Anybody want dead UPS?

[Jim Hickstein]

> You won't beat going to the foothill flea market. You can find UPS
> batteries for 10 to 30 dollars a piece depending on size and condition

Not to cast aspersions, but I bought a "reconditioned" APC UPS from a local 
warehouse-type surplus outfit, who swore up and down the batteries were 
"new", and indeed they appeared to have been replaced recently.  It was 
toast within a week.  I then bought, from a national distributor at some 
little cost, the actual APC ChargeUPS replacement kit (CURK12 in my case), 
which also _added a 2-year warranty on the entire UPS_, and free return 
freight on the dead batteries.

About 15 months later, I claimed against this warranty due to 
over-temperature conditions in my old co-lo (50C(!), since corrected), and 
the whole thing paid for itself nicely.  It came by FedEx Priority 
Overnight -- a thing weighing over a hundred pounds! -- and again came with 
a label for sent-paid return freight for the whole unit.  I was well 
pleased.  And I am since very skeptical about lead-acid batteries of 
unknown provnenance.

If you care a lot about the availability of what's connected to it, and can 
afford the cash flow hit, consider the actual APC part number for the kit. 
It will also have the little cables and connectors just so, etc.