Please help me understand this MegaRAID BBU09 stuff

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chrispitude

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Dec 14, 2017
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Hello all!

Long-time 3ware user here. I started out with a 3ware Escalade 7000-4 way back in the day. I remember loading the drivers from floppy to use with both Windows and linux. I remember having to edit the linux driver source and recompile to work around a bug. I eventually worked my way up to a 7500-4, then a 9500S-4LP, then a 9650-4LPML. 3ware has always been absolutely rock-solid for my home storage array needs. I've never had to give me more than a second thought, even with the occasional drive failure.

I just took the MegaRAID plunge and ordered an LSI 9267-8i with CacheCade hardware key (for $70!) from an Ebay seller. I'm pretty excited. I've got six 3TB WD Red drives to use for a RAID6 array, and I'll add the SSD cache whenever an SSD deal comes along.

But what confuses me right now is the battery backup situation. I see that I'll need a LSIiBBU09 (LSI00279). But I see this described as a battery in some places and a super capacitor in others. Are these all the same thing, or are there different versions? And I see mounting brackets and cables and cards and I have no idea what the heck I need to buy or where I can buy it reasonably for less than the cost of the controller AND CacheCade key combined...

Your help is greatly appreciated!
 
marcoi

marcoi

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Apr 6, 2013
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the batteries will eventually need to be replaced. so if you go that route, you are better off trying to get new or you might get a dead one used on ebay. i had a hard time sourcing a battery version so i got the cap version. the cap is just a large capacitor that stores power, it takes a little time for it to build up a charge, so if you leave you server off for a while, when you power it back on, the mega raid software will complain about it till it is charged. once charged it should provide enough power to recover write during power outage ,etc.

The cap to me is a superior option since it never needs to be replaced. Now i am not sure if a card had a battery pack version you can swap out to a cap or not. In the end when i couldn't find a battery pack, i just bought another card that had the cap included.
 
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chrispitude

Member
Dec 14, 2017
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Allentown, PA
marcoi said:
the batteries will eventually need to be replaced. so if you go that route, you are better off trying to get new or you might get a dead one used on ebay. i had a hard time sourcing a battery version so i got the cap version. the cap is just a large capacitor that stores power, it takes a little time for it to build up a charge, so if you leave you server off for a while, when you power it back on, the mega raid software will complain about it till it is charged. once charged it should provide enough power to recover write during power outage ,etc.

The cap to me is a superior option since it never needs to be replaced. Now i am not sure if a card had a battery pack version you can swap out to a cap or not. In the end when i couldn't find a battery pack, i just bought another card that had the cap included.
Click to expand...
This is great information, thank you!!

Do the battery and supercapacitor options go under the same or different part numbers?

Can you show us a picture of how your cap is mounted/connected/etc.?
 
marcoi

marcoi

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chrispitude

Member
Dec 14, 2017
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Allentown, PA
marcoi said:
The bat and cap do have different part numbers and to add to the confusion, each relabeled manufacture also has their own p/n.

here is an old post with pics of various batteries.
Help on BBU replacement

here is an ebay ad with card with cap
Intel RAID Controller Storage controller RS25AB080 90 Days RTB Warranty | eBay

i dont have any pictures of the cap mounted in my case. but you can see it comes with a long cable so you can mount it almost anywhere.
Click to expand...
Okay, it's starting to come together! So the supercapacitor is the set of wrapped cylinders that I had thought was a battery pack. :) When I search Ebay for

LSI 49571-03

I see a number of them with cables. So for about $20, I buy one of those and plug it into my card somewhere, and that's it - everything's safe against short-duration power loss, even when using CacheCade?
 
marcoi

marcoi

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Apr 6, 2013
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Gotha Florida
chrispitude said:
Okay, it's starting to come together! So the supercapacitor is the set of wrapped cylinders that I had thought was a battery pack. :) When I search Ebay for

LSI 49571-03

I see a number of them with cables. So for about $20, I buy one of those and plug it into my card somewhere, and that's it - everything's safe against short-duration power loss, even when using CacheCade?
Click to expand...
im not 100% sure if you can swap cap vs battery like that. you could look for details on your version of the raid card and see if it supports both.
 
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chrispitude

Member
Dec 14, 2017
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Allentown, PA
marcoi said:
im not 100% sure if you can swap cap vs battery like that. you could look for details on your version of the raid card and see if it supports both.
Click to expand...
Hmm, that could be problematic (for me). I've got a 9267-8i and it seems to be some oddball variant that isn't included in the usual LSI literature.

Are the connectors for the battery module and supercapacitor module the same or different?

Edit: Okay, I found an Ebay auction showing a battery module attached to a connector on the back of a 9267-8i:

LSI 9267-8i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 512MB 8Port SATA/SAS LSISAS2208+ BBU09 Battery | eBay

and that appears to be a different (much larger) connector than used for the supercapacitor:

LSI MegaRAID SAS 9286CV-8e 6GB/S 1G cache RAID+LSI 49571-03 Super capacitor | eBay
 
Last edited:
marcoi

marcoi

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2013
1,533
289
83
Gotha Florida
chrispitude said:
Hmm, that could be problematic (for me). I've got a 9267-8i and it seems to be some oddball variant that isn't included in the usual LSI literature.

Are the connectors for the battery module and supercapacitor module the same or different?

Edit: Okay, I found an Ebay auction showing a battery module attached to a connector on the back of a 9267-8i:

LSI 9267-8i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 512MB 8Port SATA/SAS LSISAS2208+ BBU09 Battery | eBay

and that appears to be a different (much larger) connector than used for the supercapacitor:

LSI MegaRAID SAS 9286CV-8e 6GB/S 1G cache RAID+LSI 49571-03 Super capacitor | eBay
Click to expand...
im not sure, i know some cards have a direct port and the battery pack is on a module that plugged into that port. your best bet is to look for samples of your card on ebay/google image and see if any show up with cap
 
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chrispitude

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Dec 14, 2017
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Allentown, PA
Okay, so now I know my 9267-8i will take a battery module but not a supercapacitor module. And all the wisdom I read on here is that used battery modules are likely to be old and tired, and new battery modules cost a fortune.

It's hard to see from online pictures how the battery modules are constructed. Are there battery cells inside that I could take this apart and replace them? If someone could crack that, now that would be awesome.
 
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chrispitude

Member
Dec 14, 2017
38
2
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50
Allentown, PA
chrispitude said:
I ordered a BBU09 module with cable and mounting card from an Ebay seller:

LSI Raid Battery Pack BAT1S1P-A MR iBBU09 BBU09 Rechargeable Li-ion w/ BBU Mount | eBay

The seller doesn't know the battery condition, but says that all batteries came from working systems. I made an offer of $40 shipped and it was accepted, so I figured it's worth the gamble.
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I got the battery/cable/mounting card. I am new to the MegaRAID controllers, but it seems to be functional. I get:

Code: 
Battery Type: iBBU-09
Battery State: Operational
Battery Replacement: Not required
Voltage: 3099 mV
Current: 151 mA
Temperature: 25 C (77.0 F) - Normal
Status:
  Gas Gauge Status: Not Available
  Full Charge Capacity Remaining: 100%
  Design Charge Capacity Remaining: 0%
  Expected Margin of Error: 0%

Capacity Info
FullCharge Capacity: 1322 mAh
Remaining Capacity: 1315 mAh
BBU Retention Time: N/A
Estimated Time To Recharge: N/A
so it appears to have been worth the $40 gamble from this seller.
 
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