APC smart-UPS's

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  • xelectech
    retired tech
    • Nov 2014
    • 238
    • USA

    #1

    APC smart-UPS's

    Haven't posted much here, but have been reading alot and picking up all kinds of great tidbits from most areas of the fora, thanks to all of you who keep this
    great font of info going...

    Anyway, I've got 4 Smart-UPS's, (one 1000, two 1400s and a 1500), all of which I've modified to run with external batteries. One of the units used to overheat its pair of batteries, until I applied a circuit modification found on badcaps.net to lower the float voltage (don't have the thread handy at the moment), which worked like a charm. However, of all the UPSs, this one has the longest cabling to the batteries, made from a scrounged pair of jumper cables, using about 8' or so of what is ,I think, 10 AWG fine strand wire.

    This is also the only UPS that ocassionally displays a row of blinking leds (the ones that show over the battery icon) - they will just occasionally start blinking, (all 5 of 'em) for no apparent reason, and for a varying length of time, kind of like what they do while doing a self test except no load is being supplied to the batteries (don't hear the inverter starting up and no other leds change state and the load leds show just a light load (only first led is lit). I quess I'll try shortening the cabling if I can't think of any thing else to try.

    Just wondering does this ring a bell with anyone?

    Just as a data point I thought I would mention that I've previously used wet storage batteries with my UPSs, but was cured of that when I had a pair of deep cycle batteries explode. I'd had them about a year and a half when one evening I heard a rather loud report from the computer room, and I found the top of the case cracked and the batteries low on electrolyte, so topped up with DW and figured that to be the reason; I used 'em another couple months, keeping an eye on the water level, until the evening when they exploded again; but, this time it was like a shotgun blast, it shook the whole house! Sprayed acid all around and this time the case was cracked down below the water level and leaking acid so I gave up on using wet batteries.

    I expect it was a defectively made battery with an intermittent connection inside, but the warranty was up on them, and of course the vendor said they're not responsible. So, just thought I'd suggest for anyone who's maybe using wet batteries that you may want to somehow ensure that the acid will be contained if something like that does happen; some guy has since warned me that dry- and gel-cell batteries can also make quite a mess if they get a direct lightning strike, but I've not really done a whole lot to protect against that, so far.

    Sorry to be so long-winded. Anyone else had batteries blow up on them?
  • xelectech
    retired tech
    • Nov 2014
    • 238
    • USA

    #2
    Re: APC smart-UPS's

    After totally rearranging placement of batteries and computer gear and getting rid of the 8' of jumper cable, I found a brass screw (from one of the receptacles) rattling around inside the UPS, so I think that the odd behavior was most likely due to that - from the looks of the screw, I'm lucky there were no copious amounts of smoke released.
    Last edited by xelectech; 04-17-2015, 04:33 AM.

    Comment

    • TechGeek
      Computer Geek
      • Jan 2015
      • 2254
      • USA

      #3
      Re: APC smart-UPS's

      Battery exploded?? EPIC FAIL!!
      Don't buy those $10 PSU "specials". They fail, and they have taken whole computers with them.

      My computer doubles as a space heater.

      Permanently Retired Systems:
      RIP Advantech UNO-3072LA (2008-2021) - Decommissioned and taken out of service permanently due to lack of software support for it. Not very likely to ever be recommissioned again.
      Asus Q550LF (Old main laptop, 2014-2022) - Decommissioned and stripped due to a myriad of problems, the main battery bloating being the final nail in the coffin.


      Kooky and Kool Systems
      - 1996 Power Macintosh 7200/120 + PC Compatibility Card - Under Restoration
      - 1993 Gateway 2000 80486DX/50 - Fully Operational/WIP
      - 2004 Athlon 64 Retro Gaming System - Indefinitely Parked
      - Main Workstation - Fully operational!

      sigpic

      Comment

      • xelectech
        retired tech
        • Nov 2014
        • 238
        • USA

        #4
        Re: APC smart-UPS's

        Originally posted by TechGeek
        Battery exploded?? EPIC FAIL!!
        Nothing very epic there, nobody was injured, no fire involved; just majorly inconvenient...YMMV
        Last edited by xelectech; 04-18-2015, 08:02 AM.

        Comment

        • ben7
          Capaholic
          • Jan 2011
          • 4059
          • USA

          #5
          Re: APC smart-UPS's

          Perhaps the UPS was over-charging the battery? Or maybe it was a faulty battery. Something had to have ignited the hydrogen gas. Sparks from a bad connection maybe?
          Muh-soggy-knee

          Comment

          • xelectech
            retired tech
            • Nov 2014
            • 238
            • USA

            #6
            Re: APC smart-UPS's

            Originally posted by ben7
            Perhaps the UPS was over-charging the battery? Or maybe it was a faulty battery. Something had to have ignited the hydrogen gas. Sparks from a bad connection maybe?
            I think the charging voltage was Ok, before the deep cycle batteries I had two regular car batteries that lasted 9 years or so (really low capacity towards the ends, though).

            So, I suspect an internal defect , which resulted in a spark inside the battery.

            Comment

            • kc8adu
              Super Moderator
              • Nov 2003
              • 8832
              • U.S.A!

              #7
              Re: APC smart-UPS's

              most likely a bad battery.
              trojan recalled a bunch of deep cycles for just this issue.
              i found out i had 4 dry charged that were subject to the recall.local dealer thanked me for checking rather than using them.i get all the cpsc notices and sometimes it catches things like this here.

              Comment

              • xelectech
                retired tech
                • Nov 2014
                • 238
                • USA

                #8
                Re: APC smart-UPS's

                Originally posted by kc8adu
                most likely a bad battery.
                trojan recalled a bunch of deep cycles for just this issue.
                i found out i had 4 dry charged that were subject to the recall.local dealer thanked me for checking rather than using them.i get all the cpsc notices and sometimes it catches things like this here.
                Are you using them for UPS duty? Just curious if so what kind of life you get out of 'em,
                what capacity they are, etc.

                What are cpsc notices, sounds like a good thing to keep abreast of.

                Comment

                • kc8adu
                  Super Moderator
                  • Nov 2003
                  • 8832
                  • U.S.A!

                  #9
                  Re: APC smart-UPS's

                  i have some 4d and 8d that are 14 years old now.
                  one is under my bench with an old best power 850va ups on it.
                  i test hf radios and boom car amps with it too.
                  setting the float to optimum and doing an occasional eq at around 16v for a few hours helps.
                  and the cpsc is a government safety agency.
                  http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/

                  Comment

                  • xelectech
                    retired tech
                    • Nov 2014
                    • 238
                    • USA

                    #10
                    Re: APC smart-UPS's

                    Originally posted by kc8adu
                    i have some 4d and 8d that are 14 years old now.
                    one is under my bench with an old best power 850va ups on it.
                    i test hf radios and boom car amps with it too.
                    setting the float to optimum and doing an occasional eq at around 16v for a few hours helps.
                    and the cpsc is a government safety agency.
                    http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/
                    Awesome battery life, kinda makes the initial price seem reasonable.

                    Thanks for the info and the link.

                    Comment

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