APC would be a step up for me ;-)
I have no need to know what the UPS is doing.
The lights going out are my clue that something
happened.
It's always good to match the tool to the job.
For me, a free garage sale ups that keeps my system
from resetting on a 1-second power glitch gives
me all the bang for none of the buck ;-)
But it is time to get a new battery for it.
I buy my batteries from the local Batteries Plus store and they sell
the "Werker" brand. These are probably not top of the line but they
are cost effective batteries for service work. For emergency lighting
applications I've noticed that the equipment seems to charge the
batteries quite heavily and so they last only about three years. Most
alarm systems will go about five. I designed and built the charger for
my own alarm system. I use a common 12 volt 7 amp hour battery and I
trickle charge it at about a 10ma. rate. This is easily done by
putting a small incandescent lamp in series with the charging current.
When the battery is low the lamp is lit. As the terminal voltage
increases the lamp dims and eventually goes out. The exact lamp
employed will depend on the battery type,and the magnitude of the
charging voltage applied. It's a bit of trial and error to find the
right lamp that will give you the trickle charge you're looking for
once the battery is fully charged, but it makes a great deal of
difference in the life of the battery. I've got almost 9 years on this
one so far and that's pretty remarkable for a Chinese Werker battery.
Lenny.