UPS Batteries

[Maxxarcade]

I need an RBC7 pack for a UPS I'm fixing. On ebay there are a few sellers, but looks like I'm limited to batteries made either in Vietnam or China.

I've used the batteries from 'nam in a few of my UPS's with no trouble so far, but I was curious if the China ones would be better. They are rated for 20Ah vs. 18 for the others, but I'm more for longevity more than amperage.

My only other choice is pay $$$ for originals from APC, and these old UPS's aren't worth that

[kc8adu]

Re: UPS Batteries

go external.
just fixed up a smart ups 650 for a neighbor.
added a 24v fan and run it on a d31 yellowtop optima.

[Per Hansson]

Re: UPS Batteries

Yup, those are standard size batteries

Buy them alone and use the cable and fuse you already have, that will shave about 200% off the price, and it will still fit inside the chassi...

I actually bought exactly that setup off Elfa, for a APC Smart-UPS SUA1500I

They are artno 69-479-07 (which incidentally also are 10 year lifetime instead of 5 year)

Their dimensions are: 181x167x77, 17aH 12v

Edit; also be aware that lead batteries have a very poor shelf life, after 6 months they should be charged again and if they have not been charged after 12months they will be in pretty poor condition...

So just because they say "never used" or "brand new" does not really need to mean anything...

[bgavin]

Re: UPS Batteries

Please post links on where to buy batteries.

I usually send all my client's UPS to Coastal Business Machine for repair.

They go through the unit, replace the battery and give a 3 year warranty on the whole thing. The last one was $116 including shipping both ways. They send a prepaid shipping box that you tape up and drop at the local UPS Store.

[Galvanized]

Re: UPS Batteries

www.gotbatteries.com/

The PowerSonic are made in Mexico, Panasonic and Yuasa are the better brands.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: UPS Batteries

Well, Looks like the best price/performance ratio is with the batteries from Gruber. They seem to work pretty well, and only about $30 for a whole set to refurb a Smart-UPS 1250. If I had the money I'd go for the Yausa or Panasonic, but sheesh, it's about 4x the price

[Maxxarcade]

Re: UPS Batteries

go external.
just fixed up a smart ups 650 for a neighbor.
added a 24v fan and run it on a d31 yellowtop optima.

What kind of cables did you use, and how much runtime do you get? I could do this w/ my servers, and have them still running even after power loss for a whole day of work

[pentium]

Re: UPS Batteries

I always see stacks of UPS systems that are trash just because their batteries cost more than the unit. Too bad a car battery can't be used. The system would fry itself.
I wonder how a UPS will react when working wwith a 12v motorcycle battery?
You would need to ventilate that system well.

[dood]

Re: UPS Batteries

I always see stacks of UPS systems that are trash just because their batteries cost more than the unit. Too bad a car battery can't be used. The system would fry itself.
I wonder how a UPS will react when working wwith a 12v motorcycle battery?
You would need to ventilate that system well.

Car batteries can be used quite successfully, even with small UPSs. As long as the voltage is right, the higher amperage will just mean it'll take longer to charge.

[willawake]

Re: UPS Batteries

The PowerSonic are made in Mexico, Panasonic and Yuasa are the better brands.

I am not happy at all with PowerSonic although how long they remained on the shelf is a factor.

KC8 mentioned that vietnam made batteries are good.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: UPS Batteries

I always see stacks of UPS systems that are trash just because their batteries cost more than the unit. Too bad a car battery can't be used. The system would fry itself.
I wonder how a UPS will react when working wwith a 12v motorcycle battery?
You would need to ventilate that system well.

I've picked up lots of UPS's from the trash, and I'm using most of them now. The Smart-UPS 1250 units I picked up are by far the best I've used. In fact I got about an hour of runtime from the one on my main PC, with the ~$40 Vietnam batteries. I also got the special serial cable to connect to the computer so it shuts down automatically on low battery.

I had a chance to get a 15KVA 3 Phase UPS for $100 a while back, but I had no way of moving the thing

[japlytic]

Re: UPS Batteries

A lot of UPS units I have found discarded often had bad batteries.
When placing UPS batteries in series, ensure their voltage range is within 0.05V (or ideally, 0.01V) during installation (e.g. 12.6V for one battery, 12.62V for the other battery - range is 0.02V).