OT - Battery Backups

I would replace just batteries. I once bought a few pallets of APC

1400VA UPSes, old and with DEAD batterries, replaced batteries in all of them and sold most (and kept some). They were all good after putting in new batteries. i

Done that too. Yes, MOVs only absorb energy once and after that they don't offer any protection but don't hurt anything. My suggestion is to replace your batteries (shop around, probably cheapest at DigiKey or other like that) and power your whole UPS via a cheap new powerstrip which you replace whenever you start to worry about it. The powerstrip's MOVs will protect you from spikes and the UPS will protect you from dropouts.

GWE

I have an APC 650 VA UPS that intermittently shuts down the computer for half a second or so, about once a week. Just enough time to lose everything I was working on. I've confirmed that this problem is in the UPS, because it goes away completely if I use the computer without it. Of course now I have no backup protection. The battery was replaced a year ago, and seemed to work fine once it was replaced. This problem appeared a few months later. Is it worth getting APC to fix it? Will they be able to fix it, given that it is a relatively rare intermittent problem? Thoughts?

-- Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

No, APC won't fix it. A little UPS like that is regarded like a transistor radio. Use it and discard it when it breaks. I'm sorry, but it's the way a lot of things are these days. - GWE

Throw away! You can usually replace with loss-leader from box store cheaper than replacing batteries and checking out the unit.

Me also, Save exact one. Thought I was loosing my mind, when a couple of times a week my firewall wouldn't respond. I had just replaced the batteries.

Curses....

Rod

Bob Chilcoat wrote:

What you heard is not exactly correct. Most cheap surge protectors rely on components called varisistors to control over voltages. These are disks about the size of a quarter in most surge protectors. They're not capacitors, but they definitely are sacrificial. After they've taken enough energy, either in one big jolt or a lot of little jolts, they quit working.

In fact varisistors can split open and if the surge protector isn't properly designed the pieces stay in contact, producing a short and quite possibly a fire.

Home UPS may or may not use varisistors. They certainly wouldn't be the first line of protection. So if you've got a good UPS you don't have to worry about that.

--RC

I've found APC is generally not worth fixing, unless you can fix it yourself. Look for bad solder joints, particularly on the heavy current carrying wires.

You open up the bottom compartment and replace the battery. They typically are 12volt 7amp/hr or thereabouts. I had one with 2 6v batteries in series and I replaced it with a 12v. You can get the batteries from Radio Shack, or other electronic supply house.

Tony

Bob -

My 650 battery went a year or so. I bought a 1000 (tall and thin type) comes charged for the most part - you attach a special cable on the front...

USB to the computer...

My 650 is now a 7 or 8 - the battery (store) had same form/fit battery of higher density. The older density wasn't there. I put it in and I just have a longer time. I use it as a backup for clocks, telephones and if I need another battery charger...

The two 1000's I have power the two main computers here. The 2000 I just got will go into the shop on that server after my move.

So I'd upgrade and also replace. The smaller UPS can be active for short times on heavy users - protects for sags as well as spikes. Maybe the VCR or DVD-R during summer storms.

I have one over loaded and is shorter time - I think a printer is on the battery. But my DSL modem and Router are all needed on that one as well.

Martin

Chargers in some UPSes would blow up if you try a nonstandard battery. I found a nice 1400VA ferrups UPS on a curb somewhere. I picked it up because it was 12V based, and I wanted to have a nice power source that I could feed from my truck's alternator. After trying abigger battery, the charger promptly blew up. Fortunately, the inverter stayed. It is now a part of my backup power plan. It can provide emergency AC when everything else fails.

i

Not necessarily. The Ferrups UPS that I mentioned, is a very respectable commercial model. It is not some consumer junk. It is simply designed for a particular battery.

I agree. In fact, I am soon going to buy a decent used UPS (also Best Power) to keep for myself. One of my APCs went bad. I already bought that best power, it is in a triwall of military stuff mostly for resale, but I have not yet picked them up because I am waiting for a certain approval.

i

Ahhh, connecting a larger battery with more amp/hhours is one thing, connecting it to your alternator of your truck is something else,,, geee a few amps from a gell cell battery vs. 60~125 amps from a alternator, wonder why the UPS it didn't last???

No, what happened is that I connected it to a new battery, plugged it into 120 V (not into my truck alternator), and it promptly blew up the charger. Truck was not a part of the picture at the time.

This unit is still a functioning inverter, if I connect the leads that were previously hooked up to the battery, to the truck alternator (I can provide pictures), the UPS works fine and provides 120 v from its inverter.

As of right now, it is a glorified, working inverter.

i

Be careful what you connect to those leads. Too large a battery and it will blow the internal power supply. One of my early claims to fame at Motorola was solving a battery problem in fire stations in the city of San Antonio. The city had bought all new consollete desk-top base stations with battery back up. I did say fire stations didn't I? The individaul fires stations soon connected large fire truck batteries to the leads running to the small backup batteries. If the "new" batteries were even slightly discharged the huge current drain would open up fusible resistors in the power supply. I pondered the problem and decided a ballast resistor was needed in the battery leads to limit charging current and save the power supplies. It turned out a 100 W, 12 volt incandescent lamp was just the right amount of ballast. That's right - a 12 volt light bulb. They were fairly commonly used in the cabooses of RR's that had 12 volt systems to run their radios.

ditch it. buy a 1000VA or more ups my personal preference is the APC SMART-UPS 1000/1400. and make sure it is HEAVY the lighter the ups the weenier the ups.

most consumer ups (ie comp-usa, APC-BACKUPS, Beldin,.....) are shit and will self destruct right after the warrenty ends. think bridgeport vs harbor frieght.

Basically a ups is all about the battery so the heavier ups the bigger the battery, the bigger the battery the longer the run time, the bigger the battery=less load on the battery=longer battery life=longer ups shelf life. Also only load a ups to 1/2 the VA it is capable of running, or less.

Also try UPS vendors in your area and see what they will sell you a 're-furb' unit for, where they add new batterys to the UPS. Alot of companies will trade in a UPS the first time it 'fails'. there is generally nothing wrong with these units just the batteries got overwelmed and croaked. they cost about $250 in colorado with 1 year warrenty and new batterys for a APC-SMARTUPS 1400.

laz who has 2 1400VA, 2 2000VA, and a generator for home.

1 of the 2000VA is over 8 years old on original batterys but it is never loaded over 20% (yes it does need new batterys because runtime is down to 30 minutes, but it i am lazy and it is heavy)