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Boden
Asked: 2010-08-04 10:48:13 +0800 CST

Buying a Refurbished UPS?

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I have a 10 year old APC Smart-UPS XL with battery pack, and need new batteries. Looks like I'll be spending $500-700 in batteries.

While shopping around, I noticed a few places selling refurbished UPSes with brand new batteries for pretty good prices. In fact, I could get a more current model with more features for about the same price as replacing the batteries in my existing UPS.

I'm a little bit nervous about buying a refurbished UPS, because I'm not really sure what any particular company means by "refurbished". Who refurbished it? Can I trust that it'll provide factory-spec power protection? Etc. I understand that I won't get a factory warranty or "insurance".

Does anyone have any experience or advice in this matter?

battery ups

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    If your current UPS systems meet your requirements I would just replace the battery: Replacing the UPS systems is a project, and will almost certainly require an outage window. The potential for trouble is high enough that it is something I would avoid.

    Re: purchasing refurbished UPS systems, many commercial UPS systems are sold refurbished (Emerson-Liebert units are often refurb'd and sold by authorized agents, and they come with Emerson service contracts). As long as the company selling the units is reputable and they come with manufacturer service I would have no issues purchasing a refurbished system.

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  2. Depending on the company, I don't think I would have an issue. If the batteries are new, go for it. I've seen ancient UPS boxes that only needed new batteries to keep on ticking. Especially if they are APC, those things don't die. Also, I just replaced the battery on my SU1500, and it was a hot-swap affair. No downtime required.

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  3. Unless you need a new form factor, just replace your batteries.

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