Offtopic: Question about UPS's

[dsr-mzpnVDyJpH4k7aNtvndDlA at public.gmane.org (Dan Ritter)]

On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 10:17:13AM -0500, Matt Shields wrote:
> Are there any UPS experts out there?
> 
> About a year ago I purchased 6 x APC SmartUPS 3000's thinking I was going to
> be expanding my office server room (already have 6 in use), turns out I
> didn't need them.  If they've been sitting on a shelf since then, will they
> still work and are the batteries still good?  The only way I can test them
> is to unplug one of my active UPS's, but because I only have 6 NEMA L5-30P
> connectors in my server room I can't test them.

They should be in approximately the same state as when you
bought them: if the controllers were good then, they'll be good
now, and if the batteries were good then, they are only slightly
less likely to be good now.

You can test them by buying an adapter -- L5-30P is for 120V AC, same
as what comes out of your standard wall plug, but guaranteed to carry
30A instead of the 15 or 20 that your wall is safe for. An adapter will
run under $15. Connect a small load -- say, a 100W lamp -- to the UPS,
and fire it up.

-dsr-

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