If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #1497
Joined: Thu May 22 2008, 05:24AM
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 801
Well, for some reason me and some friends have a horrid track record with APC ups's, I have 2x 350VA and 2x 500VA UPS's which I'm salvaging and I'm wondering what I can do with some of the parts....
I have a whole smackload of IRF640s, IRFZ48's, MOV's and PTCs (thermistors that heat up to regulate current), random caps and a few other bits like heatsinks and circuit breakers. A ton of SMD IC's such as logic chips and other waste,
The 350VA models have strange transformers which I have yet to figure out, and both models have SMPS transformers which I don't know how to use....
Any thoughts on what to do with the various transformers and bits?
And even *earlier* I salvaged a old busted amplifier (ok sure there was one bit busted, the monolithic amp chip, but its so old that the parts are worth more than the chip to repair it :/) giving me a ton of various caps and a dual 30VAC transformer.
Registered Member #1408
Joined: Fri Mar 21 2008, 03:49PM
Location: Oracle, AZ
Posts: 679
Personally I wouldn't tear them all down or at least keep track of what you've got. Many models have a decent inverter that could be the key to other projects, as is. Often (just from my experience) it's the battery that goes. The circuitry is often fine or the charging system is not up to the task.
Registered Member #1497
Joined: Thu May 22 2008, 05:24AM
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 801
I already took one of each apart, I could save the other two for their inverters and make my own battery bank. The only bad thing I heard about doing this is that the charger isn't up to the large load and thinks its a dead short by the end of it.
Registered Member #538
Joined: Sun Feb 18 2007, 08:33PM
Location: Finland
Posts: 181
In like 90% of the cases the "broken" UPSs just have a bad battery, by replacing the battery (wont cost much because the batteries are standard lead acid gel batteries) you have a pretty much brand spanking new UPS.
Registered Member #1408
Joined: Fri Mar 21 2008, 03:49PM
Location: Oracle, AZ
Posts: 679
This is a good example of why I would want more (better) and more test equipment - - yea!
When it's active you may be able to determine what are the limitations. Thinking wildly, I would imagine that design limitations are that it's made for a shutdown so the whole design is not up to long term output. Shouldn't that be correctable?
Registered Member #1497
Joined: Thu May 22 2008, 05:24AM
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 801
I checked the prices of the replacement batteries and at about $60, compared to the $70 I paid for the UPS.... it seems like a counter-intuitive way to spend money.
Registered Member #1484
Joined: Wed May 14 2008, 03:24PM
Location: Cary, NC, USA
Posts: 27
For the lower end PC / home office UPS systems it really isn't worth it to replace the battery, you can just wait for Staples/Best Buy/etc to have a similar model on sale and obtain a brand new replacement at lower cost than the battery.
A bit off topic, but it makes much more sense to replace the batteries in some of the larger 240V or rackmount models. In my experience these are much more reliable than the home office models, and additionally can offer hours of runtime for a small home office on a fresh battery. I'd recommend shopping for one of these at your local surplus outlets if you need a reliable UPS.
Registered Member #1497
Joined: Thu May 22 2008, 05:24AM
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 801
Oh these ones are older ones, the 500VA replaced the 350VA when it kicked the bucket, and my 750VA one (current) replaced the 500VA when it kicked the bucket.
I finally got fed up of seeing a pile of UPS's sit around unused, the inverters inside can be useful since it has the auto-switch circuitry. I can always strap a conventional lead acid onto it (or more sanely, an AGM battery).
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
UPS Salvaging
-