# Newegg has APC BR1500G Back-UPS for $152.99



## A J Ricaud (Jun 25, 2002)

w/ PROMO CODE: APC10 until 8/23

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._p1=&email64=YW5kcmVfcmljYXVkQHlhaG9vLmNvbQ==


----------



## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

FYI, it's $159.99 at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y24DEU

(It was a lightning deal at $129.99 ($50 of $179.99 at the time) back in December 2013, too, just for an idea of how low it can go.)


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

I have a similar sized UPS that is going bad... Has anyone ever replaced the batteries on one of these bad boys with good success?

My feat is always that I will buy the batteries and discover that the electronics in the casing was the bad part, and not the dead batteries...


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

That's way overkill for a UPS driving a Tivo, IMO - the cheapest model with 500-550W is plenty. I've never paid more than $50 for one on sale.


----------



## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

If you are connecting TiVo, modem, router and maybe something else, it might be worth having a UPS with that kind of power.


----------



## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

MikeekiM said:


> I have a similar sized UPS that is going bad... Has anyone ever replaced the batteries on one of these bad boys with good success?
> 
> My feat is always that I will buy the batteries and discover that the electronics in the casing was the bad part, and not the dead batteries...


I have an APC Smart-UPS that is definitely too expensive to be considered a throwaway item, so I've replaced the battery a couple of times over the years. A UPS is similar to a TiVo in that most failures are caused by certain components. In a TiVo hard drives and power supplies are the most likely failure points, and in a UPS batteries tend to wear out after several years. So it could be the electronics, but it's probably the battery. Read the manual, and look for replacement instructions online.


----------



## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

I have 3 of these models, each with the extra battery pack. They've been great -- 2 for almost 3 years now, and the third for about 2 years. I've replaced batteries on a different APC unit about a year ago - one that is probably 6 years old or so - bought them on Amazon, but not from APC, and just reused the existing cabling harness. Each model varies a bit in how the batteries inside are arranged and wired, so pay close attention to ordering correctly if you don't just buy the proper kit from APC (or whomever the manufacturer is for your model).


----------



## wedenton (Jun 13, 2002)

I've had very good experiences with this outfit.

http://www.replaceupsbattery.com/


----------



## convergent (Jan 4, 2007)

MikeekiM said:


> I have a similar sized UPS that is going bad... Has anyone ever replaced the batteries on one of these bad boys with good success?
> 
> My feat is always that I will buy the batteries and discover that the electronics in the casing was the bad part, and not the dead batteries...


I've replaced batteries a few times and its been fine. The most annoying part to me is that I'm impatient. I buy everything through Amazon and none of the battery suppliers seem to use Prime, so you have to wait for a week or so to be shipped.


----------



## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Costco is still the best place I've found to buy a UPS. They have this model CyberPower 1400VA UPS in store for ~$100:

http://www.costco.com/CyberPower-14...ble-Power-Supply-(UPS).product.100215531.html

If you don't have a Costco membership, just find a friend who does and either go with them sometime or use their membership number to buy yourself a Costco Cash Card on their website. Non-members can use them to shop at a Costco store.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

slowbiscuit said:


> That's way overkill for a UPS driving a Tivo, IMO - the cheapest model with 500-550W is plenty. I've never paid more than $50 for one on sale.


Not at all. I use over a dozen of the APC BR1500G models. Most with the extended runtime battery pack(APC BR24BPG).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101435

So depending on the devices connected and the wattage used I can get up to 18 hours of runtime during a power outage. I get around 12 hours with the equipment on the UPSs my TiVos are connected to.

So they can continue to record TV content during an outage. With my main router and FIOS ONT on another UPS I get around 18 hours of runtime for my internet, TV, and phone to stay up and running.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

I've had several APC UPS have the electronics fail when the battery died; I am given to understand this was a common problem. Since learning this I switched over to CyberPower and have had good results.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

ej42137 said:


> I've had several APC UPS have the electronics fail when the battery died; I am given to understand this was a common problem. Since learning this I switched over to CyberPower and have had good results.


