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Found out 90% of my UPS batteries were actually junk from 2018
I was checking logs on a server rack at a law firm in Austin last week and noticed the runtime tests kept failing... Turns out 8 out of 12 APC units had batteries that expired over 4 years ago. Nobody had ever looked at the date codes on the stickers. Have you guys found any hidden time bombs in client gear that were just sitting there waiting to fail?
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robinwalker26d ago
That bit about 'hidden time bombs' really hits home for me. I remember walking into a dental office last year and finding their sole backup server had a UPS battery ballooning so bad it was literally pushing the front cover off. What specific things in your logs made you finally dig into the battery dates, or was it just random curiosity that saved the day? Because I wonder how many other racks out there have that same 2018 sticker someone just never bothered to peel off and look at.
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the_nancy26d ago
What if the bigger issue isn't old batteries but the fact that most people treat UPS units as "set it and forget it" appliances instead of maintenance items? A battery that's physically swelling is already past the warning stage, and the real ticking bomb is the lack of routine checks on units that are silently degrading in closets and basements. Probably more racks have batteries from 2016 than 2018 just because nobody looks past that sticker to see if the thing's even holding a charge anymore.
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