dual battery APC UPS $50 shipped on ebay

V

vibe

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 27, 2005
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This is a reasonably good price on a dual battery UPS which has longer runtimes or higher load capacity

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351083233277

it uses two RBC2 batteries which are the most cost effective

note even if the unit is new, I bet those batteries are a couple years old by now with old stock, and sealed lead acid don't do well with voltage drop for long periods of time

I like the voltage boost ability, hopefully it is modern AVR that does not use the battery and only the transformer inside
 
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So you'll toss batteries into it and now it is a $100 unit and you got the old batteries to dispose of. If it was a larger unit, it might be worth it.
 
You could get something like a SU1000NET or maybe SU1400NET - or even better if you're reasonably lucky - for that price.
 
sc0tty8 said:
So you'll toss batteries into it and now it is a $100 unit and you got the old batteries to dispose of. If it was a larger unit, it might be worth it.
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two rbc2 batteries are $30 shipped

but I think these batteries won't be useless, just not five year or even three year batteries unless they came off the assembly line last year, maybe two years?
 
Why would the telephone and network protection be disabled on these?
 
We got a few battery stores in town that sell UPS batteries cheap. If the old batteries were crapped out, no problem, they require a core return to avoid the core fee here anyways. They keep these batteries in stock.
 
Would've been a great deal if the batteries weren't close to expiring.
 
beowulf7 said:
Would've been a great deal if the batteries weren't close to expiring.
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There is a big thread on this on slickdeals and the people who have ordered these in the past say the batteries are from 2013 ?

Not sure if I am allowed to link there but the quote is:

the 42 we purchases have manufacturing dates of Feb 2013-July 2013
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So that would not be bad.
 
the funniest part about this is that it says

"Limited quantity available"

but there are already 814 sold (was 600 the other day when I looked)

I dunno, if the batteries are from 2013 this is not a bad deal.

But today's electronics are so low power I would rather have a bunch of low watt ups that are cheap around the place, which is what I do now.

Years ago there was a rare combo of deals that made the APC 350VA (200watt) unit just $15 http://www.staples.com/APC-Back-UPS-ES-350VA-6-Outlet-Power-Saving-UPS/product_733724 - I bought a bunch of them. They only have a half sized RBC2 battery inside, like 3 amp, but the compartment for the battery just uses a plastic tray that can be broken out to hold the full RBC2 battery which is what I did. So now they have long run time, even with cheap RBC2 batteries. I only wish I had bought more.
 
vibe said:
There is a big thread on this on slickdeals and the people who have ordered these in the past say the batteries are from 2013 ?

Not sure if I am allowed to link there but the quote is:



So that would not be bad.
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True, about a year old, but the Wiki of that thread on SD also said to beware of the expiring battery. I think it's a case of "YMMV".
 
I have one I bought new several years ago. It's on the third set of batteries and has always worked great. They are stepped sine wave when on battery if that matters to you.
 
Or ya know.. you could scrap the old batteries and makes some money back. Hell 2 miles from me I can get 30 cents a pound on batteries.
 
bigdaveberg said:
Or ya know.. you could scrap the old batteries and makes some money back. Hell 2 miles from me I can get 30 cents a pound on batteries.
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I have two dozen dead RBC2 I have been saving for this but I cannot figure out where to get paid to recycle them.

I assume you are in a bigger city, mine is too small.
 
Buying batteries online is a gamble, many places like Amazon won't let you return them because they are classified as hazardous.
I have a place local called batteries plus, they are around the country and sell various brands of UPS batteries.
I bought an AGM battery to replace my original APC, it works great, it was much cheaper and they took my old battery.
The AGM actually has a bit higher amp hour too.
 
ep0x73 said:
Buying batteries online is a gamble, many places like Amazon won't let you return them because they are classified as hazardous.
I have a place local called batteries plus, they are around the country and sell various brands of UPS batteries.
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A local b&m? How many times more than $15 did you pay?

The markup on lead-acid batteries at some places is crazy.
 
Does this thing beep continuously when the power's down? (or voltage low) If so, any way to shut that off?

I do need something for those occasional brownouts in the summer, but if it's going to remind me how helpful it's being every 15 seconds.....
 
vibe said:
A local b&m? How many times more than $15 did you pay?

The markup on lead-acid batteries at some places is crazy.
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Where are you getting APC branded batteries for $15?

The APC2 @ Amazon is 35.50.

I bought a 8 amp hour AGM for that same price local and had it been a dud I could return it. Try shipping a battery back in the mail, many places won't even allow you or except it and if they do and it's on your dime due to weight expect to pay $15-20.

It's not always worth the savings.
 
Not APC branded. I've yet to buy a non-brand SLA that didn't last 3 years.

The trick is not to buy the absolute cheapest.models.

Note I have not bought a battery in a couple years, I suspect the price has kept climbing

Here is an example, these guys have been around a decade and they do their own batteries:

http://www.gruberpower.com/rbc2-battery

I think you can find it cheaper on fleabay from them too.

Hmm well same price but I've seen sales:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RBC2-BATTERY-FOR-APC-BK300-BK300C-BK300I-BK300MI-BK300X-/200962020144
 
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They are all made in China, even APC but they probably have better quality control.

I just got a notice from my APC pro my battery is 3 years old and to replace. It passes if I run the diagnostic on it so it must still be kicking.
 
1200 sold? whoa

btw, the latest people getting units on slickdeals say they were made 2012, so batteries getting old
 
I've had 2 APC UPS units and the electronics went bad with both before the battery needed to be replaced.
 
