UPS battery recommendation

[Mad_Professor]

My battery backup died again due to bad batteries.

I got some crap Werker battery, only seems to last a year and half before dying again.

12v 9ah F2 terminal

What are some good brand batteries for this type of application?

[diif]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

We has these in our server UPSs at my old place.
http://www.csb-battery.com/english/0...ies.php?fid=17
Not the cheapest but designed for the job.

[kc8adu]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

i know the agm xtreme + and werker stuff at batteries +/batteries and bulbs are cheap junk but if its an apc you need to check the float voltage and if high adjust it.
if the unit is well built/older a truck battery outboard is a nice upgrade.

[Mad_Professor]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

i know the agm xtreme + and werker stuff at batteries +/batteries and bulbs are cheap junk but if its an apc you need to check the float voltage and if high adjust it.
if the unit is well built/older a truck battery outboard is a nice upgrade.

Sadly I don't have an older apc unit, it's a fancy one with a lcd screen.

Apparently the date code on the battery is 120108 = 2012 Jan 08.
So I made it 2.5 years! YAY! At $42/battery these should have lasted 5 years.
After buying 4 sets over the past 6 years (2batts per set) I'm convinced they are just garbage.

I think I'll give CSB a try.
http://www.atbatt.com/csb-hrl-1234w-...fe-battery.asp

[eccerr0r]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

I have to replace mine too (3 x 6V,12Ah), so these werkers are bad, power sonics are also bad?

One would think SLA should have been a perfected art by now, as the technology is many many years old...

And I wish my UPS used 12V and not this crazy 18V...

[sadeoo7]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

csb yuasa datasafe and genesys batteries are really good i work in a ups service center and these are surely the most reliable ones but they also cost abit of money... power sonic batteries arent bad too but they arent great either so its what suits your wallet really...


sorry for my english im french

[eccerr0r]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

Thanks, I just had all of my Powersonics die on me. It's actually kind of funny, I bought three for my UPS. After 1 year (the warranty period) about 2 months in, one kicked the bucket, I opened it and filled more water in it, lasted a little longer but eventually puked out. I bought a werker to replace it. Then a second PS choked out after about another 6 months. I pulled out the two remaining PS and temporarily replaced them with replaced them with two used 12V cells in parallel (two 12V's in parallel as they were smaller capacity + the 6V werker in series). The werker then kicked the bucket after another 9 months or so, and I replaced the werker with the last good PS I took out earlier. Another 5 months pass and the last PS conked out. Now I have no more cells I can juggle around and the UPS has been dead since then.

And I really didn't have any power outages, these problems were detected during selftest. Now I could possibly have to blame the charging circuit but the voltage did not look too out of whack and at least I didn't think the batteries were cooking...

Perhaps they were... dunno...

[redwire]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

I think they're all made in China now, even Panasonics which I usually use.
If the charging voltage isn't high, and the batteries are cool, I expect a few years. Some UPS run warm and overcharge a bit and the batteries don't last.
Don't confuse UPS-rated SLA (high discharge rate) and normal SLA's (alarm systems etc.), that also gives short life.

[eccerr0r]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

I wouldn't think there's much difference between "high discharge rate" and "low lifetime" however. The higher the discharge rate, you'd need more plates, and if there are more plates, they'd need to be thinner to fit in the same amount of space. They'd also have a higher capacity in general too due to the amount of active area. Unfortunately the thinner plates will last a shorter period of time. You'd need a certain amount of acid to fill in the voids too, it's not like a NiCd or Li-ion electrolyte where they don't get used.

I would imagine most sealed lead acids are all made for "UPS" and none made for starting cars - the F1 and F2 terminals were not meant for that kind of abuse.

Incidentally, the two 12V SLAs that I was temporarily using are still alive... One got put into a small 12V UPS, other one is spared... I can't imagine either of these two could last much longer...

[sadeoo7]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

I think they're all made in China now, even Panasonics which I usually use.

yeah these days most of the batteries are made in china but there are still a couple of brands who make them at some other place like Yuasa (Taiwan) and CSB (Vietnam)

[dmill89]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

yeah these days most of the batteries are made in china but there are still a couple of brands who make them at some other place like Yuasa (Taiwan) and CSB (Vietnam)

Yes, and it seems to be pretty much a crap shoot with SLAs anymore, I've had "good" brands fail quickly and "cheap"/off brands last a lot longer than expected. The UPS on my main desktop came with Yuasa batteries that lasted less than 2 years, the Chinese "Universal Battery" brand replacements that I paid about $15/ea. (12V 7.2Ah) for online have lasted over three years so far, the Chinese "Casil" 12V 9Ah backup battery in my FiOS box (less than $20) lasted nearly 6 years before biting the dust (not completely dead, but capacity low enough to fail the monthly "self test") and was replaced with another of the same. For SLAs I generally just get the cheapest ones I can find (including shipping) online (Batteries Plus/Battery Warehouse, etc. sell the same stuff re-branded with a big markup) of the correct voltage/capacity, I've had as good of/better luck with them as any (and at $15-20 a pop it is no big loss if they only last a couple years).

[stj]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

it helps if you select the right type for the job.
some are designed to sit on trickle-charge forever for UPS / Emergency Lighting systems,
others are designed to be constantly cycled for use in equipment.

[japlytic]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

In a Wagner catalog, I have read that there are two types of SLA batteries:
Cyclic: Deep cycle type for motorised vehicle (wheelchairs, golf carts etc.)
UPS: Specially designed for UPS applications and are generally wattage rated.

Typically, I only recommend using SLA batteries which are rated for UPS appliactions in UPS units.

[eccerr0r]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

After thinking about it, UPS batteries should be more like car/starting batteries. Most of the time stay charged, then drained once in a while. But this means that if you get lots of power outages, it will wear out quickly.

Though curious: those with UPS, how often do you get power outages? (Also mention how often selftests occur, and how much the batteries get discharged for that.)

I think my UPS just cooks batteries, just not sure what circumstances it does so. When I first did the initial charge, the batteries did warm up quite a bit. But eventually it cooled off. Perhaps need a temperature sensor to see when it warms up. A weekly selftest for a few seconds is run by the UPS which counts against the cycles but it should be so low that it should be negligible...

[dmill89]

Re: UPS battery recommendation

Though curious: those with UPS, how often do you get power outages? (Also mention how often selftests occur, and how much the batteries get discharged for that.)

Of course it depends where you live some places have more reliable power than others, for me long outages that actually drain the batteries occur only a couple times a year, brief "blips" that only last a few seconds don't drain the batteries are much more common (a few times a month).

Like you said, UPS/Emergency Lighting batteries like car batteries aren't designed for deep discharge, and frequent long outages that lead to deep discharge will significantly shorten their life, for most people long outages are probably infrequent enough that it is a non-issue for the most part.

If you do live some place that gets frequent long power outages you may want to consider deep-cycle rated batteries rather than the typical UPS/Emergency Lighting ones (deep-cycle batteries are typically more expensive, but have thicker plates and can handle regular deep discharge), or consider installing a standby generator if grid power is that unreliable.