Buy new ups or change batteries

[kapalik]

Hello friends,

 

I just joined this forum and good to connect with you all. I bought a 650 VA Prolink UPS about 18 months back. Now it can no longer give sufficient backup to my pc. Previously it could give at least 2-3 minutes backup where I could save data and shutdown my pc when there is power failure in my place. In my area there are several power failures during hot and summer conditions. Sometimes, 4-6 times power failures a day each consisting 1 hour of load shedding. Now my ups stops within 1-2 seconds after power failure. This has been happening for a few days. I am failing to save data and properly shutdown my pc.

 

Should I buy a new ups or replace the battery? All kinds of suggestions are appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

[sted]

in my experience if you replace the batteries something in the chassis dies within the next 6 months or so. So replace the lot

[hallb15]

I've only ever needed to swap the batteries, I've never had a UPS itself fail. I don't have any experience of Prolink UPSs though. I always use APC or Eaton (MGE) at a push.

I've bought replacement batteries from Uninterruptible Power Supply | Standby Power | UPS Battery | Critical Power Supplies but I just had a quick look and didn't see anything listed for ProLink. Where abouts are you in the world?

Also, 18 months doesn't seem like very long to me. What warranty did you get with the UPS?

[synaesthesia]

From experience, if it's a decent UPS (such as APC) then replacement batteries would do fine. If it was a cheap UPS, I'd replace the whole thing, ideally with an APC, and I'd also replace it if it was a particular old APC. We've just put new batteries in some rather old APC units and are working wonderfully. 750 units should keep a couple of servers up for plenty of time - a rundown test I did ages ago gave us nearly 40 minutes.

[kapalik]

I've only ever needed to swap the batteries, I've never had a UPS itself fail. I don't have any experience of Prolink UPSs though. I always use APC or Eaton (MGE) at a push.

I've bought replacement batteries from Uninterruptible Power Supply | Standby Power | UPS Battery | Critical Power Supplies but I just had a quick look and didn't see anything listed for ProLink. Where abouts are you in the world?

Also, 18 months doesn't seem like very long to me. What warranty did you get with the UPS?

 

I live in Dhaka, Bangladesh. I got 1 year warranty which is now void. I could use 6 months more than the time of warranty being void. APC UPS is very costly in my place; at least 3 times more than prolink ups with 650 VA specification for both. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Edited September 18, 2013 by kapalik

[kapalik]

From experience, if it's a decent UPS (such as APC) then replacement batteries would do fine. If it was a cheap UPS, I'd replace the whole thing, ideally with an APC, and I'd also replace it if it was a particular old APC. We've just put new batteries in some rather old APC units and are working wonderfully. 750 units should keep a couple of servers up for plenty of time - a rundown test I did ages ago gave us nearly 40 minutes.

 

Prolink UPS is 3 times less cheaper than APC UPS in my place. Cannot really afford currently. How many years a APC UPS 650 VA will give full backup before failure in your experience? Thanks for your suggestion anyway.

[glennda]

From experience, if it's a decent UPS (such as APC) then replacement batteries would do fine. If it was a cheap UPS, I'd replace the whole thing, ideally with an APC, and I'd also replace it if it was a particular old APC. We've just put new batteries in some rather old APC units and are working wonderfully. 750 units should keep a couple of servers up for plenty of time - a rundown test I did ages ago gave us nearly 40 minutes.

 

Decent and APC should not be used in the same sentence!!

 

IMHO - depends on if its cost effective, if its going to cost £80 for new batteries and £100 for new one, then go new. If its £10 for batteries and £100 new then go batteries.

 

A UPS shouldn't die after you have replaced the batteries!

[kapalik]

Decent and APC should not be used in the same sentence!!

 

IMHO - depends on if its cost effective, if its going to cost £80 for new batteries and £100 for new one, then go new. If its £10 for batteries and £100 new then go batteries.

 

A UPS shouldn't die after you have replaced the batteries!

 

Thanks for your suggestion.