Risking my life to save $5000 - Water Damaged Battery/UPS Repair
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Promos
Win a Hennessey Velociraptor, a gold-plated Cybertruck or $100,000 in cash, with the Ridge Super Truck Summer Sweepstakes! Check it out at: ridge.com After the leak in Linus' home rack watercooling setup, most of the hardware fortunately survived, except for the ~$5000 UPS battery backup unit that powers most of his hardware! Fortunately, we found a shipping damaged unit on ebay that can be frankensteined together to hopefully have one functioning UPS. Do not try this at home. Mark’s Tech’s video of an NZXT H1 catching fire: youtube.com Discuss on the forum: linustechtips.com Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group. Buy an Eaton 9PX5K UPS: From Eaton: lmg.gg From Walmart: lmg.gg From eBay: ebay.us ► GET MERCH: lttstore.com ► GET EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ON FLOATPLANE: lmg.gg ► GET A VPN: piavpn.com ► SPONSORS, AFFILIATES, AND PARTNERS: lmg.gg ► EQUIPMENT WE USE TO FILM LTT: lmg.gg ► OUR WAN PODCAST GEAR: lmg.gg FOLLOW US --------------------------------------------------- Twitter: twitter.com Facebook: @LinusTech Instagram: @linustech TikTok: @linustech Twitch: twitch.tv MUSIC CREDIT --------------------------------------------------- Intro: Laszlo - Supernova Video Link: youtube.com iTunes Download Link: itunes.apple.com Artist Link: soundcloud.com Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High Video Link: youtube.com Listen on Spotify: spoti.fi Artist Link: youtube.com Intro animation by MBarek Abdelwassaa @mbarek_abdel Monitor And Keyboard by vadimmihalkevich / CC BY 4.0 geni.us Mechanical RGB Keyboard by BigBrotherECE / CC BY 4.0 geni.us Mouse Gamer free Model By Oscar Creativo / CC BY 4.0 geni.us CHAPTERS --------------------------------------------------- 0:00 What we're doing today (don't do this at home) 2:57 Inspecting the carnage 7:18 Testing capacitors 8:12 Teardown 10:48 We found the carnage 11:24 Frankensteining the two units together 14:24 Does it work? 15:33 Hmm.... 16:00 An Oopsie 16:39 Does it work? v2
The video opens with a high stakes premise: salvaging a valuable UPS battery backup unit that was damaged by water, instead of buying a new one. Linus explains the plan to transplant functional internals from a shipping damaged unit into the original, intact chassis, hoping to restore full operation while saving thousands of dollars. He emphasizes safety and acknowledges the extreme risk involved, repeatedly warning viewers not to attempt this at home. We then move into a diagnostic phase where the team inspects both units, compares revisions, and identifies where water damage occurred, including corroded fuses and damaged control boards. The host and Tynan discuss the approach, weighing a partial component replacement versus a full chassis rebuild, and decide to focus on the most likely failure points while preserving as much of the original hardware as possible. Throughout, the dialogue blends practical electronics troubleshooting with humor and a strong emphasis on safety, keeping the plan tightly aligned with the clock and the single goal of getting the UPS back online without catastrophic failure.
Topics · electronics repair · science and technology · risk management · safety · home electronics
Questions answered
- What was the core strategy to revive the water damaged UPS?
- The core strategy was to transplant the functional internals from a shipping damaged UPS into the original chassis, hoping to reuse the working boards and components while preserving the protective enclosure.
- Why were safety warnings emphasized during the repair?
- Safety warnings were emphasized because the device contains high voltage capacitors and lead-acid batteries, which can be dangerous or lethal if mishandled.