New APC Smart-UPS SC1500i

A few days ago one of the smaller APC backup UPS devices decided it no longer liked me and started yelling at me. Adding insult to injury it then decided to start flashing its little lights at me to express its utter dismay of me having forgotten to replace the battery unit in the system. Then in a final attempt at letting me know about its unhappy state it decided to just completely break down on me (a slight tap on the device being enough to turn the power on or off, definitely not an APC feature!).

Two days later the second of these small APC backup UPC devices, an identical model, decided that the battery needed to be replaced (what, not even 3 years after initially installing them?). Except this UPS decided it wasn’t just unhappy but extremely pissed at me because instead of just sounding the beeping alarm and flashing the error lights it decided to temporarily, for about 5 seconds, pull the power from the server it was providing with current (it wasn’t running on batteries but on pass-through current). Needless to say I’m not amused by devices that misbehave like that and considered it an attempt at intentional sabotage. I consider the act of pulling the current from my server and sending it into a straight reboot without a proper shutdown to be an act of war.

Since I had decided I wanted to start using a different machine as the main server it was a good time to get a completely new, different, and bigger UPS so I ended up ordering the APC SC1500i model (1500VA, 865 Watts) which arrived at my dealer within a few days. At close to 22kg in weight this was not the kind of device you just carry back home. Let that be a lesson to misbehaving devices, misbehave and you’re out! Replaced! Too bad we can’t do that so easily and in a matter of days when it comes to politicians who complain too much about the citizens they’re supposed to be working for.

So right now the battery in the SC1500i is charging and tomorrow I’ll hook it up properly in its temporary new position. Temporary because later this year, around September or October (2008) I’m going to be conducting an overhaul of the Home Office. And yes, I will be uploading new pictures of it but I’m not yet going to tell what the changes are… other than that if you think it’s insane now, wait until I’ve completed the next upgrade cycle. The overhaul that includes a complete replacement of power cables and distribution will also include some changes to the mega multi-monitor configuration. Large changes. Size changes. Number changes. Ergotron changes. Oops, I might be writing too much now! But you’ll just have to check back here when I’m done to see those results.

Sallie said I should write blog posts describing the planned overhaul and what it involves because there’s all sorts of issues to deal with regarding space, metrics, ergonomics, power requirements, power distribution, monitor placement and cabling, etc. but I’m afraid that doing so would possibly fry the minds of some people and I don’t have a legal disclaimer for any physical or mental affliction caused by exposure to the planning details in my mind. I will, however, take pictures during the overhaul process for a little “making of” page in which the details of constructing the whole configuration will be described. For those who dare be exposed to the guts and gore details of utter Home Office Madness. 🙂