[gentoo-user] Re: [OT]UPS battery dead?

[James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com>]

maxim wexler <blissfix <at> yahoo.com> writes:

group,

> Only 2.8mins left? The UPS unit, fairly common I suspect, is a Back-UPS ES 350
and less than a year old. It only
> saw service once last year during an electric storm when the house power
failed for a few minutes. Why isn't
> it charging. Or is it? 


13.4 volts looks good on a 12V battery. I'm not sure I'd trust all the numbers.

One easy thing to do is to, just swap in another (hopfully 7AH) 
standard 12V battery), give it a few days, and see what the numbers
say. If you have lots of UPS's then getting a low cost 12V batter
tester for 'Jell-Cell' batteries is not a bad idea. If you see signs
of corrosion, toss the battery to the nearest recycle agency near
you.


It says BATTDATE 2000-00-00. Huh?

Ignore. This looks like a default firmware value if not is correctly
entered during manufacture or by the person that does maintenance.
Some firewares include it, but the manufacture does not have a 
software application, where the info can be updated. 
Gel-Cell batteries are not smart (i.e. no microp) so there is no
way for the battery to provide this info, to the UPS firmware.
It's gimmickery.





> I'd like to test it further but the apcupsd manual recommends at least 5mins
time left. 



I'd use manual testing techniques with the battery removed from the ups.
You could have leaky or degraded circuitry in the ups. I canabalize
old ups for good circuits and batteries and such. If you have
several similar models you can do the same. Best to buy UPS in
qty 2 or more to cannabalize parts. Never by a ups that does not
use the standard 7AH or multiples of that standard battery. The further
away from those batteries you get, the more you'll get 'ripped'
at replacement time. One more thing. The smaller UPSs are of poor 
quality. I usually never bay an ups with less than 1KVA rating,
although 800VA seem to be OK. The smaller ones just dye as the
electronic swithcing circuits (how AC is made from DC) are just
crappy and often fry or fatigue. Try not to run a UPS at more than
40% of the duty cycle, if you want it to last very long.

Hooking up any arrangement of AC lighting will allow you to see how the
battery performs over test intervals of 5,10,20,30 minutes.  An amp meter,
the kind that clamps around the power cord will give you the current
draw of the load. From those numbers and the measured voltage
across the battery, you can plot performance curves. After you do
a few batteries, you can just watch the lights and pretty much 
tell if a battery is cooked. Battery testers are also cool, and convenient.


If you are in the US, here is a great supplier for replacement batteries.
They have an 8AH replacement of the standard 7AH battery 
(same form factor) that is usually less expensive, better quality 
and will give you a 1/7 longer life, nominally,

Battery Wholesale Dist.
40120 Industrial Park Circle
Georgetown, TX 78626

800 365 8444  not sure the website...



hth,

James