I'll never forget the one at my office which passed into the realm of the toasted one Monday morning a couple years ago. We knew there had been a power outage in the building sometime over the weekend, and the phone system was giving us some trouble (which was nothing new) and our office lady and I went into the server room to investigate. She, a middle aged woman of very proper and calm demeanor was standing right next to the UPS at the very moment all of the smoke and flames which are normally kept locked safely in such devices, chose to make a rapid escape.
I saw another side of our lady that day.
Battery has toasted terminal smell, that unique metallic tang of “I’m shot”.
Terminals on device itself are fine, no scorching pitting or scoring.
Terminals on battery look fine.
So odor is from it giving up the ghost.
APC brc123, has a flat wafer with some electronic crud on it sandwiched between two battery blocks.
Electronic crud on battery sandwich is probably tode.
*sigh*
I once watched someone fly out of their clothing due to close proximity to a sudden fire.
She didn’t believe me that she was fine.
Insisted on having her gear checked for melting and scorching first.
*shrugs*
Stepping away without immediate ejection from what one is wearing would have sufficed.