I’m running a rather small homelab and am hunting for a good UPS to help keep everything running smoothly. My top priorities are:

  • Just enough battery life to keep things running until they can be shut down
  • Compatible with open source software for monitoring and automated shutdown

Would I have better luck getting a used one and a new battery, or a brand new unit altogether? Anyone have one they don’t need anymore, on that note? 👀

Thanks for the advice!

  • hank_and_deansEnglish
    5·
    3 days ago

    I have dealt with a lot of units over the years, both consumer and professional. I have had more non-battery issues with APC ones than the Cyberpower ones, especially with the rack mount units.

    For batteries they all have a lifetime, so I don’t trash a brand simply because the battery dies. That will happen to any UPS battery. However it is well known that APC floats the batteries too high resulting in slightly more runtime at the expense of battery longevity. I have replaced more APC batteries as a result.

    All of that said, at the consumer level I just tell people to go buy whichever one is on sale at that moment since at least one of them usually is.

    • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      Despite your odd luck with batteries, CyberPower has an issue that disqualifies it from use personally or professionally for me, which is that if there’s a problem with the battery, which there too often is, a CyberPower will cut power to the entire unit, even if it’s still receiving power from the wall outlet.

      With an APC, at least if the battery dies your devices stay on.