@marcan APC's quality has become dangerously bad the last few years, ever since they got bought out by schneider electric.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIEM2bG8mOQ
@developing_agent oh is that when they got so bad! Interesting. They used to be so good, then a few years ago I bought a few and gradually realised how bad they are. Irreplaceable batteries?! One that has a well-known “sorta goes goes weird” situation… very disappointing. Another that just fails to work sometimes, despite a fresh battery.
I also have a small Eaton UPS which I really like. Simple, standard USB interface. Much nicer price! I’m hopeful it’ll prove more reliable.
@j I was looking at eaton ones a while back instead of APC, but it's going to have to wait until I have more cash on hand. The ones with true sine wave at the wattage I need ran like $600. Most of the computers I own cost less than that. 😂
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@psykose @kazriko @marcan There's a lot more to it than just highschool lessons on resistivity. One of the things I've personally had to deal with is the nightmare that results when you mix copper and aluminum wiring. In contact the two cause severe corrosion over time and eventually housefires. Copper is used throughout modern electronics and without appropriate care using aluminum near it WILL cause corrosion and electrical faults.
@psykose @kazriko @marcan This happens far more often than people think with aluminum wiring and for the most part it's ignored. It can be as simple as scratching through the gold plating on a PCB to the copper beneath when attaching an aluminum cable to a lug. Personally had a microswitch in a 3D printer made by printerbot (USA) where it's been completely consumed by corrosion, simply because they used aluminum stranded wire and soldered it directly to a microswitch with copper legs.
@marcan @kazriko @developing_agent I wonder if the copper-clad cables would actually be fine for AC given the skin effect. I'm not sure how strong the skin effect is for 50-60hz though.
The skin effect isn't relevant. This isn't about resistance. It's aluminum's mechanical properties, and the total lack of quality control to catch an intentional and dangerous design decision.
This wasn't a simple manufacturing defect. The transformer maker or APC *decided* to use aluminium, then hoped and prayed that their solder blob would stick or their woeful twist job would hold together. Either way, APC quality control never caught it before nearly staring a fire.
@Nefsen402 @marcan The only thing positive I can say about it is they didn't use copper on the wingdings and aluminium for the lead, or vice-versa. The combination of the two has been known for decades to cause housefires when precautions aren't taken to prevent corrosion.
Given that APC/the transformer maker thought a twist and a solder blob would properly whet and secure aluminium, I doubt they'd apply the required paste/spacers/whatever to prevent corrosion.