How long does it last, and what are the symtoms when the UPS is no longer good?

I've been having 5 complete outages w/o backup for the past 4 hours...

Thanks in Advance..

BC

 

Hey BC,

It depends on the model of the UPS backup that you purchase. Certain models last longer than the other, and it also depends what you have plugged into it (i.e. high wattage power supply, printer, and etc); mileage will vary. Most of the time UPS is not made to run a complete system for long durations, but just long enough for you to save and shut down.

As with any rechargeable unit - the battery life span will shorten with every recharge. As with the UPS,you can test it out by unplugging it after a full charge and see how long your system can run on it alone.

G'Luck. I have two UPS's and since I leave both computers on all the time its not as useful for me; as the outages always seems to happen when I'm not around.

Best,
Jeff

 

I used to have one from APC (but stopped using it after the rolling power outage crisis stopped). Anyway, it would have an indicator when the battery was going bad (or if you were overloading it). You could swap it out for a new one for about $20 I think.

My battery lasted for about a year or two, and then after that it would start beeping at me constantly telling me that it was dying.

http://www.apc.com/

My old system was a total power whore, so it would only provide about 5 minutes of power, but I had windows xp configured to shut itself off if it detected that it had switched to battery power, and 5 minutes is plenty for that. If you want more time than that, just get one with higher capacity.

 

Yeah. You can't expect to continue working while on UPS power. Still, I highly recommend it since an outage can damage a harddrive if it's in the middle of a write function.
If you're asking about lifespan, it's typical for any battery... probably between 3 to 6 years.

You can't go wrong with APC.

 

Thanks for the info. My old one is 3 years old, 750V that I bought on black friday (20.00) APC....

I think the battery for it is 45.99.. (Screw you)

So... I bought this... 5 mins ago...















































1000V @ 99.99 at Costco.

Guess what, there is no label for 90 returns, so it's LIFETIME

Thanks for all the comments guys!!.

 

Once last question...

Since its dead.... Can I use it as a surge protector? Or is it dangerous to keep using a dead battery?

 

battery back is much cleaner power then a surge protector in general, I never use surge protectors on anything expensive.

You could keep using it in that fashion though, how dead is dead? If they hold 30 seconds worth the charge that'd be enough, completely dead like 5 seconds I'd just toss it.

-Greg

 

I have heard of UPSs lasting about 20 minutes even, and at least some start to beep when they are winding down.

Touring sound companies use them, since power is notoriously s**tty at venues....

 

not sure how intellegent they are these days as I haven't messed with this stuff in years...

but, there used to be models that connected to the computer via serial port (yeah, years ago.... ), and you'd install a utility on the PC. When it switched to battery back-up, it would wait for you to do something, and if you didn't it would do a gentle shut-down for you if you weren't around.

maybe something out there like that still? (presumably with a USB conxn. )

 

Many of them have USB connection and software to help you shut it down.

Also when the battery is out of commission. It will beep every couple minutes to annoy you until you change out the battery pack