usefulness of old run down UPS

[wpshooter]

If the battery in a UPS has died and can not be replaced (in this particular case an old true & blue Blackout Buster), does this UPS still provide effective protection against power surges and spikes, i.e. does it still function as a surge suppressor ??

And if so, does this apply to only the outlets labeled as surge suppressor only or does it also provide this same protection of the outlets labeled as backup & surge suppressors ??

Thanks.

 

[mezrah]

The surge protection should still theoretically work, but if you lose power, you just won't have the battery there to back it up. (Which you already knew). So, yes, it should work...but I would check with the manufacturer

 

[Unkno]

hmmm, i think (but not entirely sure) that your ups will act only as a regular surge protecter, won't stop brownouts and others...

 

[TerryMathews]

Depending on the design of the UPS, that may not be true though. Some UPSes use the battery as a sort of line filter - computer only draws power from the battery, and the battery recharges while connected to AC mains. Disconnect battery, and computer gets no power irregardless of AC mains state.

 

[Muscles]

My UPS regulates the power so it's always clean which is incredibly useful even without the battery.

 

[Unkno]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews
Depending on the design of the UPS, that may not be true though. Some UPSes use the battery as a sort of line filter - computer only draws power from the battery, and the battery recharges while connected to AC mains. Disconnect battery, and computer gets no power irregardless of AC mains state.

the battery can remain as a line filter even if it died?

 

[MWink]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews
Depending on the design of the UPS, that may not be true though. Some UPSes use the battery as a sort of line filter - computer only draws power from the battery, and the battery recharges while connected to AC mains. Disconnect battery, and computer gets no power irregardless of AC mains state.

You're not quite correct either. You are probably referring to an online UPS which converts AC to DC and back to perfect AC. I have confirmed that the battery is not necessary for an online UPS to operate. I got ahold of an old true online UPS and it worked fine despite having dead batteries. I even removed the batteries and it still functioned. Of course it died within seconds if unplugged but the point is it didn't require the batteries to operate. Anyway it doesn't really matter because almost no average user is going to have an online UPS (as they typically start around $500).

The ironic thing is that many other UPS's will refuse to power on without a battery connected so if the battery totally dies it may fail to power on at all. Assuming it will power on, the protection should still be present.

BTW have you opened it up to see how hard it would be to replace the batteries? I've replaced the batteries in some UPS's with non-user replaceable batteries.

 

[Unkno]

Originally posted by: MWink
You're not quite correct either. You are probably referring to an online UPS which converts AC to DC and back to perfect AC. I have confirmed that the battery is not necessary for an online UPS to operate. I got ahold of an old true online UPS and it worked fine despite having dead batteries. I even removed the batteries and it still functioned. Of course it died within seconds if unplugged but the point is it didn't require the batteries to operate. Anyway it doesn't really matter because almost no average user is going to have an online UPS (as they typically start around $500).

The ironic thing is that many other UPS's will refuse to power on without a battery connected so if the battery totally dies it may fail to power on at all. Assuming it will power on, the protection should still be present.

BTW have you opened it up to see how hard it would be to replace the batteries? I've replaced the batteries in some UPS's with non-user replaceable batteries.

where can you buy the batteries for the ups?

 

[MWink]

You can buy batteries from many places. Mouser and Portable Power Systems to name a couple. Just try to get one's of the same dimensions and capacity. I also highly recommend Panasonic batteries as they seem to outlast most other brands I've seen. You can also just Google the size in volts and amp hours (for example, google "12V 7AH SLA"), add "SLA" because they're Sealed Lead Acid batteries.

 

[TwoBills]

If you've got an Interstate battery warehouse near you, they've got 12v - 7ah - sla batteries for about $15. Here's a link. Click on the locations link at the top right of the page.