On Dec 14, 10:50, Sellam Ismail wrote:
> On Sat, 14 Dec 2002 pete_at_dunnington.u-net.com wrote:
>
> > I've decided that the "big" UPS which has been sitting in my workshop,
> > unused, for almost a year, really is surplus to requirements, so it's
free
> > to anyone *who can collect it* and feels like replacing the batteries.
> I also have a huge UPS. It's a Sola 5KVa unit. It has sat dormant in my
> data closet for years now. I never got around to buying new batteries
for
> it (too expensive and I don't know if the Sola unit itself has problems
as
> it was arcing at one point).
>
> Is it worth rehabilitating or should I finally just junk it? The bitch
is
> heavy (over 100lbs).
Any reasonable UPS will be heavy, because big batteries are heavy :-)
Whether it's worth doing anything with it depends on whether you need a
high-current or long-duration UPS. That one would allow you to boil the
kettle for a cup of tea (or run the coffeemaker) during those power outages
when there's nothing else you can do :-)
It's not that hard to come by second-hand UPSs, the usual fault being that
the batteries have gone bad (sulphated), and that's usually because people
don't cycle them properly. There's some evidence to suggest that --
providing they've not gone too far -- high current high-frequency pulses
can rejuvenate lead-acid batteries, and there are some circuits around
designed to provide the remedy. I built one, and it seems to work, so long
as the cells have *some* life left. Measure the voltage on each cell. If
it's below 1V, or the cell looks at all swollen or distorted, it's past
redemption.
http://www.shaka.com/~kalepa/desulf.htm
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Sun Dec 15 2002 - 06:29:00 GMT