Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler ABCs of APC UPSs

Thanks, Scott! As I mentioned, I've got a few UPS units sitting in my basement, needing a battery change. I'm going to check into that trade-ups program a bit more to see what I can get for them in comparison to replacing the batteries, but have a question:

I've read before that some types of spike protectors actually "wear out" over time... Does anyone know if this applies to UPS units?

In short: If I replace a battery in a two year old UPS, is it as good as new? This would likely determine whether I replace the batts in the ones downstairs or trade them in.

BTW, this is my 5,000th post. I feel an incredibly overwhelming desire to call Jack old, JP crazy, or at least make a fart or booby joke to mark the occasion.

Hi Mark,

We have UPS's all over the place at work, but I've only had one at home. I think we took a lightning strike , because one night during a storm, it fried; I mean, the blue smoke got out and everything. It was the only electronic hardware that was effected that night. After that, it only passed 120VAC, but no battery and no surge protection. Basically it was an expensive, but short, extension cord.
Since then, I have not used one at home. Maybe I should, considering our iMac is considerably more expensive than a small UPS...

I do have Brick Wall units on my AV equipment, but no battery back-up.

Scott

I know it's a bit rude to bump my post, but I wonder if it was a matter of no one seeing it or no one having an answer. Besides, it's not about Bose or Apple or Religion or Politics:

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I've read before that some types of spike protectors actually "wear out" over time... Does anyone know if this applies to UPS units?

In short: If I replace a battery in a two year old UPS, is it as good as new? This would likely determine whether I replace the batts in the ones downstairs or trade them in.
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Anyone? Pretty please? I've got 5 UPS units to decide this with...!

Wish I knew the answer to that, Mark.

Well, thanks for looking! Come again!

I think the surge protectors wearing out has to do with them only lasting through one spike. I would suspect that if UPSes deal with simliar spikes in similar ways, they'd also wear out. But if the fans still work on the UPSes, they only complain about the battery, and if you put a new battery in they cease complaining, they're still good. But I'm really not sure.

Mark:

I'm an electronics technician and at one time I did bench repair for a company that made industrial UPS's for the cable television industry. To my knowledge there is nothing in a UPS that would wear out. A UPS basically senses voltage and switches to the battery and voltage inverter to create AC when the voltage drops below a set threshold. They are pretty simple circuits all in all.

The only thing I could think of that would remotely wear out are the capacitors but modern caps are robust and don't dry out like the old caps did. I don't remember ever having replaced parts on a UPS because they wore out.

Unless the UPS's have taken a lightning hit, I would just replace the batteries.

The UPS you mentioned that has the electronics stink probably did fry and I wouldn't bother replacing the battery in it.

I'm not familiar with the UPS's you have but the ones I repaired just used a standard motorcycle battery. Maybe you can source a cheaper battery for yours if you look around?

Good luck,

Joe

Thanks, Joe! I appreciate the reply!

I think it was surge suppressors that used Metal-Oxide something or another that I read "wear out" over time....

Mark:

Here is interesting read on surge protectors if you are interested: Surge protectors.

What you are asking about is a MOV (metal oxide varistor) that will shunt spikes and or surges and you are right they can burn out with a good enough surge. I didn't think about surge protection because the UPS's I repaired didn't have any (the cable companies used a separate industrial grade dedicated surge protector in front of the UPS's), sorry about that.

I found the schematics for an APC 1200 and had a look, they do use MOV's on the input and they don't show the ratings just a part number so I'm not sure how big a spike they can handle before they need replacing.

I'll see your 5 UPS units and raise you a Bose. ::puts on best poker face::