UPS's

September 24, 2017

As I mentioned on the extech page. This page is about the replaced UPS that was not working. Since I have been having problems not only with the outlets, I thought I cover the UPS as well because this is the other piece that I was also having problems with. It just would not stay on battery power so I was able to return it to the original store and then ordered a new one online. I found the 1500va was on special so it was perfect timing for me. My old one was the 1300va that was not working correctly. In any case I will cover all three ups's since power outages is something I haven't covered before. Regardless of what you use, I can't say enough how many times a UPS has saved me from a power outage. So I like to make sure I have something where I may need it the most. In this case it was where my new nas was plugged into, both into the old outlet and non-working UPS. This is what brings me to this write up today. So let me show you what these are.

Let me start with my old 1000AVR. The battery on this one is no longer working. Unfortunately the LCD screen was also no longer working, but I actually got that working again. I'll add the video later.

Here's what the lcd looked like if I didn't press the corner of it. This is also what it did when I tried to use the tysonic battery. It just kept turning itself on and off.

 

 This UPS came with this battery. I had a 12 7ah battery which is the first one on the left that you see on the first picture. Unfortunately that one didn't work. I guess I need to really charge it before, but it was below 12v so the ups just kept restarting itself when I tried it. It's also a 7ah and not an 8ah. In short, I will need to find a replacement if I want to keep using it. The HR9-12 is a 12 8ah battery from looking at the specifications.

 

 Here's what this one looks like, pretty much like any other of this size. Unfortunately finding a similar or exact replacement has proven to be a bit harder than I thought. I think I saw a couple but I'll have to check on that later.

 I took apart the front LCD since it wasn't working and got it working again. So I may get a battery for this one later on. It still works just not on battery power. Now I'm just glad I didn't throw it away.

 Now here is my new replacement. It's just a cyberpower 1500 va AVR I think it was. Now I have a couple of reasons why I like these. One, they are pretty slim and small, but still weight a bit with two batteries. So for the most part they fit almost anywhere compared to others which is nice since I'm usually pretty tight on space. I also like that they have the two usb front ports which come in handy for charging things. I like to charge my flashlight on one of these ports when I need to. They also come in handy if you don't have other usb charging ports anywhere. I later found that you can get some outlets with usb ports as well. Unfortunately I found out after I had bought the two regular plugs, but I don't mind as I have these on here.

 As you can see here, the 1350va and the 1500va are pretty much the same size. But the best part is that both of these have 12 outlets each! The 1300va only had 10 which was okay but once I found the 12 outlet versions, I got the 12 outlet versions. Now I don't suggest using these with power hungry computers. Most of my hardware are very low power sippers so even with all ports filled in one, the loads I have on them are not much. Maybe 90 watts each with everything powered on both which I usually don't do. I may turned other things on once in a blue moon, but that's it. So I'm usually much less than that.

 The only difference is that the 1300va didn't have the cable in and out ports right above the top battery outlet. They were in the middle making it easier to use one of those larger weird size wall warts on it. Now I use one of those 12 inch extensions on the new ones and that has taken care of that problem.

 Here's how the new 1500va battery cover comes off. This is actually the front LCD panel as well. 

 I wanted to get a picture of the type of battery this one uses so that I know in case I need to get those again.

 I also like to check my plugs after things get shipped just to make sure everything is in its place.

 The batteries basically sit on top of each other, or close by not really on the top.

This is what the back of the front cover looks like. You have to be careful not to pinch the ribbon wires. My other 1350va came with the wires pinched so I'm glad I checked it before using it. So now both UPS's are working and now I feel much better that my components are protected. We already had some pretty bad outages in this area and know that they work. I have also tested them myself to be sure and they are.  Now I bought these over time so although it looks like I just got them, I only bought one recently. Hardware is not cheap, so keeping it safe from outages is always a good thing. Now this won't help you in a flood, fire or something worst, but at least you can keep your hardware humming this way. There's nothing worst than frying your new hardware, not to mention corrupted data.

One last note, a UPS is not meant to keep your hardware running for long periods of time. They are there to allow you time to turn things off gracefully. Although depending on what you have plugged into them, they may stay on for a while, also depending on the battery size of each UPS. Some people thing that these are supposed to keep you working until the power is back or something like that. You may be able to work for a bit, but not for long periods of time.