On Friday 30 January 2009 17:17:00 Chris Boyd wrote:
On Jan 30, 2009, at 4:19 AM, Anne Wilson wrote:
I know I was shocked at the price I had to pay last time I replaced the APC battery. My favourite vendor sells a lot of Liebert PowerSure UPSs, so I presume they have had no problems with them, or they'd have given up by now. There is a large range, and the prices are good, but the only thing I can say is that I haven't heard anyone complain. I'd prefer to hear a positive report before buying.
My company is a Leibert UPS VAR. We became one after we started having problems with the APC systems we were using (I mentioned the shutdowns earlier on the list) and started buying Leibert for our own use. Leibert's people contacted us so we could get better pricing. I'll never use another APC again.
That's comforting. If I can't get an APC battery at a reasonable price I'll take a look at that. I'm using a Smart-UPS 700, and replacing it would be expensive for a home system. My son-in-law has a Leibert on his system (which uses a lot more power than mine) and is happy with it, but hasn't had it so long, so I'm glad to get another opinion.
In the US we have a specialty battery retailer called "Batteries Plus" that's a good source for replacement batteries. If you are not too far from a good sized city you should be able to find a similar business where you are. Voltage and current ratings and the form factors for batteries are worldwide industry standards, so you should be able to find replacements for far less money than getting the "certified" batteries from APC.
OK, thanks. I'll look around. I guess if they are selling 'standard' batteries they will have some way of making sure that what I buy is compatible. Another adventure :-)
Anne