3w ago

Budget Homelab UPS Recommendations? (Used or New)

I'm running a rather small homelab and am hunting for a good UPS to help keep everything running smoothly. My top priorities are:

Just enough battery life to keep things running until they can be shut down
Compatible with open source software for monitoring and automated shutdown

Would I have better luck getting a used one and a new battery, or a brand new unit altogether? Anyone have one they don't need anymore, on that note? 👀

Thanks for the advice!

49 comments

Take a look at this list: https://networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html
I use an older APC Back-UPS 500 to power my homelab and all network devices. So far it's saved me from 3 power outages, and can last about 30 minutes with a 50W power draw. It doesn't have data connections of its own (newer devices do), so I had to improvise with an ESP32 board that reports if it detects a voltage on the beeper, plus some cron jobs on Proxmox.
- This is the real answer - get something that NUT supports

An APC from wherever. Just don’t buy a CyberPower. They’re much cheaper for a reason and cause more downtime than they save.
- Meanwhile, I've had nothing but trouble with consumer APC and find Cyberpower's bullet proof. Had one that went 10yrs before any issues, and a second with 3+ and counting, no problem.
  An alternative to both is the burgeoning battery banks for camping/emergency power. Most of these offer UPS quality switching times, so they can act as a UPS when not in use for an emergency. Ecoflow/ anker solix/etc. A big advantage of these is the battery chemistry is very long lived and much better than UPS lead acid. Dont expect a pure sinewave, but you weren't going to get that from most consumer UPS anyway.
  
  I'm still looking for a good UPS that can run on 12 V DC from the car's outlet and power usb devices
  
  Why not mine is a pure sine wave. More expensive then an inline ups though.
- I have dealt with a lot of units over the years, both consumer and professional. I have had more non-battery issues with APC ones than the Cyberpower ones, especially with the rack mount units.
  For batteries they all have a lifetime, so I don't trash a brand simply because the battery dies. That will happen to any UPS battery. However it is well known that APC floats the batteries too high resulting in slightly more runtime at the expense of battery longevity. I have replaced more APC batteries as a result.
  All of that said, at the consumer level I just tell people to go buy whichever one is on sale at that moment since at least one of them usually is.
  
  Despite your odd luck with batteries, CyberPower has an issue that disqualifies it from use personally or professionally for me, which is that if there’s a problem with the battery, which there too often is, a CyberPower will cut power to the entire unit, even if it’s still receiving power from the wall outlet.
  With an APC, at least if the battery dies your devices stay on.
  
  Was going to say this too. I boitstrapped a financial trading compny using mostly cyberpower uos at the desks so have run a few hubdred of them over the last fifteen years with nounexpected problems. Replace them after fice years and rarely hd any die prematurely. Not to say this is a good idea, just that it imokies quality iant terrible. Lol
- My CyberPower is 14 years old now still working fine, just needed battery swap at 10 year mark.
- Never had a problem with cyber power yet.
  
  The problem is when you do, instead of their units continuing to power your devices via power from the wall, they shut off power to all their battery ports. So CyberPower battery units can and will cause outages for your devices without you even having a power outage event. It’s a critical design flaw their competitors don’t share.

If you are in Germany I'll send you one for free. Have two I am getting rid off.
- Not the OP but if they don't take up on the offer I might be able to. I am happy to pay for the shipping if it's possible for you to send it across the border to Netherlands. (I assume without the battery to comply with shipping regulations).
  
  I am on the road till Friday, then I'll get the model and details so you can make an informed decision.
- Am in germany, I'll take it off your hands :D Where exactly are you?
- I'm right next to Germany, in the Netherlands. Me and my gf have been working on a home server to keep our memories safe. I'd gladly take it off your hands.
  
  I am on the road till Friday, then I'll get the model and details so you can make an informed decision.
- I appreciate the offer, but unfortunately, I'm an American.
  
  My condolences. /s

I bought mine through refurbups or whatever the site is. APC rack mount. New batteries. It's been rock solid since. apcupsd running on my proxmox backup server. Everyone gets it's info from that.

Some cheap Eaton.... I got a multi-plug from Eaton, works fine.
I wouldn't go cheaper...
And remember that for any ups you need to plan replacing batteries every 12-18 months!
- 12-18 mo?
  Can you imagine a datacenter replacing them that often?
  Don't get me wrong, it's very good advice to remind folks these batteries are a wear item, and to be be prepared to replace them, but if you're having to replace them at 18 months, I'd be looking for a different, not junk, brand.
  Maybe 2 years, if I have bad power so it's being used, a lot.
  I can only imagine batteries wearing this fast because the UPS is cheap and doesn't have pass-through design, and instead uses the batteries constantly to provide power conditioning.
  
