One way to manage a Uninteruptable Power Supply is to check the battery at regular intervals by pulling the plug and seeing if the computer it's attached to keeps running.

I use a thunderstorm for this. The power goes out, and I find out which computers crash because their UPS needs new batteries.

On Monday, the UPS that keeps my mail server running decided to not keep the mail server running.

Replacing a UPS battery is pretty easy. I keep spare batteries, and I've had over a dozen UPS's over the years. I know how this works.

You unplug the UPS, remove the screw that hold the battery cover in place, slide off the battery cover, replace the battery and reverse the process.

So, I unplugged the UPS, flipped it onto it's back and shoved a Philip's screwdriver into the slot with the retaining screw and turned.

And turned, and turned, and never felt the screwdriver bite into the screw.

After a few minutes of this, I got bored and dug out a flashlight and peered down the quarter-inch wide hole.

Unlike every other UPS I've ever seen, this one had a hex-head screw holding on the battery panel, instead of the common Phillip's head screw.

So, I grabbed my set of hex wrenches and started trying to find the wrench that fit this thing.

Nothing fit. Not English or Metric or any of the odd-ball things I've picked up with Assemble-It Yourself kits. They must have used some odd-ball size, or maybe one of the security screws to keep the average user from replacing the battery.

I spoke sternly to the UPS, cursed the designer who decided to not use commonly available screws and ran out of patience. A few minutes on the drill press, and the screw was now a fine collection of metal shavings on the shop floor.

Which is when I discovered that this UPS used a different size battery than the ones I keep in stock.

A trip to Batteries Plus in Ann Arbor is not a hardship. The shop is on Packard, near Platt, with an eastern European grocery on one side, Alladin Market at the other end of the strip mall, and Mary's Fried Chicken and Fish just across the street.

So, a about an hour later I had fried chicken for lunch, a few samozas for dinner and a couple of quarts of whortleberry juice for snacks.

And two new UPS batteries, so I'd have a spare in this size.

In between all of this, I reworked the first chapter of Promised Rewards and got it shipped out for the "First Chapter" competition. You can see Carol and I at https://www.opencontractchallenge.com/

At least, until the next round of judging, when I expect to no longer be listed.