Getting A Charge…
Major disappointment on Friday and Saturday…. oooof.
I discovered that the batteries in my UPS units had not been disconnected as I had previously been told, prior to putting them in storage. ARRRRGH!
It’s my own fault for not double checking them, but I was told that they were disconnected. And the units failed to display any indicators when I checked them out. Which they will not display any indicators when the batteries are indeed disconnected.
The units have been sitting in the basement for almost 3 years in a discharged state… instead of a charged stated with the batteries disconnected. So rather than risk a fire or explosion by hooking them up and letting them charge, I need to take them to the local automotive center to have them tested to see if they are sulfated or if they can indeed be brought back to life. (Which I seriously doubt.)
UPS batteries are sometimes able to be replaced with batteries that are used in riding lawnmowers or motorcycles. So… we’ll see if that’s the case with these APC units.
From APC, the replacement batteries are over $300.00. From two different on-line stores, they’re $135.00-220.00/pack… (x 3 packs)… while your typical sealed lawn mower/motorcycle battery is the same price or slightly higher, having a local warranty can offset any small price difference. But, you really do have to look at everything from the warranty to the shipping costs and disposal fees.
Once this battery situation is squared away, I can go forward with hooking up the rest of the server block…. <sigh>
