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Re: APC Matrix 5000 question(s)

  • From: Warren Kumari
  • Date: Thu Jul 27 17:15:28 2006

On Jul 27, 2006, at 12:25 PM, Robert E.Seastrom wrote:



[email protected] writes:

I've had this APC Matrix 5000 with 3 XR battery packs for almost 6 years 

As others on the list have noted, your batteries are almost certainly
ready to head off to the battery recycler.

In terms of what to put inside the XR packs, they're Group 24 AGM
batteries, 12v, 75 AH, and if my recollection is correct they have lug
style terminals not threaded studs like a marine battery (verify
before you buy).  Others (hi, Steve) have reported success with the
PRC-1290S.  If you are handy enough with a wrench to change the
battery in your car, you can change the batteries in the UPS too
(powered off, of course).

[non-operational anecdote AKA: Looking for any excuse to avoid writing documentation]
Be careful when doing this...

A few years ago I was working for a company that had a small enterprise datacenter. We ran out of space and so got a new, better space made and then started migrating into the new space. We shut down the UPS in the old space, pulled all the batteries (so we could move it) and moved all the bits on a pallet-jack to the new space. I showed someone how to hook up a battery and slid it into the bay closest to the ground (no fool I!), then let him get on with reinstalling the rest of the batteries while I cabled up the network gear.

After a while I hear some cursing and turn around -- he has managed to get the one of the sets of DC cables between the battery casing and the sheet metal and is sitting on the floor trying to force the battery in with his feet! Before I can say anything he pushed really hard and the sheet metal casing slices through the insulation, shorting out the battery.... I never did figure out how much current the battery could supply into a direct short (a good car battery can supply 1000 CCA), but it was enough to vaporize a chunk of metal around 8" x 8" from the side of the UPS, blow a large piece of plastic out of the side of the battery and warp the plates....


Also from the same place:
Pointy Haired Boss type reads an article in NetworkWorld on physical security and hires some consultant who comes in and sells some really expensive proximity card reader system. They install the PC that runs the whole system (running Windows 98!) inside the new datacenter space -- entry to with is protected by, you guessed it, the proximity card system.....

After a few months, the proximity card machine locks up... Of course, by then no-one can find the keys to the lock on the door ("Why would we keep that? There is a proximity card reader on that door.."). Apparently there was an option for a master card, but it was "too expensive"....

There are countless more similar stories from this particular place....
W


You can get these from your local industrial battery supplier (in the
yellow pages under "batteries").  If you have them shipped to you,
you'll earn the emnity of your UPS man (no pun intended) since their
shipping weight exceeds 60 lbs and you need a bunch of them.  If
you're an amateur radio operator be sure to mention this to the guy at
the battery store; a lot of the proprietors seem to be hams and since
hams are big battery users they'll often give fellow hams a discount.

---rob



--
Never criticize a man till you've walked a mile in his shoes. Then if he didn't like what you've said, he's a mile away and barefoot.