Warren Young wrote:
On 2/13/2013 06:12, mark wrote:
Huh. No, I want to pay on the order of $12/individual battery,
Please don't misuse "order." It's a corruption of the scientific term "order of magnitude"[1][2] which, used correctly, means that the values you're comparing use the same factor of 10 in scientific notation. If we take your claim literally, you'd be satisfied with any complete battery that cost less than $120 * 8 = $960.
Now, this is serious nitpicking, and it also argues over common usage. But if you *really* want to get into it, I could note that I want on the order, base 2.
(I will also come after you if you misuse "literally". :) )
$100 or so for the set of 8;
You've got one low-ball quote, and now you're demanding that everyone else meet it? Sigh...
I take it you haven't done a lot of purchasing, where alternatives were considered? APC offers it at the highest price for their own UPSes. Many other companies offer compatibles, and this kind of rate - the lower one - is what I've been paying for over three years.
Actually, since of the three or four with the ballpark (go ahead, argue *that*) of $100 for the set of 8, none offer GSA, I've checked with my manager, and I'll just go ahead and get three quotes for open market value. <snip>
Given how many news stories you can find about misbehaving cheap batteries, I'd bet on option a). Just because the label has the same voltage and amp-hour rating as what came out of the APC UPS, doesn't mean it's exactly the same thing. Batteries are tricky. Boeing and Tesla Motors are both in the news now because too few people really understand batteries.
No. The only *real* issue is getting the vendor to understand that every single battery manufacturer is lying, because they *haven't* tested them on rackmount server UPSes, and yes, I don't care what the OEM says - and I've spoken, personally, to two or three OEMs - they MUST be HR (high rate) batteries; nothing else will make the UPSes happy.
The compatible batteries I've bought and put in the UPSes in '10 are only *starting* to go, so three years (including '10, since most of them were in the first half of the years) isn't bad, esp, when, with our "wonderful" power that blinks at least once a day to the server rooms, they do get hit.
If you're willing to open up the APC sled and replace the individual VRLAs directly, the cheapest *reputable* vendor I've found is Mouser. Their part # 632-GP1245 looks close, but don't take my word on that. I'm just eyeballing photos and springboarding off the McMaster dimensions; I have no direct experience on that particular swap.
Oh, sorry if I wasn't clear: that's what I do, open the sled and replace with the new set of eight individual batteries. Not a big deal. <snip>
When you buy individual VRLAs, you have to account for your time opening up the sled, swapping VRLAs, and reassembling it all. Then you add in your time to dispose of the spent VRLAs. I'm sure you can find plenty of places locally that will take them, but I'll bet your salary and gas costs will wipe out your DIY savings.
Nope. I bring the old batteries to my cube, and when I've got enough to make it worth it, I call the folks in hazardous waste who explicitly take care of recycling batteries, and they come get them.
You're probably not counting opportunity costs[4], either.
And you're not looking at the bigger picture: I'm a sysadmin. We're not overworked, though there's plenty to do. The Republicans in Congress pretend to cut the budget; therefore, saving the US gov't, in the form of my division, budget dollars, since I'm on a fixed rate, is cheaper than trying to get more money out of Congress to save my time by shipping the entire sled and recycling that.
mark