[ale] OT: UPS

[Mike Harrison]

> My APC UPSes never die.  My oldest one is about 9 years old (on its
> second battery and probably due for a third one, available at Batteries
> Plus).
> 
> My house was hit with a lightning surge that fried some electronics that
> was NOT behind APC UPSes or Surge Protectors.  None of the equipment
> behind the APC equipment has been damaged.
> 

Twice in my life I've walked in my NOC (I used to own a regional ISP) 
to find a large expensive rack mount APC UPS spewing smoke and cycling on 
and off every couple of seconds. The second one got hurled from the 
loading dock and received last rites from several .45 slugs, just 
as the fire engines pulled up. It made me feel better, thet laughed once
they realized I was shooting at the UPS and not a person. The cops
were not so amused. The next week we replaced -all- of the APC UPS's.

We played with what we had, and at the time the "Best" brand UPS's were
incredible.. and we bought more of them.