[Discuss] APC repair/replacement

[Richard James]

On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 09:35:23 -0700 (PDT), Alan W. Irwin wrote:

>After 10 years of excellent service my APC Back-UPS 450 has suddenly stopped
>working;

If those are the original batteries, that's really good...

APC has a replacement program, they ship a new one, you return the old
to them. It is quite a saving.

I assume your unit has a serial connx, not USB, new models may not have
serial ports. If your system does not support USB, you might be better
off with just replacing the batteries (Assuming the power capacity is
adequate).

>computer never went down due to power
>glitches, but now it goes down for all of them for the same or even slightly
>less (with switch and cable modem removed) load.

How often do you get power glitches? I've only been on battery once
since March 22, that was May 5 for 4 seconds.... (Mar 22 was when I
upgraded my system, I could check the log on the old machine.... but
it's very infrequent here...)


> I suspect all that I need
>is a replacement battery.  However, refurbished units are not that much higher
>than the battery cost 

Possibly, but UPS's have "damageable" parts.. after so many hits, they
degrade and are no longer as effective (don't have the tech info,I'm
not anelectronics guy...)

>Of course, the downside of non-local companies is shipping charges
>(which I assume are fairly substantial for such a heavy item) and having
>to find a place to recycle the old battery or entire APC unit in town.  

See above, IIRC APC paid shipping (ie included in the price...)


Richard James,
>From an Island in the Pacific,
Victoria, BC