Shopping for Another UPS

[upstatemike]

Quick follow-up: I am pretty happy with the Belkin unit. I like the form factor with the plugs on top so you can get to them without pulling the UPS forward on the shelf and then trying to balance it while you reach around behind. I also like that it actually fits on a shelf, unlike many APC models that are so deep that they won't. I also like that there is no fan in it (I really, really, hate fan noise). Only negative so far is that it has a permanent AC cord. I would have preferred a removeable one but that is minor. At $130 it seems like a good deal (same unit is $166 at Newegg) so I will probably get another one.

 

[electron]

Don't forget to check Provantage.com , they have some good UPS prices as well.

 

[upstatemike]

Don't forget to check Provantage.com , they have some good UPS prices as well.

Their price is good; $123.34 but shipping is insane at $19.95! Better to pay the extra $7 for the unit and get free shipping from Amazon.

 

[SethP]

I have several Belkin UPSs and they all work great, some for several years. Batteries go, of course. I hooked one unit up to an old car battery, and that was great, but it burned out the battery pretty quickly. I'm going to pick up a deep cycle battery this weekend. The cheap UPS + deep cycle battery should keep my cable modem/router/switches/1-wire network/old laptop running HS up for days.

Warning: I've been told that Belkin UPSs are known to create noise that can interfere with UPB. I haven't seen it, but others may have.

Seth

 

[Quixote_1]

I have several Belkin UPSs and they all work great, some for several years. Batteries go, of course. I hooked one unit up to an old car battery, and that was great, but it burned out the battery pretty quickly. I'm going to pick up a deep cycle battery this weekend. The cheap UPS + deep cycle battery should keep my cable modem/router/switches/1-wire network/old laptop running HS up for days.

Warning: I've been told that Belkin UPSs are known to create noise that can interfere with UPB. I haven't seen it, but others may have.

Seth

Just the kind of info I was looking for. I have a pretty nice Tripp-Lite UPS that I bought some years ago, but it stopped working and I assumed that the batteries needed replacing. Since I had other costly projects in the works, I decided to make due without the UPS. Today I decided to open it up and see what the deal was. Sure enough, the batteries were at fault. There are two sealed lead batteries inside, both of which have cracks running down one side (in fact the plastic looked almost shattered, but with minimal leakage). I'm guessing that it over-heated since it gets pretty hellish in here sometimes in the summer (35 degrees C on some days!).

I recently bought a deep-cycle marine battery (rated at 75Ah) to use with another project, but that one is delayed due to financial reasons, so I thought I might use it for my back-UPS. Is there anything I should be concerned about aside from making sure that there is adequate ventilation to disperse the hydrogen that's produced when it's charged?

Thanks for the info!

-D