  Yes, we are talking of cheap ups... :)
- Eaton are probably the best out there. In my experience battery last between 3 and 4 years.
  
  My latest purchase is an Eaton, hope battery are better quality ad well!

"Enough battery life" is a bit wide requirement. What you're running from that?
Most of the 'big brands' (eaton, apc..) work just fine with linux/open source, but specially low end consumer models even from big players might not and not all of them have any kind of port for data transfer at all.
Personally I'd say that if you're looking for something smaller than 1000VA just get a brand new one. Bigger than those might be worth to buy used and just replace batteries, but that varies a lot. I've got few dirt cheap units around which apprently fried their charging circuit when the original battery died, so they're e-waste now and on the other hand I have 1500VA cheap(ish) FSP which is running on 3rd or 4th set of batteries, so there's not a definitive answer on what to get.

This will depend wildly on what you are planning to put onto it
That said I have a 2 cyber power 825va (I think that’s the model, not sure). It’s like 450watts each iirc. I got them 2 for 1 for about $120 new. One has my server/nas, for which it’s grossly underpowered (maybe 7-10 minutes of runtime, at best), and one powers basically everything else critical in my rack (modem, switch, poe switch, etc) and powers that longer but still not as long (my primary switch is a business switch that was pulled from an ewaste place for nothing, like $15, but it’s got 48 gigabit ports and 5 10gb ports! But it also uses a shocking amount of power).
They work great for my use case. I live in a rural area with a horrendous power grid so I lose power about once every 6 weeks. As a result I have a (very pricey, can’t recommend unless you lose power a lot like me) whole house generator with automatic transfer switch. When power drops out the generator kicks on and switches the house over to generator power which takes about 45-90 seconds, so I really only need these to keep my gear on for that period. Beyond that it’s generator monitoring and if the fuel supply for that is running low network gear is shutdown to conserve power
In a perfect world where I was financially independent I would probably upgrade the server one to at least a 1500va to ensure my storage pool could fully stop and everything could shut down even if power was lost
But most ups will work with monitoring in one way or another. APC and cyberpower work with the apc daemon (probably others) which can easily be implemented into all kinds of software and has support in mac, Linux, windows
Determining battery life depends greatly on load. Rough calculation with power supplies of gear connected, better calculation with something like a kill-a-watt or multimeter and taking a reading for a little while under load, add it all together and add 20-30% to be safe. APC, cyberpower, etc have calculators for this
Buying used can be okay but you do have to be comfortable changing the battery. Additionally there is the risk of something being wrong with it of course, they’re not bulletproof. They’re usually pretty decent though, the bigger thing is that they’re just really expensive to ship, even without batteries
- or multimeter
  Unless you really know what you're doing DO NOT measure current on a wall outlet with a multimeter. Specially not with a cheap one. That can pretty easily break your hardware, burn your house down and kill you, not necessarily in that order.
  
  just get a clamp one?

If you live near a college campus, check out their recycling center or campus surplus. Lots of IT departments just toss UPS when they upgrade equipment regardless of battery status. I like to grab APC ones because the battery replacements are easy to find and there's usually a YouTube video for the exact model with someone refurbing it.
- Do not disassemble a UPS for any reason. That is a good way to die.
  If you are just wiping it down and changing the battery that is fine but don't do more than that.
  
  Ah just let a few of them die, how are they gonna learn

Highly recommend Tripplite
I got me one of these used (with good batteries) for $100
https://www.newegg.com/tripp-lite-smart1500lcd-5-15r/p/N82E16842111052
They have an external connector in the back for adding external batteries and the menu to do so is analog.
I added a golf cart battery to mine tripping the capacity for very very cheap.
Look in the used market.
If you want something better, Eaton is the go to, look for used deals in marketplace / craigslist. I found someone selling Used industrial Eaton UPSs with extended batteries for 150$ the set
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1968641186894464/

One thing people always forget in "small", make sure to check minimum current, not just battery size. If you end up adding a video card to that homelab, you may end up with constant warning beeps at high load.

Used UPS's show up from time to time. I recently found a craigslist posting with 6 all of which were in decent shape needing some cleaning, and new batteries.
Batteries are the rub since they only last about 5 years so most used ones need new batteries. Good news is its not that hard to replace them as long as you take your time and pay attention.

49 comments