UPS batteries

[NavyDiver]

I have a upsonic ES series UPS on my server and phone PABX with is basically a computer. The batteries lasted about 6 seconds after a power failure last week which hurt!!!
Clearly I had not been checking or testing enough over the last 6 months!

The UPS had 2 12v 7Ah yuasa batteries. Being a Sunday I was hard push to find them. Found a option which was 12V 9ah. Plugged in and it had the 2 computers and LCD screen running fine with mains off for 30 minutes and still showed over 50% charge.

Would the charge rate for the UPS be significantly different. System is looking fine several hours later. Could I put a higher AH battery in?

[Mick_Marsh]

Could I put a higher AH battery in?
Amps will be the same so the charge and discharge times will be longer.
I have a similar problem. UPS has failed. However, due to the physical size of the UPS, I'm having trouble finding a battery that will fit in the enclosure.

[NavyDiver]

just spoke with UPSONIC (1800634307 they have almost any battery available but not as cheap as the online ones) They are calling me back about the AH charge capacity for my UPS

I had an interesting chat about cheaper batteries with both upsonic and a LED torch person recently. Upsonic mentioned holding time, lead content and the other gent mention fires:eek:

The High AH I put in last night is holding much better than my first test before charging! When tested this morning 12 hours after on charge I got 60 minutes and at over 65% power remaining. The UPS did recharge the higher A.H. but it was not 100% showing 92% a few seconds after I turned the mains power off. Even when new, the UPS showed an immediate drop from 100% to 80ish with the OEM 7ah batteries so this is not a concern.

The cheap UPS I brought for the batteries (Cyberpower) is not sinewave output. It is my understanding that Mac Books, most Laptops and my server require a Pure Sine Wave Inverter to run successfully (I know you can get some to work sometimes on non pure sinewave). It is $250 odd for cyberpower VA 2200 1320 watt compared with about 5 times that for the equivalent Australian built UPsonic.

[42rangie]

May not be for everyone. Take old battery out of UPS and hard wire a power lead to a deep cycle 12V battery. You could keep this charged with a solar pannel and a charge regulator. If you have the room elsewhere, you wouldn't have to find a battery to fit inside the box (thinking outside the box, I am.);)

Les

[goingbush]

I use 100 ah deep cycle batteries on my UPS (hard wired) , no probs, works for 6 hours, just connect 12v charger after pwr fail to top up (if you feel the need), UPS charger is adequate and keeps it in float.

[bee utey]

I was told the reason you don't connect an external battery to an UPS is that the internal inverter/charger isn't electrically isolated from the mains, so a potential shock risk exists. Stay safe, peoples, and make sure your battery terminals aren't contactable while live.

[NavyDiver]

I was told the reason you don't connect an external battery to an UPS is that the internal inverter/charger isn't electrically isolated from the mains, so a potential shock risk exists. Stay safe, peoples, and make sure your battery terminals aren't contactable while live.

yes but..

my upsonic has the ability to attach external batteries using an anderson plug fitting. As long as the input voltage was 24v so it would need two batteries. I tried plugging camping trailer deep cycle and the deep cycle from my dual battery in and it does work and would hold my set up in power for 2 days or more I guess. 24 volt charging would be a small issue if I disconnected and manually recharged every week or two. The 2 9ah batteries are more than enough for my needs. The anderson plug and cables are in my car so if I lost power I can simply plug the extra power in if needed.

Cyberpower does not have external plug but you could hard wire it if you could be bothered. its output is 230v when on batteries not enough for my TV and stereo!:eek: It could be the non sinewave output as well. :eek::eek: Plugged a medical vaccine fridge in which did not like the Cyberpower 230v output. The fridge works well on the upsonic when I tested it.

The Cyberpower easily held my laptop up fully charged for 2 days and 40% charge remaining! It is not perfect and still a bit dubious about the power output simulated sine wave.

[Kevin B]

yes but..

my upsonic has the ability to attach external batteries using an anderson plug fitting. As long as the input voltage was 24v so it would need two batteries. I tried plugging camping trailer deep cycle and the deep cycle from my dual battery in and it does work and would hold my set up in power for 2 days or more I guess. 24 volt charging would be a small issue if I disconnected and manually recharged every week or two. The 2 9ah batteries are more than enough for my needs. The anderson plug and cables are in my car so if I lost power I can simply plug the extra power in if needed.

Cyberpower does not have external plug but you could hard wire it if you could be bothered. its output is 230v when on batteries not enough for my TV and stereo!:eek: It could be the non sinewave output as well. :eek::eek: Plugged a medical vaccine fridge in which did not like the Cyberpower 230v output. The fridge works well on the upsonic when I tested it.

The Cyberpower easily held my laptop up fully charged for 2 days and 40% charge remaining! It is not perfect and still a bit dubious about the power output simulated sine wave.

The external battery plugs on my UPS are 96v, I have 16 x 6v batteries in series parallel that total about 800amps, the runs my radio shack with everything on for 2 days solid and I have a lot of stuff to run..

[Mick_Marsh]

The reason the battery connections must be suitably insulated is in case there is a fault and 240V AC is put across the terminals. I could find the relevant Australian standard, but I can't remember which one it is. Maybe AS3439?

Increasing the battery size won't increase the output power of the UPS, just the time it supplies it.

[Kevin B]

Thats correct, volts stay the same, however higher current = longer runjing time, and mine being 96v also has the advantage of higher current charge for a quicker recovery time, its about 4hours from dead flat (internal batteries 400amp, external 800amp not bad), its also wired between the main supply on a switch that once the power goes out the ups takes over, I can that switch which routes the 240v supply to the ups to a caravan inlet on the side of the shed so I can plug the genny in if needed to power the ups and top up the batteries without any downtime in power and the beauty of it is the ups acts as a filter and voltage stabilizer while the genny is charging the batteries

[Tombie]

And it won't be 230v stopping your gear working!

Test a power socket at night (so much solar around now that during the day it's quite over) and you'll often find the grid running at 230 or lower...

[Basil135]

I run 2 UPS's, each with 38 x 55 ah batteries. :p

They will run my equipment for a bit over an hour. :o





Ok, so that equipment consists of 4 servers, 2 PABX's, 16 "Black Boxes" as well as the switches, routers & all the other necessary equipment to run the 24 workstations as well.... :D

Oh, and I have a really big diesel generator sitting behind it all.... ;)

[NavyDiver]

And it won't be 230v stopping your gear working!

Test a power socket at night (so much solar around now that during the day it's quite over) and you'll often find the grid running at 230 or lower...

Interesting. Wonder what it was then, drawing to much power perhaps? Was thinking of putting the UPS on the vaccine fridge but would not after it ran like a chook with its legs tied on the 230v output from the UPS. Could it be the non pure sine wave output or the actual power needed to run it?

[Kevin B]

UPS voltage are designed to be 240v, solar drain on the grid will have no effect on its output as that is supplied from the batteries via an inverter, thats there designed purpose for supplying stable filtered 240v power to sensitive electronic equpiment, chances are the inverter could be faulty maybe a transister failing which will cause an output voltage drop,

[Tombie]

Could just be wattage output of inverter was exceeded by the appliance.

And compressors pull significantly at start up - eg: fridge so may not have had enough head room to kick it in.