[Techtalk] Re: UPSes (how _do_ you spell that?..)

[Conor Daly]

On Mon, Oct 21, 2002 at 03:16:06AM +0100 or so it is rumoured hereabouts, 
Maria Blackmore thought:
> On Sun, 20 Oct 2002, Telsa Gwynne wrote:
> 
> > I don't know anyone in Britain who resorts to a UPS for domestic
> > use.
> 
> *ahem*
> 
> > Of course, I await someone on the lists now to correct me on
> > this...
> 
> *maria whistles innocently
> 
> *maria looks at the large, incredibly heavy 2 kVA[1] Merlin Gerin UPS by
> her desk
> 
> I *am* normal, honest.
 
Yeah, right...

> > Oh. One last thing -- like any piece of heavy-duty electrical
> > equipment, UPSes are heavy. Really seriously heavy. If you think 
> > to save money by hunting on EBay, find out the weight and how 
> > much shipping will be before you place a bid :)
> 
> Or find someone with a car and make sure whoever you buy it from is in
> the same country :)
> 
> The thing is, about lead acid batteries, the main thing, that is.  Is that
> lead acid batteries contain lead, which is .. well .. dense.  so it's
> like, heavy, like, man.

The other thing about lead-acid batteries is that they need TLC.  My car
is currently (well, we _are_ talking electricity here...) using a flakey
battery that was drained to the very last erg when I had to drive across
Wales and England on a Sunday night in the rain with a failed alternator.
In the 18 hours that the battery remained discharged (before a recharge),
the plates became sulphated and thus lost significant capacity[0].  If you
buy a secondhand UPS, it could be worth assuming that the actual batteries
are defunct and that you are buying only the case, inverter, controller
and that you'll need to replace the batteries.

Conor (who hasn't got one)

[0] Lead sulphate being a good insulator
-- 
Conor Daly <conor.daly at oceanfree.net>

Domestic Sysadmin :-)
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