Opinion needed, should I ditch my UPS or not?

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vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
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Hi, need a third party opinion here.
I have a couple of APC 1500 UPS. I changed the batteries in both about a year ago, until than they were unused for about 2 years as the batteries were dead.
Now one of them, with the lightest load, a switch and the monitor, is beeping and sho bad battery warrning, should I just ditch it and get a new Cyber power unit,?

Both of the APC units are about 15 year old, but the new ups cost the same as replacement battery for both

Thanks
 

vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
634
76
28
Even though it eats through them this fast
I changed the cells last year.
The second unit is working as far as I can tell with the same batteries. I replaced cells in both units at the same time, from the same vendor. It was cheaper to get 8 cells than buy them 4 at a time
 

audiophonicz

Member
Jan 11, 2021
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I got the battery warning once. turned it off, reseated the pack, no more warning. Has lasted a couple power blips since then.
 
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Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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New York City
www.glaver.org
Even though it eats through them this fast
I changed the cells last year.
The second unit is working as far as I can tell with the same batteries. I replaced cells in both units at the same time, from the same vendor. It was cheaper to get 8 cells than buy them 4 at a time
There is an issue with the float voltage creeping up over time. Depending on the age of the unit it might have hand-picked resistors to set the voltage, a trimpot inside, or adjustable via hidden commands on the serial port. Do a web search for "apc float voltage adjust" for the specifics.

My advice is generally: Back-UPS - throw it out; beige Smart-UPS - throw it out; black Smart-UPS without LCD - replace batteries and adjust; Smart-UPS with LCD - try replacing the batteries once and if they fail again within 2 years, throw it out.

The newer APC models have been "value engineered" (cost-cutting) into complete garbage. OTOH, I have a 25-year-old Matrix 5000 that still works fine, nothing needed except for batteries every 3-4 years and replacing the occasional noisy fan.
 

vl1969

Active Member
Feb 5, 2014
634
76
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Whell my are rack mount black units. They are old, at least 15 or 20 years old. I just changed the batteries last year in both units and now one of them showing bad battery light. Guess in the trash it goes, I switch all to the second unit that seams ok for now and start looking for a replacement.

Thanks.
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
1,140
594
113
New York City
www.glaver.org
Whell my are rack mount black units. They are old, at least 15 or 20 years old. I just changed the batteries last year in both units and now one of them showing bad battery light. Guess in the trash it goes, I switch all to the second unit that seams ok for now and start looking for a replacement.
If they're that old they should have decent components and are probably adjustable. I have some SU3000RM2U units of that vintage still going strong. You'll need a multimeter to measure the voltage across the battery pack and a serial cable (USB-to-serial works fine, but you can't use the USB port on the UPS - if it has one - directly) and the oddball-pinout APC serial cable to send commands to adjust the voltage. If there's a management card installed, you need to remove it or the UPS won't accept commands.
 
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BoredSysadmin

Not affiliated with Maxell
Mar 2, 2019
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I recommend Eaton or their rebranded HP versions. They don't chew batteries as much as APC. I have both, and the difference is massive.
The key in Eaton's charging schedule is different from APC. They claim it can extend batteries' lifetime big time.
 

Wasmachineman_NL

Wittgenstein the Supercomputer FTW!
Aug 7, 2019
1,872
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I recommend Eaton or their rebranded HP versions. They don't chew batteries as much as APC. I have both, and the difference is massive.
The key in Eaton's charging schedule is different from APC. They claim it can extend batteries' lifetime big time.
Eaton has some special sauce they call ABM.

That being said, i'm happy with the Ellipse Pro 1600 I have protecting my system. Caught a 1-second brownout not long ago!