Hi Ky!
Found out something interesting today: it's suggested UPSs be replaced
every six to ten years max. The UPS itself. Looked into it because I
Well, consider the source... they sell UPSs.
Yes, noted that, If last forever hard to make the replacement game so
they went the green and new features way.
The longest I've seen one last was about 25 years. (Battery
replaced once. Circuits finally died after a lightning strike one
pole away.) The shortest... pretty much any current off-the-shelf
unit only lasts about 2 years. The shell may still function but
the battery will be kaput, because all consumer UPSs overcharge
the battery, which prematurely kills it.
One problem with current electronics is they design too close to the
edge: 150v surge and pfft! (Maybe not that number but seems close.) I
did install a whole-house surge suppressor which does seem to work:
since then I've noticed the lack of brightening of the light bulbs (but
then also have mostly switched to LED), and maybe more split-second
power outages, so the supressor is shunting to ground (?).
Here also have some old UPSs: one Belkin (~425VA) died and seems to be
due to a fuse. Can see it on the schematic but no idea where it is on
the board. ...It's since been gutted and used as a battery pack.
Another Belkin (same - I bought the last three on clearance) did have an
issue with the battery overheating during normal power -- the battery
was past normal life and no problems since.
As for the other UPSs here, I have not noticed a 'running hot' issue, so hopefully means their design is such they are not overcharging. (Made
note to check the one I just replaced the batteries in.)
CyberPower (what they sell at Costco, otherwise a decent unit)
has this down to a fine art; their batteries reliably die a few
days out of warranty. Since the unit is $95 and a new battery is
$88 plus I have to drive clear up to the other side of town to
get one, I see no point in fighting with it to get the damn thing
apart and extracted; I just get a new unit, tho when I think of
it in time I get Costco to swap 'em in warranty. :D
Yes, I'd swear there's a timer in some devices! For the $7 I'd get a
new unit also. The batteries most of the UPSs here use cost $25-30,
which is a lot less than a new UPS. As for fighting to replace the
battery: yup -- some are not too happy to be opened up! One UPS was
easy to open but the batteries are in almost a prison cell: have to
unscrew the PC board, unscrew supports, do something else... I had
looked on-line and pretty much everyone said it was a great UPS but the batteries were essentially impossible to replace. Send in for the
manufacturer to replace (probably swap out) -- what do I do in the
meantime, hope the power doesn't go out?? I ended up drilling a hole in
the side of the case, two heavy-gauge wires come out -- inside attached
to the wires which went to the original batteries (still inside),
outside connect to two batteries. Have to admit it's the easiest one to replace batteries!!
https://tldp.org/HOWTO/UPS-HOWTO/maintaining.html Also: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/UPS-HOWTO.html
This overcharging problem, which ESR (the guy who wrote the above
HOWTO) documented elsewhere, is apparently by design as it's
entirely unnecessary (AND in the olden days, they didn't do
this). ESR was working on a consumer-level UPS with a circuit
that fixes the problem, but far as I know it hasn't come to
fruition.
Probably not. I don't follow in-depth but probably would have noticed
someone advertising this feature. Due to 'frequent' power outages here
(mostly birds or squirrels getting too friendly with the pole transformer
in the back yard (utility lines back there instead of along the street)
have been on the look-out for long-lasting, good quality, relatively inexpensive UPSs to run "critical" stuff.
http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=7839
I'll take a look at these later: I'll probably snag some notes.
And that's the last post on the subject. (A year ago the blog
server went KABOOM, plus he had some health issues, and that
probably put a crimp in things.)
Both can create problems. :/
You can tell when overcharging starts to kill it, even if you
can't tell from runtime issues, by the stuffy metallic smell they
emit ... that's hydrogen being vented by the overcharged battery.
Also, they'll often get warm or hot even when the power is on and
they're not discharging. One that's operating normally (not
overcharging) stays cool. However, staying cool doesn't guarantee
it's not on its way out.
I have not noticed any smell like that, though probably due to the other
person here cigarette smoke. Have noticed, but after-the-fact, the
occasional over-heated battery. And as noted above, that seems due more
to the battery. I have stickers with date battery installed on the UPSs
and most are lasting several years while this one UPS seems to be
lasting only 18 months.
If you find one that lasts several years... when the battery
dies, I would replace the battery and keep the shell, as that's
one that is NOT overcharging the battery. Replacing it might be
tossing good hardware in the dumpster in favor of hardware not so
good.
Right. I tend to frugal so try to buy decent stuff that will last. One indicator seems to be the output: if pure square wave I don't even
consider it. Go by degree of stepped sinewave, though now seems most
I've taken a look at are doing pretty good at approximating the sine
wave.
...Think I'll play with 'Network UPS Tools' later: re-found it the other
day when checking the information. (apcupsd is for APC UPSs, NUT for
just about everything else.)
¯ BarryMartin3@ ®
¯ @MyMetronet.NET ®
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