OT: APC Batteries

[Colin McGregor]

On 7/15/08, Giles Orr <gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> 2008/7/15 James Knott <james.knott-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org>:
>> Ansar Mohammed wrote:
>>> A customer of mine has several APC UPSs that need new batteries that they
>>> are giving away. Is it worth it to source new batteries for these UPSs?
>>
>> A new battery is cheaper than a new UPS, so if it's working fine
>> otherwise,
>> get a new battery.  One source is this place:
>> http://www.magnacharge.com/index.html
>>
>> They're located near near Dixie and Britannia and they take back the old
>> batteries.  There's a link to them from the APC site.
>>
>> BTW, some people find a Yamaha motorcycle battery fits.  While it may fit,
>> it's the wrong battery type for the job and so not a good idea.
>
> I have an older APC BackUPS ES 500 that was down to a functional time
> of about 20 seconds with a computer that wasn't even sucking down much
> power.  A friend of mine found me an identical size battery for $20
> and the UPS is now working fine.  The battery is very easy to change.
> It did look like a motorcycle battery and is, to the best of my
> limited knowledge, a sealed lead-acid battery.  What's the difference
> between that and a motorcycle battery?

With standard motorcycle (or car) batteries, you're looking at a
battery that can deliver a large amount of current for fairly short
periods of time (just long enough to get the vehicle started). A
motorcycle battery will very seldom (if ever) be completely
discharged. With UPS batteries (or batteries for things like electric
golf carts), the battery is designed to be more-or-less completely
discharged on a more-or-less regular basis. I gather the key
difference is that "deep discharge batteries" need to have
tougher/thicker lead plates than "starter batteries".

> Ansar, if you want me to find out where my friend got the battery,
> contact me off-list.  I'm just posting to say "it's easy to do and
> almost certainly worth it."

Well, Above-All Electronics near Bloor and Bathurst carries some small
sealed lead acid batteries, some of which could work with some UPS
(note, anyone who remembers Above-All from say 5+ years ago should
know that they have moved, a handfull of doors west...).

Colin McGregor

> --
> Giles
> http://www.gilesorr.com/
> gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
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