UPS Which and Where to Buy

Phils wrote: ↑ My XS1000 UPS bought at Costco that I've had now for more than 15 years is starting to be flakey.

Is it the UPS itself, or simply the battery? I have the same UPS, and I received a battery error (I forget if there was a code now, or something else) and after doing some research, I simply replaced the battery. I got mine from Newegg.ca for $70, and at the time they were selling for $70-$80 (+taxes of course) from most retailers including APC themselves.

I put in the replacement battery, and no problems.

I also bought a second similar model from Costco, since I have to protect stuff on opposite ends of the room. :-)

If you've not already done so, check out Costco as well. They usually have UPS in, and I think the last time I looked, the 1500 was $179 (but I'm just trying to remember here)

Phils wrote: ↑ My XS1000 UPS bought at Costco that I've had now for more than 15 years is starting to be flakey.

Please tell me you've at least changed the battery in 15 years.

Which and Where to Buy

I'm a snob and only buy SmartUPSes
Usually refurbished since I'm a snob but not a rich snob or one with a budget.
ExcessUPS was my last retailer.

ALLCAPS wrote: ↑ I simply replaced the battery. I got mine from Newegg.ca for $70, and at the time they were selling for $70-$80 (+taxes of course) from most retailers including APC themselves.

Are you still in Vancouver?
If so, next time hit up Polar Battery on Boundary.
You can get a Panasonic for like $40.
No names are even cheaper at I think $30, but I'd rather have a Panasonic.

For those of you not in Vancouver, look up your local battery retailer. They'll usually have batteries.

I actually own 4 UPSes and have changed batteries many times. The last time was just last week on a Cyberpower unit I use for my Home theatre.

In this case, I think the UPS is shot.

First it started with an error message that there was a fault with the UPS and to contact APC to replace it. I ran a self test and when it ran, it caused my PC to reboot.
Every now and then I'd get an error message that my PC couldn't communicate with my UPS.
Then Powerchute was showing weird stats. One minute it would show the battery at 100% and then the next 0. Other times it would be between 20% and 40%. That is within a few hours and the UPS never was called on during that time.

Next, when I woke up this morning, I found that my PC had rebooted on its own sometime during the night. There was a thunderstorm last night and I'm sure the reboot was caused by the UPS not doing its job properly.

The piece de resistance was this afternoon. I came home to find the UPS cycling on and off and unusable.

One issue might be the battery but I suspect it's more than that this time.

Phils wrote: ↑ First it started with an error message that there was a fault with the UPS and to contact APC to replace it.

There's your answer.
I wouldn't even bother with batteries at this point.

The problem with assuming it's just the batteries is that they're too expensive if, in fact, there's more going on than just that.

FYI, I can get the 2 batteries I would need from Addison in Montreal for $22.99 each.

So I've gone a bit farther.

I googled my situation and found a number of articles about UPSes and their batteries.

Some articles say you can run a UPS without batteries as a stopgap. I tried that but the UPS would flip from On-Line to Overload and back. It would never stay on-line. Other articles say that the switching between AC and the battery function needs the battery to power that function. In my case, I find the latter to be true.

Then I read this article:

https://www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2012/ ... eaper-way/

I have a car charger and I'm going to try what he recommends.

I tested the 2 batteries from the unit and found 1 to be dead and 1 to test OK. So I can spend about $25 after tax to determine if it's the UPS or just the battery. If it's just the 1 battery, then I'm likely to have to change the other battery soon but at least I will have only wasted $25 and not $50 if it's really the UPS itself.

I've also decided that the UPS in my OP isn't good enough as it's only stand by technology. Now the question becomes possibly wasting $25 for the opportunity to not spend about $200.

Phils wrote: ↑FYI, I can get the 2 batteries I would need from Addison in Montreal for $22.99 each.

Are they any good though?

Phils wrote: ↑So I've gone a bit farther.
Some articles say you can run a UPS without batteries as a stopgap. I tried that but the UPS would flip from On-Line to Overload and back. It would never stay on-line. Other articles say that the switching between AC and the battery function needs the battery to power that function. In my case, I find the latter to be true.

This depends on the UPS.
BackUPS usually requires a battery.
SmartUPS doesn't mostly because you can hot swap batteries. That'd suck if they required a battery 100% of the time because this means you'd have to shut the load down.

https://www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2012/ ... eaper-way/

That's a SHIT TON of fluff stating that you can swap the actual batteries instead of buying new cartridges.
I guess you're one of the lucky 10000 today.

I have a car charger and I'm going to try what he recommends.

I'd also multimeter it.

If it's just the 1 battery, then I'm likely to have to change the other battery soon but at least I will have only wasted $25 and not $50 if it's really the UPS itself.

To be fair, it's not really a "waste" since most APCs (and probably other models) take the same battery: 12V 7.2ah F2
There's a few exceptions obviously, but every UPS I've had in the last 5 years if not decade has been these.

I ended up taking the ups, the batteries, and my laptop with Powerchute installed to a local store where we tested the ups on site with one of their new batteries. That way, I wouldn't have to buy the batteries unless it worked. The unit turned on OK but I kept getting communication and fault errors on the laptop. I decided that it wasn't reliable enough for my PC and I couldn't be sure that it would charge the batteries properly.

In the end, I ended up buying this from Pro-Data Inc. on Amazon Marketplace.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000QZ ... UTF8&psc=1

Amazon's price today for this unit is $166.
Prodata's price is $118 but with $27 shipping.

However since they're in Alberta, I wasn't charged QST so that was 10% off.
All in, it cost me $145.

death_hawk,
After reading your suggestion, I tested my old batteries with a battery tester and one tested as good and one tested as bad. I have a multimeter somewhere and I'll test it as soon as I can locate it.

I haven't decided whether to repurpose my old UPS or not. However, our condo office is also having UPS issues at the moment. It keeps reporting communication errors as well. If indeed it takes the 12V 7.2ah from my XS1000, I may try to fix it with one of my old batteries.

One question I have is:

If an XS1000 like mine takes 2 of these batteries, how does a 1500 or 1600 also take these batteries? Shouldn't the batteries for larger units have more capacity?

Phils wrote: ↑ If an XS1000 like mine takes 2 of these batteries, how does a 1500 or 1600 also take these batteries? Shouldn't the batteries for larger units have more capacity?

"1500" is usually VA. So a "1000" would support less equipment than a "1500"
The batteries would be identical so if you fully load both, the "1500" would have a shorter runtime assuming an identical number of batteries.