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UPS battery replacement

J

JK

Jan 1, 1970
0
I had to do an emergency replacement last weekend. The bad
battery was:

12vdc, 4 amp hour gell cell

All I could find locally was:

12vdc, 5 amp hour gell cell


The batteries are identical except for the amp hour ratings.

I don't *think* moving up an amp hour should be a problem with this
type of battery. Am I right?

Thanks for your time.
 
I had to do an emergency replacement last weekend. The bad
battery was: 12vdc, 4 amp hour gell cell All I could find
locally was: 12vdc, 5 amp hour gell cell The batteries are
identical except for the amp hour ratings. I don't *think*
moving up an amp hour should be a problem with this type of
battery. Am I right?

An increase like that won't hurt, except to need 25% more time to fully charge the battery, and notice that older backup supplies fully charge in 8-12hours, while newer ones need up to twice that time (seems to make batteries last longer). IOW even a much lower charging current won't hurt, and it's only when you switch to a far larger battery that current can become too low (car batteries are rated for 60 amp hours).
 
P

Paul Drahn

Jan 1, 1970
0
I had to do an emergency replacement last weekend. The bad
battery was:

12vdc, 4 amp hour gell cell

All I could find locally was:

12vdc, 5 amp hour gell cell


The batteries are identical except for the amp hour ratings.

I don't *think* moving up an amp hour should be a problem with this
type of battery. Am I right?

Thanks for your time.
It they are the same size, the rating is just a marketing ploy!

Paul
 
M

mike

Jan 1, 1970
0
Watch out for gel cells that aren't rated for SMPS service. Those
suckers get drawn down _fast_, and lots of the cheaper ones won't
survive. (Ask me how I know.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs
I've had that same question. I get that cheapo batteries are typically
lower quality. But how do you tell that an expensive battery isn't just
a cheapo battery with a higher price tag? They all seem to have the same
specs.
Any advice on brands?
 
W

William Sommerwerck

Jan 1, 1970
0
Any advice on brands?

I've bought lead-acid batteries for several products (lantern, audio
analyzer, alarm system), and have been happy with CS3 batteries. My alarm
system uses Power Sonic, but I don't know what that proves.
 
M

mike

Jan 1, 1970
0
I've had good luck with the on-shore and European brands, e.g. Varta.
IME usually there's a sticker inside the unit or a table in the manual
that gives recommended battery types.

I tend to buy used IBM e-server UPSes, which are rebranded APC SmartUPS
units, and seem to go much cheaper than the APC-branded ones. I've got
three 750 VA ones for $50 each, so even with a $60 battery it's still
pretty affordable. (The supplies themselves seem pretty bulletproof.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs
I buy my UPSes at garage sales. They're the cheapo consumer toys that went
dead and were left in the garage a few more years. Batteries are always
toast.
Power around here rarely goes out for more than a second. If it's out
longer than that, it's probably gonna be out for longer than an affordable
UPS could handle. Current system is down to about a minute run time.
Should replace the battery.
 
M

mike

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm not a big fan of the consumer models, e.g. the APC BackUPS. The
SmartUPSes connect to the server, and in Gnome, the battery icon on the
desktop automatically tells you what the UPS is doing. I assume Windows
does something similar. They're also much better built, so for $50,
they're an excellent deal.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs
APC would be a step up for me ;-)
I have no need to know what the UPS is doing.
The lights going out are my clue that something
happened.
It's always good to match the tool to the job.
For me, a free garage sale ups that keeps my system
from resetting on a 1-second power glitch gives
me all the bang for none of the buck ;-)
But it is time to get a new battery for it.
 
K

klem kedidelhopper

Jan 1, 1970
0
APC would be a step up for me ;-)
I have no need to know what the UPS is doing.
The lights going out are my clue that something
happened.
It's always good to match the tool to the job.
For me, a free garage sale ups that keeps my system
from resetting on a 1-second power glitch gives
me all the bang for none of the buck ;-)
But it is time to get a new battery for it.

I buy my batteries from the local Batteries Plus store and they sell
the "Werker" brand. These are probably not top of the line but they
are cost effective batteries for service work. For emergency lighting
applications I've noticed that the equipment seems to charge the
batteries quite heavily and so they last only about three years. Most
alarm systems will go about five. I designed and built the charger for
my own alarm system. I use a common 12 volt 7 amp hour battery and I
trickle charge it at about a 10ma. rate. This is easily done by
putting a small incandescent lamp in series with the charging current.
When the battery is low the lamp is lit. As the terminal voltage
increases the lamp dims and eventually goes out. The exact lamp
employed will depend on the battery type,and the magnitude of the
charging voltage applied. It's a bit of trial and error to find the
right lamp that will give you the trickle charge you're looking for
once the battery is fully charged, but it makes a great deal of
difference in the life of the battery. I've got almost 9 years on this
one so far and that's pretty remarkable for a Chinese Werker battery.
Lenny.
 
T

tm

Jan 1, 1970
0
who where said:
Indeed. IMOE the things that kill UPS batteries are:

1. excessive float voltage
2. the heat that results from 1
3. far too aggressive recharge after discharge

A bit off-(thread)-topic, but I have a $20k+ communicatios test set
that uses Gates cylindrical sealed lead-acid cells in the battery
pack. The inbuilt charger design was such that these sets seem to
kill packs ina couple of years. Tiring of this recurrent cost, I
rejigged the charging circuit some 12 years ago, and haven't had a
pack die since. Sample of one isn't generally considered
statistically significant, but this is to me.

This does sound like maybe an IFR communications service monitor.
If so, can you give any details on your mod?

Thanks

tm
 
T

tm

Jan 1, 1970
0
who where said:
Yep, 1200S


Well, it was 12 or so years back. I may have documented the change
somewhere, and I'll look through my mountain of "design notes" for it,
but I wouldn't go without food and drink waiting if I were you. I
certainly didn't put the note in the Service Manual.

Ok, no big rush as I need to save up for a round tuit before I get to work
on it.

tm
 
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