Does anyone have any experience with the APC Symmetra RM line? This seems to check all of the boxes for us in terms of feature set and what we need out of our UPS solution; however, the age in which this product has been around is slightly worrisome, the last thing I would want to do is spend ~$4,000 on a solution that then hits EOL a year or two later.
I have spoken with a “Partner Enablement Rep” however they haven’t been the most informed rep on the RM line.
Anyone has experience with this line or have any feedback on any other N+1 UPS backup solutions?
How long do you need it to run during a power out event?
Batteries are available for a very long time, I can still get batteries for my oldest 24 volt systems. When possible I buy Amstron batteries from ATBatt because they last longer than the APC batteries (and cheaper), APC batteries will often split the case just before 3 years for all but the newest SmartUPS that I have, the batteries I get from ATBatt don’t do this and I have a few that are 6 years old and way overdue for replacement.
After all that, I have not worked with that level of UPS, I have many SmartUPS, generally in the 2200 size with an extra battery for longer run time. Would probably be cheaper to have one of these bigger units, but easier to get money for smaller ones spread out over years.
normal load with everything in a running state is around 1,100 watts, nothing too crazy; however, boot load a fair bit higher. Redundancy is a requirement. I have looked into doing two SmartUPS with an ATS but the cost of that solution is not far off a Symmetra and is pretty much a wash after the first replacement cycle. The batteries are not what I’m as worried about not getting parts for its more of the Power modules and the Intelligence modules if/when they fail
Truthfully, I’d be better served by one of these bigger units, but money being what it is, I can never get that all in one place. Maybe if they approve the three I want to replace I can upgrade it to something bigger and redundant.
As a whole, I wouldn’t worry too much about getting end of life, there are places like QIE that would love to fix your stuff if APC won’t or can’t https://www.qie.com/ I had to send an obsolete power supply for some mission critical hardware to them for repair, worked great when it came back. Might be worth contacting them if you are in the USA and see what they think about one of those devices and the ability to fix it if APC EOL/EOS the product. As I said, if you are willing to pull the covers off the battery trays, everything is pretty common in the lead acid world.
Lithium would be a different beast, I have zero experience with big lithium UPS.