and running when it went down?
My only experience with UPSes are the cheapo Indian crap we used in Nigeria. Everything was on UPS there because power comes and goes switching between the grid and generator literally dozens of times. We would swap out the batteries every few months. Also I just ripped out the beep speakers. I’m so glad I live in civilization now and don’t have to worry about that crap. I’m surprised so many people here use UPSes.
My computer was on and running, and I was at work. I don’t think anything of consequence happened except that the computer got switched off.
I’ve always meant to buy one, but have never done so.
OTOH, the power here goes out maybe once per year, or once every two years, and almost always during a lightning storm. The single exception to that was when a drunk driver took out the transformer pole a block from here. There was a big noise, and everything went dead. Took them all night to fix it. Fortunately, nothing was damaged in my house. Usually, I’m home when a thunderstorm happens, and can shut the PC down before the power goes out.
But still, it would probably be a good idea to pick up a UPS. My computer was not cheap after all. I guess I’ve always prioritized it pretty low because a UPS is just one more thing I’d need to maintain. And also, finding a space to put the thing would be difficult.
Giles, you are the prime candidate for a UPS. Many of the big vendors, APC being the lead, have coverage amounts for equipment lost while using your UPS. In your case, it’s worth it. Buy one, register it, and hopefully it will help you in the event of a major storm.
Very good point. I had not even considered that aspect (as I have never got to the point of reading up on them before). Thanks for mentioning it. So APC would be a good place to start?
Also, space is going to be a big problem. I don’t have any. I wonder if they make one that I could place my computer on top of? Kind of shaped like those old computers that laid flat? That might work if they make such a thing.
You’d have to look at the warranty and guarantee for each. It may be based on model.