on 2-3-2009 1:29 AM Anne Wilson spake the following:
On Tuesday 03 February 2009 08:51:32 Sorin Srbu wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf
Of
John R Pierce Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 9:52 PM To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Emergency rescue help needed
Sorin Srbu wrote:
I've been buying from the Smart-UPS and Back-UPS range. Those should be ok, shouldn't they?
SmartUPS, OK. BackUPS, cheap consumer junk.
I've had to toss out dozens of various BackUPS units, mostly in the 450-600VA range... They act like they have a dead/weak battery, so I replace the battery with a brand new one, and the unit is dead. They are typically 2-3 years old at this point, so hardly worth bothering with.
The APC UPS we still have left is a smallish SmartUPS. I exchanged the battery a couple of months ago. UPS still working fine as far as I can tell. Guess you're right, I'll stay away from the BackUPS-range, if we ever buy APC again. 8-/
Reason for getting BackUPS at all, was that I got more VA's for the buck. The funding I had at the time was very low. Didn't pay off in the long run, which I pointed out to my boss... ;-)
Actually, I have one box attached to a BackUPS that is about 15 years old, and has never had a replacement battery. It holds the box through power variations, and can supply power for a couple of minutes - enough to allow a shutdown, since that box is never running unattended. I got it when we upgraded the company one - it was our (the company's) first, attached to the file-server, so replaced at a reasonable age.
Anne
I just had a Back-UPS of about 1998 vintage burst into flames about 6 months ago. Luckily, someone was near it and grabbed a fire extinguisher. It was a Saturday, and if this person hadn't been in on overtime, who knows what would have happened.
We have since replaced all Consumer grade Back-ups over 2 years old, and set a policy to only do one battery replacement and then get rid of them when the second battery dies.
I guess you never know what can happen with electricity.