APC UPS units - troubleshooting

[willawake]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

hmm one of the rack apc make battery warning
all batteries test 13.33v though

fucking POS

[kc8adu]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

anyone else notice the blatent ripoff on fujitsu?

another different china brand found in a brand new APC ups. the funny thing is they put all these APC stickers on the battery but it would probably cost nothing to get them APC branded at the factory....

here is what they have in the shop today



its a Fujitron FN-1272 12v 7.2Ah sealed lead-acid rechargeable battery
the shopkeeper has put all his faith in Fujitron now........he says they are made in japan...my ass....anyway there is no reference in google for this model or company....except this post shortly......

at the moment i am thinking the Back-ups RS are better at not overcharging the batteries than the smart-ups. i dont recall changing batteries in any RS yet and i have some over 3 years.

[Rubycon]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

Wanna play the "drop a wrench" game in there?

Things go boom

I like it when it goes boom!

http://media.putfile.com/boom-42-78

[willawake]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting



another different china brand found in a brand new APC ups. the funny thing is they put all these APC stickers on the battery but it would probably cost nothing to get them APC branded at the factory....

here is what they have in the shop today



its a Fujitron FN-1272 12v 7.2Ah sealed lead-acid rechargeable battery
the shopkeeper has put all his faith in Fujitron now........he says they are made in japan...my ass....anyway there is no reference in google for this model or company....except this post shortly......

at the moment i am thinking the Back-ups RS are better at not overcharging the batteries than the smart-ups. i dont recall changing batteries in any RS yet and i have some over 3 years.

[jbbenson]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

Hate to thread hijack here, but I've got an APC SmartUPS 1400 (2U Rackmount) that is stuck with the voltage trim function active. Incoming line voltage is about 123VAC, but the unit reports it as 137V. If I connect the UPS to my variac and drop the line voltage down to about 107, the trim turns off, and the UPS reads normal line voltage. Something is jacked in the sense circuit.... my bets are on a bad solder joint, resistor or capacitor. It has worked fine in the past, and occasionally (rarely) will function properly. Anyone have an idea where to start looking?

[hardwareguy]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

I'd stay away from car staring batteries, they don't like to be discharged. Marine/RV batteries should be fine but sometimes you can get a good deal on AGM batteries and I like these the best.

The only other potential problem I can see with adding a big battery to a UPS is with the little consumer grade units with inverters that look a little flimsy. Some may be designed to only operate for a few minutes before overheating, in this case the tiny battery the small UPS comes with discharges before the circuit overheats. This should only apply to the cheesy UPS units for home computers, the REAL units like the Smart UPS will handle a nice battery upgrade quite happily.

As for battery bulging, I have seen it in almost any UPS brand, Tripp-Lite, APC, MinuteMan, you name it. I carry a tiny crowbar with me on battery change calls now.....

[bgavin]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

I was thinking about using one of those marine deep-cycle batteries, and one of my APC SmartUPS boxes.

[gonzo0815]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

Some car batteries are not desinged for a complete discharge.
The lead is transformed into leadsulphat during discharging, and it needs more space than lead.
If the batterie is not desinged for deep discharge, the sulphate will dammage the insulator and the lead plates geometry.

From my experience, the higher grade car batteries tolerate the deepdischarging, if they are not stored in this condition over a long periode.
An other option would be solar batteries.

[kc8adu]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

Is there any good reason why 12v UPS units could not use external automobile batteries?

no.
the apc units are the best for use with external batteries.
and even a car battery will last a long time as its mostly on float with an occasional discharge.
i like to add a fan to keep it cooler.

[Per Hansson]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

Is there any good reason why 12v UPS units could not use external automobile batteries?

No

Not unless you overload the charging circuit, but as has been seen from our UPS'es here it's likley to be the other way around

But also remember that automotive batteries do not do well if you discharge them, they should only be allowed to run down to 70% capacity or so and then get charged directly...

[bgavin]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

Is there any good reason why 12v UPS units could not use external automobile batteries?

[kc8adu]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

those look like wet nicd/nimh.
thats a bunch of money sittng there.
btw look at the front battery in your pic.
notice the less melted cell top left?
thats likely the first dead cell.
the constant voltage charger will happily dump current up to its preset limit into the batts even as cells short.
the remaining good cells hit thermal runaway and melt due to the overcharge.

[Per Hansson]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

here is one of the emergency power rooms on a cruise ship. (ships have UPS also) They also had a brand new emergency generator which at 2000 rpm was fucking loud.

Wanna play the "drop a wrench" game in there?

Things go boom

[willawake]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting





here is one of the emergency power rooms on a cruise ship. (ships have UPS also) They also had a brand new emergency generator which at 2000 rpm was fucking loud.

[willawake]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

willa; in the thread you linked above

One of the batteries had cracked open, nothing bad though. The UPS was still running fine, just 0 seconds runtime of course...

This was the Italan Riello 6kW UPS...

lower down in the thread i posted a cracked battery from a smart-ups.

I checked the other UPS today, same model and the batteries are showing some bulging, not as bad as the first though. i will replace those tomorrow as well.

heres a pic of the batts before i dispose of them in a (cough) environmental way.

[Per Hansson]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

willa; in the thread you linked above

One of the batteries had cracked open, nothing bad though. The UPS was still running fine, just 0 seconds runtime of course...

This was the Italan Riello 6kW UPS...

[willawake]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

have an APC SmartUPS v/s 650 where the battery failed three times this way

now its getting interesting. who else has a smartups where the batteries failed this way.

personally i have only seen bulging in smartups.

in other ups have seen failed batteries which were hot but with no bulging and one time i saw one powersonic leaking from a terminal. but otherwise just batteries not holding a charge and no other signs.

[Rainbow]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

Batteries shouldn't fail like this.
I have an APC SmartUPS v/s 650 where the battery failed three times this way. Now it's on the shelf as I suspect that it overcharges the battery.
I changed dead batteries in old (maybe 1994) BackUPS 600 (non-user-replaceable batteries - I had to completely disassemble it) at work. The batteries (two 6V in series) had no bulging at all, just increased internal resistance - I think this is the way they should fail because of age.

[willawake]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

i saw some new batteries in the shop (smaller ones) which looked like the fujistu logo but said fuji(something) cant seem to locate it on the internet on the fujitsu site. i wouldnt be surprised if they were fujitsu cos they have some fujitsu flashlights in the shop, perfect for the ships. I would like to try some fujitsu batteries.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: APC UPS units - troubleshooting

I think Yausa is pretty good also, but didn't they get bought out?