UPS broken?

[coolred]

Question about my IBM OfficePro 500 UPS. Came home the other day to find a few peices of my computer equipment off and it would not power on. I found out it was the 3 peices plugged into my battery powered plugs on my UPS. The stuff plugged into the non battery powered ports work fine. But if I recall correctly my UPS is of the passive kind, meaning it runs off AC power until it detects a power dip/failure, then it runs off the battery. So if its not the battery, could just those plugs have somehow failed. Any ideas how to test/fix it?

 

[MWink]

Is the UPS turned on? Most UPS's today do not turn off the "surge only" outlets when they are turned off. Also how old is the unit, and has the battery ever been replaced? If it has the feature, have you run a self test recently?

 

[corkyg]

Most all UPS's use wet cell batteries, and they have a finite life - just like those in your car. I have replaced two of them over the years - usually between 3 and 4 years of use.

Some allow battery replacement. Factor that in against a new one to determine best value.

 

[coolred]

It is at least a couple years old, not sure exactly though. It is on the original battery, not sure what batteries for them cost, I just bought another one, just thought maybe I could salvage this one as well. If its the battery though, why won't the stuff work, I mean its not always using battery power?

 

[MWink]

There are plenty of UPS's that won't power on if the battery is dead. The average lifespan of a SLA battery is 3-5 years. It may very well need a new battery. You can find out what type of battery it uses by looking at the old one. Just open the battery door and read the specs on the battery. You need to see how many Volts (V) and Amp Hours (AH) it is. The brand and model might be helpful as well. If you can give me that info I might be able to give you an idea what a replacement would cost.

 

[jackschmittusa]

My experience with ups battery replacement is that unless you have a really high dollar one, batteries cost as much or even more than a replacement unit.

 

[MWink]

Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
My experience with ups battery replacement is that unless you have a really high dollar one, batteries cost as much or even more than a replacement unit.

That depends where you buy them. Also it may be true for some of the absolute cheapest UPS's, but not many decent ones.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

This will make MWink shudder 😀

I bought two new 7AH batteries for $24+cheap shipping.

http://www.power-sonic.com/ They are made in TJ, Mexico, were fresh, charged fast
and load tested well.
Yes, I shopped Panasonic, ABC and Yuasa.

...Galvanized

 

[MWink]

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
This will make MWink shudder 😀

I bought two new 7AH batteries for $24+cheap shipping.

http://www.power-sonic.com/ They are made in TJ, Mexico, were fresh, charged fast
and load tested well.
Yes, I shopped Panasonic, ABC and Yuasa.

...Galvanized

That's exactly what they cost from the place I usually buy (Here). Of course I wouldn't recommend Power-Sonic batteries as the one that I bought performed significantly worse than the other brands I've tested. I've found Panasonic's to be by FAR the best if you want a long lifespan (we're talking literally years longer). Yuasa/Enersys are the best I've found as far as capacity/runtime is concerned (though I have yet to determine their average lifespan). I strongly suggest avoiding UB/Universal Battery as the one that I had started venting when it was charging in a UPS (the gas they vent is explosive).

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Having seen the aftermath of huge Group 4 battery explosions, I don't doubt hydrogen
will go BANG with a source of ignition.

I would have gone for the Yuasa at $15 each but not the Panasonic at $21 each.

The Power-sonics went into an old Belkin F6C120-UNV that has served me well for 4 years.
I did mod this Belkin for a low cfm 80mm fan just to help cool it. All it's caps looked good.

Horror!! It's not an APC! 😛


...Galvanized