[NBLUG/talk] OT: Anyone ever replaced a battery in a UPS?

[Bob Blick]

Robert Hayes wrote:
> Seems the battery in my years old UPS just died.
> 
> We have voltage drops here regularly during the winter. 
> 
> Normally the UPS chirps and the world goes on as it should.
> 
> Yesterday, however, the UPS chirped, the PC reset.  Yikes.
> 
> Now when I hold the test button on the UPS I just get a rapidly declining 
> beeeeep to nothing. Sounds a lot like R2-D2 dying.
> 
> What's the conventional wisdom on this topic? My unit has a small battery, 
> like a motorcycle. Do people replace the cells, or is the whole thing 
> recycled and replaced?

Hi Robert,

If the battery is the problem, then replacing it should fix it. However 
if you have a unit like the poorly designed APC BE325, which relies on 
sheet metal soldered to a circuit board and pressure from the plastic 
battery door rather than real connectors to attach to the battery 
terminals, you could replace a perfectly good battery and still not have 
a working UPS.

Depending on the charge characteristics of the UPS, a battery can last 
anywhere from 2 to 10 years.

Cheerful regards,

Bob