Backup power supplies--service life?

[JDgreen227]

In the past three years, I have experienced FIVE APC backup power supplies (UPS) fail because the batteries go bad....these were all from five to six years old, and ranged from 350-550 watts. What baffles me about this is that back in 1998, I purchased my first APC UPS, a Back-Ups 500, and it still works flawlessly. Is there any reason why the newer ones have failed so soon? I used the majority of those as surge protectors for electronic equipment, and they rarely had to provide backup power.

Perhaps that is the reason they failed so early?

 

[ultrarunner]

I change out about 4 years typically... just installed 34 batteries last month... so I should be good for awhile.

One of my APC units has 8 batteries and 6 years till the battery test light came on.

 

[LMTC]

I must be buying my batteries at the wrong place. I have 4 APC units, two usually in place and on, and my experience has consistently been 12-15 months between battery replacement.

 

[k0ua]

If you got 5 to 6 years out of a Gel cell, you did well. Typical 3 or 4 years, at best. The number of times the battery is run down affects greatly the survival rate. But I have seen a few go 8 years.

James K0UA

 

[tcartwri]

UPS's = The most unreliable piece of junk in the lab.

 

[ultrarunner]

Nothing special battery wise... just off the shelf "Fresh" Powersonic Brand.

I buy from the alarm wholesale house... sometimes they are only 4 to 6 weeks old.

 

[electrarc]

UPS's = The most unreliable piece of junk in the lab.

We changed our UPS from Gell Cell to AGM batteries and the problems went away.

 

[JB4310]

In the past three years, I have experienced FIVE APC backup power supplies (UPS) fail because the batteries go bad....these were all from five to six years old, and ranged from 350-550 watts. What baffles me about this is that back in 1998, I purchased my first APC UPS, a Back-Ups 500, and it still works flawlessly. Is there any reason why the newer ones have failed so soon? I used the majority of those as surge protectors for electronic equipment, and they rarely had to provide backup power.

Perhaps that is the reason they failed so early?

I have no first hand experience with UPS systems but often refer to them when explaining to people about a particular sump pump back up system. IMO an inverter is the best way to go.

The system uses 12 volt batteries, but not the typical 12 volt pump, it converts the 12 volt dc to 110 ac, which I believe is how the ups works (inverter).

Just plug the unit into the wall and the pump into the unit and it's done. The beauty of the inverter is you could install as many deep cell batteries as you wanted to extend the run time and you could plug any other electrical load into it, for emergency power needs.

As far as battery life goes, 5 years seems to be the magic number now.

JB

 

[techwrtr2]

APC will tell you the expected service life on batteries is 3-5 years. I'm beginning to see them fail in our rack mounted UPS systems and they are about 4 years old. Guess it's a good thing my maintenance contract on them covers batteries.

The number of times you suck the batteries down will certainly effect the service life from what I've seen.

 

[tommu56]

Ae have alot of ups's at work most APC's and I don't under stand it either but some need battery's yearly some last 3 or 4 years.
We put the same powersonic that Ultrarunner uses from battery warehouse local supplier
We stock 2 sizes in the plant that fit most common of them so I can do a quick swap when the light come's on.

Our IT guys were buying them from APC for our server room at 3x the price and same life until I started taking care of them saving some $.

tom