Dave Liquorice wrote on 8/22/2017 3:34 PM:
> On Mon, 21 Aug 2017 23:52:41 -0400, rickman wrote:
>
>>>> The fire alarms and emergency lighting are all SLA powered. The
>>>> batteries are still good after about 10 years ...
>>>
>>> Not APC kit then, thier stuff cooks batteries in around 3 to 4 years.
>>
>> That's just not true.  I have APC units that have lasted over a decade
>> and still going strong.  It might actually be closer to two decades.
>
> With orginal batteries and actually able to run off battery for
> roughly the time expected for the load?

Can't say.  It is hard to get that info from APC and I can't find a model
number on the unit other than the info on top.  Mostly I'm too lazy to dig
it up at the moment.  I am using it to power the modem and router and seems
to do that for hours, so that's as much test as I need.  My laptop will only
run for an hour or so on batteries, so no point in worrying about longer times.


> My APC UPS has a manufactured date of 11 Mar 98 and it is fine but is
> on it's fourth or fith (I think) set of batteries. I found out the
> hard way, twice, that even though it says the batteries are OK, fully
> charged and decent voltage, try and draw any power from 'em and they
> die very quickly. Last time there was a strange smell, eventually
> tacked down to the UPS with an almost too hot to touch case. The
> batteries:
>
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/allsorts-60/16591022171
>
> After that I looked up the spec for the batteries and recomended
> float voltage v temperature. The APC charge voltage was nearer to the
> specified cyclic charge voltage at room temperature let alone the 40
> C that the batteries ran at. I "got at" the charge circuit reduced
> the voltage down to what it should be for float charging at 30 C and
> fitted a small fan. That was back in 2014, these batteries are still
> good. Left to APC they'd be cooked or very nearly so by now.
>
> I've also seen a couple of rack mount APC UPS's with cooked/swollen
> batteries. One had to be junked as to remove the batteries would have
> required the chassis cutting apart.

So you have a bad UPS, not bad batteries.

--

Rick C

Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms
On the centerline of totality since 1998
O)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05