[Novalug] UPS on the fritz?

James Ewing Cottrell 3rd JECottrell3@Comcast.NET
Thu Sep 13 15:47:31 EDT 2012


Hmmm, I guess they would know...there are really only a few specs that 
matter...Voltage and some measure of how much current they can deliver.

Off brands tend to use APC batteries too. Once the batteries fail, you 
can rip out the innards and make a glorified Power Strip.

I have seen commercial units that use what are essentially Car 
Batteries. One of our units had been overstressed and looked like a 
Puffer Fish, like it was gonna blow at any time.

Heck, I guess you could just go out and buy a Motorcycle Battery and 
connect the leads into the unit.

I used one of these as a kid when I built Estes Model Rockets...I got 
tired of the dang D-Cells dying.

JIM

On 9/12/2012 3:43 PM, Nick Danger wrote:
> Exactly what I was going to say, Batteries Plus or Battery Mart. They
> are online but being as you are in a nice metropolitan area, you can
> pick up and not pay shipping. APC UPS's more or less all use the same
> battery (a two battery stuck together format and a screw terminal). Last
> I checked online they were $30 for the set of two. His UPS more then
> likely uses only 1 set. $30 is cheap or at least I consider it cheap
> when talking about a UPS repair.
>
> Nick
>
> On 09/12/2012 02:51 PM, James Tuttle wrote:
>> At least in the case of mine (which are 2U rackmount devices), the
>> actual batteries are 12V SLA bricks, same as used in emergency lighting
>> and many other applications.
>>
>> I have no doubt that the manufacturer would have charged an arm and a
>> leg for them.
>>
>> But I was able to get some for about $20/ea at Batteries Plus down in
>> Woodbridge.  This was several years ago, so the price may have changed.
>>
>> They are some no-name brand but the ones that were in the unit
>> originally looked equally generic, so I wasn't about to pay the premium
>> for Panasonic or one of the other name-brand manufacturers.  Mine took 4
>> each, though I think smaller desktop UPSes take 2.
>>
>> I have suspected for a while that the way the UPS units float-charge the
>> batteries (no temperature sensing, no topping charge) tends to kill them
>> over time, especially if they're rackmounted in a warm environment...
>> though since it leads to a lot of new battery and UPS sales it's hard to
>> see them having much motivation for putting more intelligent charging
>> circuits in there, at least on low end ones.
>>
>> -James
>>
>> On 9/12/2012 12:51 PM, James Ewing Cottrell 3rd wrote:
>>> Batteries are cheap? I once called my UPS company and they gave me a
>>> price that was worse than buying a new one.
>>>
>>> Perhaps the batteries ARE cheap...but the Shipping is what kills you?
>>>
>>> I don't buy the ones that look like an oversized power strip anymore, I
>>> buy the ones that look like a small computer tower for just under $100
>>> on sale.
>>>
>>> Even so, these eventually die.
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