[Discuss] APC repair/replacement

[Alan W. Irwin]

After 10 years of excellent service my APC Back-UPS 450 has suddenly stopped
working; up to two days ago my computer never went down due to power
glitches, but now it goes down for all of them for the same or even slightly
less (with switch and cable modem removed) load. I suspect all that I need
is a replacement battery.  However, refurbished units are not that much higher
than the battery cost so I might go with that option instead if there is
a good local dealer.

Can anyone here give me recommendations/disrecommendations for suppliers of 
APC battery replacement or refurbished units in Victoria?

Another alternative is to use www.upsforless.ca which apparently offer
replacement batteries for $36 or even a whole refurbished BK450 (BK650) for
$59 ($71).  Has anybody here had good/bad dealings with this company or
any other non-local supplier of APC batteries or refurbished units?

Of course, the downside of non-local companies is shipping charges
(which I assume are fairly substantial for such a heavy item) and having
to find a place to recycle the old battery or entire APC unit in town.  So
comments on the recycling question are welcome as well for those who advocate
the non-local solution.

Alan
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Alan W. Irwin

Astronomical research affiliation with Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria (astrowww.phys.uvic.ca).

Programming affiliations with the FreeEOS equation-of-state implementation
for stellar interiors (freeeos.sf.net); PLplot scientific plotting software
package (plplot.org); the Yorick front-end to PLplot (yplot.sf.net); the
Loads of Linux Links project (loll.sf.net); and the Linux Brochure Project
(lbproject.sf.net).
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Linux-powered Science
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