Hawaii Sys Admins - Help needed
Posted by Any-Procedure9114@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 17 comments
Hi All - hoping to do a little e-networking here. I work for a mainland radiology company that staffs radiologists in hawaii and reads PACS images for several clinics and groups out on The Big Island and Oahu.
We had a rack mounted UPS fail out in a closet in Hilo late last night and my IT Director has asked us to find a local vendor of APC UPS'. I don't even know if thats possible. Typically we order via CDW but the big cheese is tired of shipping costs to the islands. Is there any local electric companies or coporate supplies located in Hilo or the surrounding area that may be an APC reseller with active inventory on the island? Their site has been less than helpful.
jamesaepp@reddit
/r/sysadmin/comments/1te1dku/am_i_getting_fucked_friday_may_15th_2026/
Worth asking in that regular thread. Those VARs may have knowledge to share.
Sinister_Nibs@reddit
Even “local suppliers” are going to have to get the items shipped to the islands. There are zero UPS manufacturers in HI. The cost of inventory means that anything ordered (even from CDW or Zones) is typically coming from the manufacturer’s warehouse.
catherder9000@reddit
Give Interstate Powercare in Waipahu a call, they usually have everything of most sizes.
Phx86@reddit
"the big cheese is tired of shipping costs to the islands. Is there any local electric companies or coporate supplies located in Hilo or the surrounding area that may be an APC reseller with active inventory on the island?"
Lets say you find one. How do you think they got the battery there? Guess what, you're going to pay for shipping no matter what. Could you maybe pay slightly less because they shipped it there in a container? Sure. Can you guarantee the quality though? Nope. Has that specialty item sat on a shelf for over a year or two? Maybe.
arkmtech@reddit
Were this my supervisor, I'd tell them to go home for the weekend, invent portals from magic sprinkles and unicorn farts, then show us all next week.
Honestly, you don't have to put up with this shit from any flavor of cheese. If they're unable to handle doing their job, find someone else. Your team hired them to manage and go to bat when you say, and jump when you tell them how high. MBAs are a dime a dozen: It doesn't take genius to sort lists or sign paychecks, and your team can just as easily find someone better at it.
Boots on the ground have better things to do than deal with bureaucratic bullshit. Managers work for YOU. If they don't, PIP them and/or terminate them.
junk1255@reddit
A local vendor has to pay the shipping costs to get their inventory here. They'll add that to COGS.
The local vendor also has to tie up capital to store them - warehousing is expensive per square foot, and that'll get added to COGS.
Unused batteries - end of sales, end of life, end of support - are dead stock (which, remarkably, isn't COGS - they're assets) but the disposition costs are real.
Adding up all of those costs (and adding in some profit) drives the cost up - which is why stuff that's here is expensive. It's literally cheaper to ship it in from California.
The demand for off-the-shelf, over-the-counter delivery of specialty, niche products is extremely low, and the availability reflects that reality.
kissassforliving@reddit
I do business in Hawaii and drop ship UPS units but lately the shipping is as much as the units.
I do NOT stock them. You can check with ADI, they have a store in Honolulu.
St0nywall@reddit
I believe Graybar Electric Company is an APC distributor and they're in Honolulu.
Any-Procedure9114@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the reply, I will reach out to them! Thank you!
St0nywall@reddit
Happy to help out. Hope they have what you need.
kona420@reddit
On big island,
We order from refurbups and custom quote without the batteries. And we provide our freight account to them so we get our preferred rates, up to you whether thats worth the hassle. Now it's not hazmat and a lot less weight so shipping cost and time come way down.
Buy batteries locally, unfortunately local batteries suck. The APC OEM batteries are cherry picked to handle a couple tenths of a volt more, it makes a big difference in longevity. Oh well, it's much easier than keeping spares on hand. Replace at 3 years should be fine. Or amazon APC OEM packs to keep on hand, let their logistics network figure it out.
The units are expensive with freight and everything so of course we run them longer. I'd say 2 years in the surge protection is done, 10 years in the relays are welded and sticking. With regards to the surge protection issue, I'd suggest getting a real surge protector installed in the circuit breaker panel. $100 part works much better and longer than anything you can plug into the wall.
With the relays, they are cooked for commercial use. But take one home and solder in a new set, it's cheap and usually makes them like new. Depending on what model of APC you can console in and set charge voltage and number of additional packs. I'm running an APC750 with a 24v LiFePo4 swap, 2 years in it's cherry still.
Vivid_Mongoose_8964@reddit
put your gear in a colo and let them worry about power and cooling
Any-Procedure9114@reddit (OP)
It'll probably make sense to everyone except the c suite!
SpotlessCheetah@reddit
This doesn't directly answer your question but you can use this site to see what distributors have on hand before they get to a reseller.
https://us.stockinthechannel.com/Category/Uninterruptible-Power-Supplies-UPSs-/66999?smartSearch=false
Any-Procedure9114@reddit (OP)
Useful and handy to keep no matter what the siutation is Much appreciated!
evopb@reddit
Why replace the entire UPS unless it's for sure EOL? You can likely just change the lead batteries, just pay attention to how they are chained together.
Any-Procedure9114@reddit (OP)
Nah, she dead-dead - Something fried her hard!