UPS Hack

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sourapple's picture
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UPS Hack

So, I got a cheap (REALLY CHEAP) UPS to run my flat panel imac from in a storm. It has this annoying beep whenever the power is off, and you cant turn the beep off without turning the power off. Could I get the beep signal to light an LED instead of beep? And I noticed it uses a sealed lead acid battery and was wondering if it is possible to buy a bigger one instead of the tiny one included, or would that damage the carging aparatus and such?

P.S. - I like the new CSS interface MUCH better than the others.

performaman's picture
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Sure.

Of couse you could get the signal to light an LED, just be careful about the power you're putting through the LED, too much and they could burn out. A resistor will fix that, but I can't remember the specific type.
Or, you could do this:http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/gadgets/kit.pdf.

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Beep

I too have a cheap ($50 for 640 watts) UPS which I purchased with dead batteries from a dental surgery. It has the same annoyingly loud beeper.

I think you may have more luck with a lamp than an LED. Remove the buzzer and measure its resistance. Add a lamp with the same resistance. NB I haven't tried this yet, so it's really just a suggestion. A resistor rated for enough current would probably do as well.

I don't think you'll run into any problems with larger batteries. The charge circuit probably works by detecting the voltage of the battery to tell when it is charged. A larger battery will just take longer to get to that point.

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I discovered the beep comes f

I discovered the beep comes from a soldered on beeper device (no idea what it is) Ive figured the only way to get it off is to desolder it or snip the connections with a wirecutter, or just rip the beepy thing off. Not good. Got an led i can use for it though, I dont have any soldering tools besides a cheap one from radioshack, but i think i can manage. Although 20 minutes on my imac when the power is out isnt bad for 15 bucks. Heh, as im writing this another storm is gonna hit in 20 mintues. HAd a bad one last night too. Just got it a wek ago. Ive gotten to test it twice for real!! Good thing I didnt wait Blum 3

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If you want to make the beep

If you want to make the beep go away, just fill the buzzer with hot glue. It might still make some sound but not much.

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Re: I discovered the beep comes f

I discovered the beep comes from a soldered on beeper device (no idea what it is)

If the device has any kind of opening or hole, you muffle the thing by stuffing a bit of foam in the hole(s). I would not wire a resistor in parallel because it won't do that much good (maybe 6dB) and it may overload the circuit.

sourapple's picture
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it has a small hole on top, I

it has a small hole on top, Ill try to hot glue it. its about 1cm in diameter with a hole about 1-2mm in diameter.

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