Use an old SmartUPS 1400 for production server?

[Anonymous user]

Hello all and thanks in advance, Here is my situation.
I have a single production HP ProLiant ML330 G6 server with no UPS running in an old building plagued with power outages. We are a non profit and our IT firm has quoted $900 to purchase and install a new SmartUPS 1500. One of our staff brought in a used SmartUPS 1400 and I wonder if it is worth the time to investigate and try and use it. I'm a data admin with limited sys admin/hardware experience and really need to focus on reporting/SQL. But I don't think we will get the new UPS for months. How do I evaluate the health of the used 1400? Should I buy a new battery and go with it? How do I determine the performance I should expect from the 1400? I really know very little about this. I hope to be able to say, "If the power goes out, this unit will provide N minutes of running time for this one server, after N-5 minutes the server will start a planned and safe shutdown". When I look at the specs for the 1500 it measures Est. Run time by Half Load and Full Load (490 Watts and 980 Watts). Do I determine the Watts of my one server then reference the 1400 specs to determine such a statement above? Any advice welcome.
Best
J

[BillP · Accepted solution]

hello john,

the first thing we should do is find out how old the unit is - can you give us the first few digits off the UPS serial number on the white sticker/barcode on the back of the unit.

as long as we make sure the unit's battery is good and the unit operates properly, there will be no harm in using it. you'll need the serial cable with this unit to connect to your server for use with powerchute business edition or native operating system UPS support. this UPS does not support USB. the other option is using a network management card with the UPS and installing our powerchute network shutdown software. they will communicate over the network versus a serial connection and then you also get all the benefits of a network management card to monitor the UPS (RADIUS, SNMP, web, telnet, FTP, etc). you can do what you said as far as making sure the server gets shut down gracefully before the UPS runs out of battery power.

does the unit turn on when you connect it to AC power? we can see how old the unit is and then you might want to test its operation with a non critical load, a lamp or radio for example. to really test the battery we should put at least 30% load on it if possible and unplug it from the wall to see what it does. also, the load percentage can be estimated from the LED bar graph on the left hand side of the display.

do you know - was it sitting in storage with the battery connected? if so, for how long? if the battery was replaced, it might also have a serial # or marking indicating age if it is an APC battery.

hope that helps get you started.