Help me buy a line conditioner/UPS.

[TechJunky]

I am looking for an inexpensive but reliable UPS with built in line conditioner... The ones I normally buy are $300 but I don't have that big of a budget.

I am looking to spend around $100 for the larger unit and $75 for the smaller unit. It has to have a line conditioner feature built in. So far I am leaning towards the Cyberpower Intelligent LCD Series...

I need a small one for a NAS that pulls 200W and I need a larger one that will support a Mac Pro (The desktop macintosh, not the macbook pro).

Let me know what your running.... This area of town has dirty and unreliable power.

 

[NiHaoMike]

Find some used rackmount units and replace the batteries.

 

[RecycledElectro]

HiHaoMike has a good point, though I prefer the "tower" designs over the rackmount designs.

CraigsList is full of used APC Smart-UPS units. I love the Smart-UPS 1500, as it is the biggest APC Smart-UPS that uses a "regular" 120V AC plug. Smaller units will work. Avoid the APC Back-UPS units. They are junk.

If You need to replace the batteries, just buy the SLA batteries. Do not buy the APC "replacement cartridge" as this is overpriced, and includes an adapter You already have to plug the batteries into the UPS.

There are videos on YouTube about how to replace the batteries.

A good source for batteries is any local shop that is price competitive when the ship the batteries, but that will be happy to not charge You shipping if You pick them up.

Sometimes, just one battery is weak, so the UPS flashes its "REPLACE BATTERY" warning. If You replace one battery (out of 2 or 4) the UPS will last a few months before needing new batteries. If You replace them all at once, with new replacements, it will be years before You have to replace them again. The life of batteries also depends on how heavily You load the UPS. Heavily loaded units abuse the batteries.

A good APC Smart-UPS will last longer than Your lifetime; just replace the batteries every few years.

I have had bad luck with every other brand of UPS.

--Andy

 

[NiHaoMike]

Do not replace just one battery module when there are multiple in series as you'll get charge imbalance which would shorten the life of all the batteries. Also, if one failed, the rest are likely not far behind.

 

[RecycledElectro]

Do not replace just one battery module when there are multiple in series as you'll get charge imbalance which would shorten the life of all the batteries. Also, if one failed, the rest are likely not far behind.

I think that's what I said.

 

[larrymoencurly]

Do you really need a line conditioner, or would just a line filter do?