I've never run across that issue with the dozens of APC UPSs I've used over the last twenty years. I've just replaced the battery. But I won't typically do more than one battery replacement. One the replacement battery is gone the unit is at least 8 years old. So I will typically get a new unit then.


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> I've never run across that issue with the dozens of APC UPSs I've used over the last twenty years. I've just replaced the battery. But I won't typically do more than one battery replacement. One the replacement battery is gone the unit is at least 8 years old. So I will typically get a new unit then.


Same here, I've never had anything other than the battery fail in an APC unit, and they've always been resurrected by a replacement battery.


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> Not at all. I use over a dozen of the APC BR1500G models. Most with the extended runtime battery pack(APC BR24BPG).
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101435
> 
> ...


And I stand by my opnion that this is overkill. If the power goes out that long, it's usually not going to matter because at some point it will die anyway.

What you want from a good UPS is to ride through the short-term glitches - if you're really needing that much backup get a generator.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

slowbiscuit said:


> And I stand by my opnion that this is overkill. If the power goes out that long, it's usually not going to matter because at some point it will die anyway.
> 
> What you want from a good UPS is to ride through the short-term glitches - if you're really needing that much backup get a generator.


I would love to have a generator. But it is not an option in a condo. If I did have a house I would have a whole home generator. But there is also a reason I have no desire to own a home. I don't want to deal with all the maintenance. So I have all my electronics on UPSs with lot of runtime.

I don't care so much about short term glitches. Its the long runtime I want.


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> I would love to have a generator. But it is not an option in a condo. If I did have a house I would have a whole home generator. But there is also a reason I have no desire to own a home. I don't want to deal with all the maintenance. So I have all my electronics on UPSs with lot of runtime.
> 
> I don't care so much about short term glitches. Its the long runtime I want.


Actually, the UPS is great for protecting equipment from the brownouts and momentary blackouts...

My experience is that either the power goes out and comes right back online... Or it goes out and is unavailable for hours... There's not a lot of in between...

That said, I do have a monster UPS that will keep my TiVos powered for longer than a few minutes... Might be overkill, but it's great protection and allows me to record more of the show during an extended power outage...


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

dianebrat said:


> Same here, I've never had anything other than the battery fail in an APC unit, and they've always been resurrected by a replacement battery.


FWIW I diagnosed a dead battery in my TrippLite 1000 this weekend and ordered a new battery online, $27 and the unit will be as good as new.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

aaronwt said:


> I've never run across that issue with the dozens of APC UPSs I've used over the last twenty years. I've just replaced the battery. But I won't typically do more than one battery replacement. One the replacement battery is gone the unit is at least 8 years old. So I will typically get a new unit then.





dianebrat said:


> Same here, I've never had anything other than the battery fail in an APC unit, and they've always been resurrected by a replacement battery.


I had a few fail, then eventually on the APC support site I discovered it was a known problem in the low-end models. It was supposed to have been triggered by the battery going bad. Perhaps youse replaced your battery in time, perhaps APC has fixed the problem, perhaps youse had models which didn't exhibit the problem, perhaps youse were just lucky. Or maybe I'm just deluded. All I know is that it's very unlikely I'll ever buy another APC product again.


----------



## gespears (Aug 10, 2007)

I'm fortunate in the sense that I live less than a 1/2 mile away from my area's power plant and have only had one power outage in 10 years because of a blown transformer. I have a bunch of surge protection but have never had to buy a UPS. When I did buy UPS systems I did use APC but did run into the "dead after the battery dies" issue on one that was frustrating.


----------



## DocNo (Oct 10, 2001)

tarheelblue32 said:


> Costco is still the best place I've found to buy a UPS. They have this model CyberPower 1400VA UPS in store for ~$100:
> 
> http://www.costco.com/CyberPower-14...ble-Power-Supply-(UPS).product.100215531.html


Yup. Big fan of CyperPower. They are built better than the lower end APC crap too. APC has been coasting on their name for a few years - not a fan of their lower end stuff at all.


----------

