Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

[smajor]

I don't find many of these but when I do... I grab it.



They're really easy to break down and inside you'll usually find a chunk of lead acid battery, a large transformer, and some brass. The case is usually ABS plastic.

[miked]

I picked up 25 of the "Bac-ups ES 500" UPS. I was wondering if you ever ever resell them rather than break them down? Thanks, Mike.

[smajor]

I've never tried to sell them. I assumed that the batteries were shot and would need to be replaced. If you do try to sell them let us know the results. Later, Stan.

[chango369]

I hope I can tack on an extra question to this thread. I recently broke down a UPS. There were two distinct wire coils contained within the same iron 'housing'. One wire coil was copper colored, the other bright yellow (almost gold colored) and a thinner gauge. Both of these wires have a silver inner. The metal is malleable in both cases. I was told by my local scrap yard that the wire was merely aluminum with an outer coating. This didn't make sense to me as I would have dismissed aluminum for use as a coil. Any ideas out there as to what I might have?

[Mick]

If it's silvery-colored, it's probably aluminum. I found out the hard way that a lot of what I thought was copper wire was actually aluminum when I first took my "collection" (about 50 pounds) of alternator and motor wiring to the scrap yard and 1/3 turned out to be aluminum. Took it all back home to sort it out. Got really frustrated and took it back. Got aluminum price for the whole bunch.

Just part of the education that costs money.

[chango369]

If it's silvery-colored, it's probably aluminum. I found out the hard way that a lot of what I thought was copper wire was actually aluminum when I first took my "collection" (about 50 pounds) of alternator and motor wiring to the scrap yard and 1/3 turned out to be aluminum. Took it all back home to sort it out. Got really frustrated and took it back. Got aluminum price for the whole bunch.

Just part of the education that costs money.

Thanks for the quick reply Mick.

[ilovejunk]

just a thought as i do not know how many in your area are interested but i have had good luck selling modded ups boxes to "green" types to use w/ there solar and homemade windmill stuff as the actual inverter part on these is a pure sine wave inverter on alot of models and they seem to like them much more than the generic cheapy inverters you get at big box stores, might take a little research but i know alot of models can be modded to function as just an inverter. just a thought

[Dru702]

You could replace the batteries yourself and resell them. I use a USP in my workshop, a few months ago the battery died and I didn't feel like spending $150 for a new one, I looked online and a replacement battery only cost $10 bucks plus shipping. A week later I received the new battery in the mail put it in and its worked fine ever since.

[ChrisTheHat]

There is a market for UPS's. Any of the APC's that are higher than 1000, I will purchase.

[mikecain262]

The best way to optimize them is recycling. Just to find some good recycling center of your area and try to replace the battery of the same kind. This will reduce your cost to almost negligible. But if you still want to buy then powersafe 1000va ups can be an option.

[stillwaterrecycling]

Ups units I have alot of personal experience with them. What are your goals, whats your time worth and do you love ebay auction type stuff.

My goals shifted I now want to fish hike worship the lord and enjoy my time with my kids. So my goals are to make enough $$ to breath play with kids and enjoy life.

Enjoy life and make a profit .....................
cut cords and pallatize and sell as ups with batteries at 0.30 cents so a 1400 pound pallet would pay about 450 bucks and id buy at .10 or light if I could and flip the same day so on 4 pallets of ups I or you would pull .20 cents profit less transport cost and what your time is worth. 5600 times .20 is $1120 in your pocket and at .10 you payed somone $540 for there junk ups. WHat keeps people calling you first paying them decent money. I never liked free. Not for a business with fixed cost I couldnt ever rely on these free deals I forced profit with cash and guess what you got a slip to write off too.

if you want to make more and have a ebay account and are good at it. Ive done this too. Take out Smart ups or lib or trip light with the full sine waves and pull batts and you will get .10dollar per volt amp on ebay so a 2000va volt amp ups is worth 200 bucks less fees etc plus shipping and stuff.

Dont believe me look at sold sales on ebay now. I have not looked in months but im that sure still is the same. But this means you have employees and stuff if you are selling volume on ebay or now you are not buying and flipping pallet or truck loads of what ever you are good at doing.

NOw another situation is keep some inhouse sell some scrap and do ebay. By inhouse I mean make a retail store at the shop test and sell for more than ebay easy. I test batts too. These batts are a total rip off new and mostly they get over charged from poor charge controllers or shorted plate that software doenst sense. Dust and bad use seems to kill alot.

And last breaking down for most money. LOL Did that many times thinking I was cleaning up. Just did it with a ton of hid gym lights. Math may seem to make sense but it doenst unless you are rich and doing it for fun. Or your truck is broke and your stuck at shop.. Otherwise buy and sell buy and sell.
Apc look at break down batt transfomer .30 to .25 cord 1.00 low grade power board greeen .30 extruded al .55 etc then the sheet .04

That .04 is a huge loss when you think anything that is under .30 whole price with batts is a huge loss. All the weight on a ups is at or under the sell whole price. The al heat sinks and little coopper wire in them is so small a percentage by weight or recovery it wont ever make up for the time you take to break down.

Personally I love breaking stuff down.

Aaron stillwater. So sell working with out batts on ebay. Shipping cheaper with out batts and pallet the rest cut cords off and ship whole and get paid and do it again.

Aaron