UPS Battery Backup Teardown And Repair

BTW, my company has lithium-ion packs for our larger units. I’m not qualified on them, but my back appreciates the fact that they weigh 30 lb. vs our standard 50 or so.

Harvey

Great video, Fran. I work on larger UPEes (up 100 kVA) for a living, and I’ve brought home some of my company’s smaller ones to refurb. It’s a good way to get extra life out of them if the boards (esp. the caps) are good.

Harvey

Ebay - or otherwise on those there interwebs.

Fran Blanche

That Tripp-Lite was easier to work on than some of the smaller APC units that I have had. Also, finding exact replacement parts for the APC - from other than APC for big $$ - did not work. The old reverse first then tighten is an old timers trick, says the 73 YO guy.

Michael A Klaene

Where do you get your batteries, Fran? I’ve been able to find them at Home Depot and such but was wondering if you found yours local or ordered them.

Good tip - but I just hooked it up (but I did quietly say "please don't blow up" while I was doing it...)

Fran Blanche

I really doubt the output is a sine wave. More than likely a "modified" sine wave where there is some dead time between the positive output and negative output. A true sine wave UPS would be MUCH larger for the same VA output and the transformer would be larger as well.

Lead acid batteries are by far the cheapest technology on a Watt-hours per Dollar basis, and this is nearly a perfect application for them. Their main drawbacks, weight and low cycle life, are of no real importance in a UPS installation. The weight only comes into play when you are installing them, and unless you are in an area with very poor power reliability, they never get discharged. Lithium Ion batteries have much better power per pound specs and can tolerate far more charge/discharge cycles before failing, but their cost per watt-hour is approximately 8 times higher!

HarveyB

The batteries are the most reliable parts of those. I've replaced more batteries and still had a dead UPS than I can count.

I said UPS up side ma head! I said ups up side ma head!

God of Ramblers

I do this for a living. I will give you a pro tip. Some UPS simply blow a fuse or other parts then connecting the new battery. Do a "soft start" with a resistor or a lamp, to slowly charge the capacitors first, then connect the battery terminal!

Emil Almberg

It seems to me that I only ever discover that my UPS has died is when the power goes off and so does my computer, maybe I need to do more testing and maintenance.

David Peaker

I believe that Li ion batteries don't like the duty cycle of a UPS application. Basically most of their life being trickle charged to maintain full charge. Interspersed with occasional full load partial discharges and the occasional deep discharge. A life much more suited to Lead acid technology.

Dr Andy Hill