This was my first UPS and it seems that the battery might be bad. Well the red light started coming on even though it seems to work fine. Would you return the unit to the EBAY seller or would you replace the battery? I haven't contacted the seller yet. Naturally I would have to pay return shipping on it.
 
cageymaru said:
This was my first UPS and it seems that the battery might be bad. Well the red light started coming on even though it seems to work fine.
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I had one of these UPS units behaving in a similar fashion. Is the red light coming on solid, or is it flashing on and off?
 
Not quite sure as it does it sparingly. It only did it today, but it kept making some alarm sound while doing it. It is under my desk so I just glanced and saw the red light. After looking at the diagrams on the box, I see that it is supposed to be a code of sorts. Those diagrams are so small it took me an hour to decipher them.

I have this awful smell in my room. It is not like a car battery where it smells like rotten eggs. It is more like I am smelling acrid smoke maybe? I don't see smoke. After disconnecting the UPS it stopped completely. Plugging the unit back in and everything was fine until I woke up this morning and smelled it again. I took the batteries out of the thing and smelled them. There is a slight scent of the smell on them in the middle where they clamp together on one end. The power cable that plugs the battery pack into the unit has a much more pronounced smell than the batteries, but not sure if it's the same smell. Didn't see any corrosion or signs of a loose connection. Every time the red light came on yesterday the smell got worse. That's why I made the post.

The unit gets slightly warm. My cellphone get much warmer than the UPS. No leaks or anything around the unit. Hope that helps explain the problem some. If it does the red light again I'll make sure to note if it is blinking or a continuous light.

Wonder what return shipping is on the unit? Is it cheaper to just buy a replacement battery or ship it back?
 
If your UPS is making smells, disconnect it immediately.

Either the batteries are bad and the charger is making them vent fumes, or the charging electronics itself are bad and doing something bad to the batteries.

You could start a fire when you aren't around or poison yourself, disconnect it, tell the vendor.
 
^ Sorry to hear about your UPS issue. :( That's the risk one takes when buying these very old UPSs. : \
 
I just want to chime in and say that APC has great customer service.
I first dealt with them in 2008. My friends' APC Back-UPS Pro stopped working one day and she gave it to me. It was probably 4-5 years old.
this one had a strange issue, it would turn on, beep, and turn off. When I tried to take the batteries out, they were stuck. They had swelled badly.
I emailed APC to see if there was a way to test the UPS before I buy new batteries for it since it would still beep and turn off with no batteries in it, and I told them the batteries had swollen really bad.

They emailed me back asking for the serial number, I emailed them the info and the image of the swollen batteries.
they emailed me back asking for shipping info and said they would ship me a new Back-UPS RS-1200.
2 days later I had a brand new RS-1200.
3 years ago the RS-1200 had battery issues and would randomly shut down, and the last time it did it my network switch died. I asked APC about it and told them about the switch dying.
they went ahead and sent me a new UPS, another 1200 model but the black one with the LCD screen on it, as well as a claims form for the switch and anything else that was damaged.
I opted not to go through with the claim since the switch was only $30 or so and shipping the RS-1200 would have cost more to ship.
I just bought new inexpensive batteries for the RS-1200 and use it on my Zune and Desk lamp so I have light and tunes if the power goes out from a Hurricane.

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....assuming you didn't buy yours from old stock/refurb on ebay. i can't imagine they'd honor that.
 
venm11 said:
....assuming you didn't buy yours from old stock/refurb on ebay. i can't imagine they'd honor that.
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I didn't even buy it, it was given to me. they didn't ask me for an invoice or anything.
 
I also have had very positive experiences with APC ups units. I have four now. Three old hand me downs from work and this one I bought from this thread. The three old ones simply needed new batteries and are chugging along perfectly so I have very high hopes for this one. I have tried nearly every other brand as well. Tripp light is the worst. They are garbage. Cyber power is a very very distant second.
 
venm11 said:
Does this thing beep continuously when the power's down? (or voltage low) If so, any way to shut that off? I do need something for those occasional brownouts in the summer, but if it's going to remind me how helpful it's being every 15 seconds.....
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My 1500 beeps whenever it's running on battery. It also has light codes, so I guess you could look inside and either cover/fill up with putty or even rip out the little beeper speaker to diminish or rid of the sound entirely, after all, when the power goes out, everything else (lights, tv, clock, etc.) usually tells you it's out, and the blinking leds will tell you what's going on too. IIRC, intermittant beeping means power problem, long continuous means dead batteries, once alarm is going you can silence by pushing the button once, and holding it turns it off. When power is off, you can even use it by holding the button in until it starts beeping and then let go. APC website has manuals for all the UPSs. Ah, here: http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/ASTE-6Z7V3J/ASTE-6Z7V3J_R0_EN.pdf

and

http://pdf2.datasheet.su/american%20power%20conversion%20(apc)/br800blk.pdf

If the power is off for a while, keep the UPS off (by holding the power button until it turns itself off. Then you can 'cold start' it (no power from utility, house line is off) by doing this: When the UPS is “Off” and there is no utility
power, it is possible to cold start the UPS to
power the loads from the UPS’s battery.
• Press and hold the On/Off/Test button
until the UPS begins beeping.
• Release the On/Off/Test button during the
beeping to start the UPS.

This way you can periodically turn everything on to do a little work as long as you have phone line/internet connection (you'll have to plug whatever stuff that relies on house current into your UPS too to get everything working). The few times I've had extended power outages, I used my laptop and only fired up the internet connection, and charged my laptop batteries at work. The router and modem didn't use much juice so even after five days the UPS still had enough left to power them. Just don't forget to turn everything off when you're done or the batteries will die.
FWIW, when I came home one day and the UPS was just emitting a long tone, it was after the batteries were completely dead. After I replaced them, it worked again. The UPS won't work at all with a completely dead battery attached to it that can't be charged, you'll think the UPS is dead too, because even if you plug it in, it will just emit that constant tone and appear dead.
 
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