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How long do UPS batteries usually last?

E

EnderW

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I bought 2 APC SUA1500 UPS units back in July 2008.

Unit A, the battery died August 2012. I bought this replacement http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DZEZB and I just got a replace battery warning today. It has been used almost 24/7 since I bought it, but under low load (0-1 bars on the front display) and the power here probably flickers/surges about once a month. So the unit is hardly ever running off battery power.

Unit B, the original battery lasted until September 2014. It has been used off and on, probably about 50% time spent powered on as unit A.


Is this typical mileage out of these batteries?
 
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The six year old battery was being used past it's expected lifespan. I think three years is a reasonable replacement interval for consumer use.
 
3-4 years is what I've seen with mine.
We usually get 1-2 long outages a year during Hurricane season, which is about to start up.
 
3-5 years depending on the location (is it stuffed between a desk and filing cabinet where there is no ventilation ) and daily use (do you experience surges and power outages on a monthly basis) then you will see the low end (3 years or shorter).

With that said, I would not buy 3rd party batteries as each vendor specs their batteries accordingly. The other issue is that these 3rd party batteries are not always "fresh" and sit on a rack months before selling

Disclaimer I work for APC and you can get our replacement cartridges that include free return shipping for your old batteries
 
rudedog said:
3-5 years depending on the location (is it stuffed between a desk and filing cabinet where there is no ventilation ) and daily use (do you experience surges and power outages on a monthly basis) then you will see the low end (3 years or shorter).

With that said, I would not buy 3rd party batteries as each vendor specs their batteries accordingly. The other issue is that these 3rd party batteries are not always "fresh" and sit on a rack months before selling

Disclaimer I work for APC and you can get our replacement cartridges that include free return shipping for your old batteries
Click to expand...

What happened here?
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003.jpg
 
swollen batteries usually mean heat or lack of ventilation . How old is that Backup Pro?
 
rudedog said:
swollen batteries usually mean heat or lack of ventilation . How old is that Backup Pro?
Click to expand...

It was 5 years old when I took that pic.
APC has very good customer service.
I emailed them asking if there is a way to test the unit before buying new batteries since the UPS would just beep and shut off with the batteries installed or removed.
I told them the batteries were swollen and sent them the pics.

they asked me what my mailing address was and 2nd day aired me a free replacement.
006.jpg


The UPS originally belonged to a friend of mine and she gave it to me and bought a new one. I was just going to buy new batteries for it and use it, but ended up getting a brand new UPS free.
 
I usually get 4 years out of mine, but I fold alot and its stormy in Florida and I am sure they worker harder than most.
 
I got close to 5 years on mine, the last year they were pretty unreliable. So I'd change them at the end of 4 years, myself.

Just buy new batteries anyway. Only about $30 for a pair on eBay and I think that model does use two in series.
 
I have a BackUPS 550 and the battery has remained strong for 5 years now and has no issues with the self tests. When it prompts me to replace it I will.

We had an old SmartUPS 1500 at work and the battery lasted about 6 years before croaking. We ended up just upgrading the UPS when it died.
 
rudedog said:
3-5 years depending on the location (is it stuffed between a desk and filing cabinet where there is no ventilation ) and daily use (do you experience surges and power outages on a monthly basis) then you will see the low end (3 years or shorter).

With that said, I would not buy 3rd party batteries as each vendor specs their batteries accordingly. The other issue is that these 3rd party batteries are not always "fresh" and sit on a rack months before selling

Disclaimer I work for APC and you can get our replacement cartridges that include free return shipping for your old batteries
Click to expand...

How much are the replacement batteries for my UPS?
 
Don't buy cheap UPS batteries you will get burned horribly. Some of these UPS battery companies sell them as new and the batteries are reconditioned and don't last near as long. I've had some batteries not even last 1 years before my APC smart units need batteries replaced and there's 8 batteries in them.

I personally prefer to use B&B batteries and have had amazing success with them compared to other brands. I also will put in batteries that have larger amp hours while they physically are the same size. This way as the batteries age and the amp hours drop slightly the batteries still perform within the spec of the UPS unit. I do this for all our APC smart UPS that are SUA2200RM2U and also SUA3000RM2U.

If your unit uses this battery size, go for the link below. I've personally run my SUA2200RM2U in my server room at 95% load 24/7 for 4 years and the batteries still work flawlessly and I've had numerous power outages and never once did they fail. With the high load on the UPS I only get around 3 minutes but that's enough time for the systems to power down.

http://www.zbattery.com/B-B-Brand-12V-5-8Ah-High-Rate-SLA-Battery
 
rudedog said:
3-5 years depending on the location (is it stuffed between a desk and filing cabinet where there is no ventilation ) and daily use (do you experience surges and power outages on a monthly basis) then you will see the low end (3 years or shorter).
Click to expand...

That seems in line with what I've experienced, I'm usually on the lower end of that but several of the UPS in the house are indeed stuffed in low ventilation places AND they get used a lot since the power seems to go out at least once a month where I live.

I need to look into official battery replacements, typically I've just chucked the unit and bought a new one for $100 at Costco or whatever... There's probably 2 or 3 dead UPS throughout the house that I haven't bothered taking to a recycling center. :eek:

I'm moving soon, probably gonna be replacing several units and adding at least one since I'm splitting the network gear unto two locations, good time to look into what different brands charge for battery replacements etc.
 
EnderW said:
How much are the replacement batteries for my UPS?
Click to expand...

