Update: I no longer recommend RefurbUPS.com.
The tldr version is…RefurbUPS.com is awesome and saved me over $80 off buying original manufacturer batteries and over $200 off buying all new UPS units. Read on for the full story.
Several years back I purchased two uninterruptible power supply units (UPS) for my home file-server and firewall. The idea, of course, was to prevent these systems from experiencing temporary power interruptions and potentially causing file corruption in the case of my file-server or just being a nuisance for the firewall. Last year both units died within a month of each other. I couldn’t believe it… I was convinced they had a time trigger to fail after X number of years in a ruse to get customers to spend more money. Not wanting to fall for this, I started looking for alternatives.
A new, comparable UPS would cost approximately $150 (these were high-end models) and I certainly wasn’t excited about buying two. Replacement batteries from the manufacturer would have cost approximately $80 each so I was still looking at roughly $160. I looked around at replacement battery sites and was largely unimpressed. Let’s just say the site design for several sites left me questioning their credibility. I finally found RefurbUPS.com and was sold when I found their instructional video for how to replace the batteries. It wasn’t a complicated procedure but that gave me the warm, fuzzy feeling I was looking for to buy from them. Total price from RefurbUPS.com including shipping was $90.29 for two sets of batteries.
After receiving the replacement batteries I installed them and was dismayed when the UPS started beeping and the Replace Battery LED lit after being turned on. I re-installed them a few times with the same results. I watched the instructional video again, realizing it was hard to mess up a two and a half step process, and was stumped. My one thought was maybe the UPS needed to charge a bit. I left the unit plugged in but turned off overnight and when I checked the next day all was well. The UPS turned on fine, no beeps, and when I hooked it up to my file-server it said it had a full charge.
The UPS have been up and running with the new batteries for a few months now and are holding strong.