Plexus UPS

[LeMarchand]

The battery on our APC Smart 1500 has died. Whilst researching replacement costs, I noticed that a completely new UPS could be had for a fraction of the cost of an APC battery. I contacted the LEA who said that they don't normally replace batteries, and replace the whole unit - recommending that we get one of at least 750VA (it attaches to one Poweredge server and an Avantis CD Server, the latter not being critical). Missing the point that I'm trying to save some money, their recommended (APC) replacement costs more than double the price of a new battery!

 

So, has anyone got any experience of Plexus? It's £20 for a 1000VA UPS.

 

Or should I not be so tight and get a replacement battery?

[OutToLunch]

As a simple home UPS, it has no facility on it that I can see to connect it to your servers USB/serial to enable a safe shutdown. It's just going to run for another 5 mins then pop off anyway!

 

There's nothing wrong with cheaper UPSs imho, but you do need to by the right one for the job. Replaced an aging APC unit with a Belkin one here and quite happy with that although I recall other members with horror stories!

[LeMarchand]

See, I knew someone would pick up on something that I'd missed! Cheers!

 

Anyone got any thoughts on the £50 one with USB?

[Michael]

I have to say that's a stupid response from your LA. They don't replace batteries? Not exactly very green or budget friendly.

 

If a car fails to start because of battery failure, do they replace the whole car? If a power supply fails, they replace the whole server?

 

I think all sites I visit they use APC and they are very reliable. I suggest you lookup reviews for alternative manufacturers.

[OutToLunch]

Although there's nothing wrong with Plexus (I buy their branded stuff all the time for home jobs, cheap cables and accessories etc) I would personally just spend the £100 on the correct APC battery.

 

APC RBC7 Replacement Battery Cartridge - Ebuyer

 

Having a look at the specs for the Smart 1500, it's in a different league to the Plexus, even if it does have a shiny display on the front

[SYNACK]

It really bears very little comparison to the higher spec APC product, the cheaper one provides basic voltage leveling and surge protection along with a little extra runtime to shut everything down. It is not fully line interactive and will not filter the voltage as well as the more expencive unit. The APC one - in the 750VA range - will also power the stations for longer as the battery is bigger.

 

APC Smart-UPS 750VA USB & Serial 230V

 

The thing with cheaper UPSs is that they are rather inefficient power wise and will burn up a lot of extra power making heat and stepping the voltage. They also often have much longer battery recharge times and almost never have hotswapable batteries meaning you need to power everything don to replace the batteries.

 

There is also the responce time to take into consideration, the other unit takes 6ms to do anything meaning that at least a proportion of any surge is going to get through verses the zero clamping time offered by the more sophisticated unit.

 

If the servers are low priority and have workstation-like expendibility then the cheaper unit is probably fine but the two solutions are in completely different leagues. Depending on how old the APC one is it is almost definiately worth replacing the battery rather than degrading your level of protection by going with the cheaper unit.

[Butuz]

I might use a Plexus for home but I wouldn't trust one on any of my work servers!

 

Butuz

[LeMarchand]

Thanks for all the comments, folks - looks like it's going to be a replacement battery!