Depending on which model of the SU1500 you have (They've changed them over the years) about $180 ish

Our site is not the most organized and we're going to be updating all the sites under the parent company over the next 6-12 months. So it's hard to find pricing. I'm actually with our parent company now (been with APC for 20+ years) but work with all our companies under the Schneider Electric umbrella - Square D, Pelco, Juno, Telvent, APC....

For those in areas where you see constant brown outs, lights flashing, power outages and lighting strikes, make sure you get a UPS (APC or non- APC) with voltage regulation. This way the voltage will boost or trim (within reason) via a transformer and not go directly to battery. You unit will last longer when you have a long period of low voltage.

People think lighting strikes are the most dangerous. it's the brown out conditions (when you see the lights flicker) that kills equipment as well as grounding loops from large buildings where they don't bond electric, cable and telephone to the same ground rod. In those cased no UPS/Surge from any company will protect you from ground loops
 
JJ91284 said:
Don't buy cheap UPS batteries you will get burned horribly. Some of these UPS battery companies sell them as new and the batteries are reconditioned and don't last near as long. I've had some batteries not even last 1 years before my APC smart units need batteries replaced and there's 8 batteries in them.
Click to expand...

Rule of thumb: *never* state absolutes like that. One won't always "get burned" with "cheap UPS batteries". I'm on my second set of inexpensive ones from a local supplier. Both have worked flawlessly. First set lasted ~3 years before needing replacement.
 
FnordMan said:
Rule of thumb: *never* state absolutes like that. One won't always "get burned" with "cheap UPS batteries". I'm on my second set of inexpensive ones from a local supplier. Both have worked flawlessly. First set lasted ~3 years before needing replacement.
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Lead Acid batteries are used everywhere. Cars, scooters, UPSes, etc. They are made in such volume that there's never a need to pay an inflated price for the same thing. So yes, you can get exceptionally reliable batteries for your UPS that are one third the price that APC charges for theirs.

The trick is to buy them from a battery supplier, not a shady reseller. Battery suppliers usually guarantee them for a year, have multiple brands available and carry the brands that are certified for use in medical devices, etc.

The pair I got for $30 even have higher total capacity than the ones that originally came with my UPS... and cost less than what APC wants for ONE.
 
techrat said:
even have higher total capacity than the ones that originally came with my UPS
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Just be careful, a UPS is designed around it's batteries. If you increase the capacity (We use to get a lot of truck drivers hooking a UPS up to their rig's 12V system, for unlimited run time - think of it as a high end inverter and the unit itself would only last a few months before failing )

The UPS is designed for a specific run time based off the least amount of load for the max run time the factory batteries will provide. The power fets that convert DC to AC can only run for so long before they will burn themselves out.

This is not just for APC UPSs, this is for the majority of UPSs. Minus units that can have extended run time by adding external battery packs of course.

Another tip, for step approximated sign waves or square waves (APC backup product lines )UPSs (any brand), you don't want to plug in a surge protector to expand the number of outlets. When on battery the surge protection circuit will effect the output voltage (clamp circuit). You can go from 120V out on battery to over 180V out. Our Pure sign wave models do not have this issue (SmartUPS).
 
Are the Cyberpower ones any good, what are the good ones to get? APC?

My NAS has a cyberpower but it was free. :)
 
I get between 4-5 years out of my batteries.

The average live span for them is 3 years.
 
3 years or so. And I've had APC brand batteries swell just as much as the generic replacements I've put in some, so I see little point in paying a premium for their battery. The rackmount 1500 models are especially bad, damn near have to disassemble the damn thing to get the old batteries out sometimes.
 
My best lasted almost 10 years. It was in an ancient all-metal APC BK-300 with a 7 A*H battery, but I usually get only 3 years before the battery can't run the computer long enough for an orderly shut-down. Oddly, commercial fire and burglar alarm systems that use the same lead-acid gel cells seem to get much better life from them.

Don't trust the backup supply's built-in battery test because it applies only a light load, and I've seen batteries that passed that test be able to power the computer for only 30 seconds.
 
larrymoencurly said:
Don't trust the backup supply's built-in battery test because it applies only a light load, and I've seen batteries that passed that test be able to power the computer for only 30 seconds.
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Yeah.. totally forgot to mention this. I've seen the same, totally passes the self test yet utterly fails when any real load is applied. (like say.. during a power outage)
 
like actual useful life? APC units 2~ years... Eaton units 5~ years
 
I have had my APC XS-1300 for several years. I am on my 3rd set of batteries and they usually last about 3-3.5 years.

I usually buy my replacements off of Ebay, but I am careful who I buy them from and make sure they are spec'd at least the same or better than OEM, but pay about 1/2 as much what APC charges.

This single UPS covers all my networking gear, a work laptop with docking station, 2 monitors, OOMA, all in one printer, and my personal PC in sig. A fully charged set of batteries will give me about 15 - 20 minutes, but after 5 min, I start shutting things down.
 
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swetmore said:
I have had my APC XS-1300 for several years. I am on my 3rd set of batteries and they usually last about 3-3.5 years.
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Heh, i've got the exact same unit. I forget exactly when I picked it up but I do know i've changed the batteries twice.

I have a bit less running on it though, "only" my desktop, a HTPC (like ~10-20W tops for that guy) the network switch (maintain connectivity so I can manually shut down another box on a diffferent UPS) and a monitor.

The amusing bit is that under light loads (~5W for my CPAP, no power and needed sleep) the unit gets all kinds of confused as the estimated runtime is all over the place.
 
I have gotten between 4 and 9 years out of UPS batteries. Really depends on how many outages you have and where the unit is.
 
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