been buying these things at Gov't Auction, half the time they won't turn on.


finally got a "good" one, and now it won't turn on, after working ok for ~4 weeks.

any ideas?

bad batteries make them not turn on?

APC smartUPS 1400

 

Not sure of the UPS in which you refer.
All of my UPS's are by APC.
These will do a battery check when you first turn them on to make sure there is a batter in it.
Then it will do a quick system check, then a load test to see if the battery is good. If all is well, the UPS will then go green and enter a normal running state.
Thus, if you did not have a battery in it, my APC's would not turn on to begin with.
Also, if they are not grounded correctly, they will turn on only for a quick second and then click off as a bad ground causes the APC's to fail the system check.
Id also suppose internal failures (Circuit boards, wiring, etc) would prevent them from turning on as well.

Once every 12 hours, the ups will do a load test to verify that the battery is in good shape and able to sustain a load for the rated time.
If the battery fails or if somethings been plugged into the back of the UPS that draws more power than the load test can sustain, the test would fail.
Thus, if the battery is slowly loosing charge, it may take ~4 weeks before it got to point where the UPS would fail a load test.


Rich.

 

I have one that just gave up the ghost one day, would not even turn on. I called the support line for that brand and asked about putting a new battery in it, they told me that I might be wasting my money. He said any number of different problems can cause that not related to the battery.

Having a couple small grandchildren running around here all the time, an extra 12v battery that could used in any number of their toys, i just went ahead and ordered a battery.

It has been working flawless now for 2 years or more. I can't guarantee that is your problem, but mine was DOA when the battery gave up the ghost.

 

Yep!...
Batteries are the weak point in all UPS's whether a 500VA UPS or a 500KVA unit...Especially the typical sealed AGM variety ! (Absorbed Glass Mat electrolyte system)
The little sealed Lead-Acid batteries eventually dry out from electrolysis of the small amount of water inside, losing electrolyte and capacity. And if you look really close at some of the oldest batteries, you may see that some of the plastic cases are beginning to "swell" ever so slightly.. Over time, the positive plates naturally oxidize, swelling slowly from the oxygen liberated at the positive plate from the constant float overcharging while in service. If left in service for even longer, they'll keep swelling until they eventually split the side out of the battery cases.
(BTW, If even further neglected, they CAN catch fire as they split and start shorting out while connected to a charger. Seen it happen at our facility on a 48vdc bank of 12amp-hour backup batts!!! PHEW!)

Your batteries sound like they have LONG since passed their useful life.
Those sealed L-A batts have a quirk of going high impedance (open ckt) when even one cell in a string dries out and dies. This will look like to the UPS electronics that there is no batt pack connected...
Also, those used (yet functioning)government UPS's were probably taken out of service more than 6months to a year ago or more, sitting in storage on a shrink-wrapped pallet at some DRMO facility. Those already old batteries have gone down, down, down to oblivion. They're toast!
The good news is, if you can find a string of aftermarket replacement batts, those UPS's are probably perfectly fine.. Just check the charger float voltage after you get the batts installed. Too high and you'll be replacing another set too quickly. Too low, and you'll be doing the same thing from sulphation.


K.

 

I don't want to hijack too much here , but what the heck are these things you guys are talking about , I thought UPS was a company that severely overcharged people to ship parcels... ?

 

Uhhhhhhhhh yea me too.

 

Uninteruptable Power Supply (UPS) aka battery backup. There are used for computers and other sensitive eletronics. If the power surges or goes out, you have time to save what you are doing and shut down. Some of the bigger ones last for hours, the cheaper ones minutes. They are good to have on a PC. I have one on my PC and another for my router,cable modem, and switch. They are also nice for LCD or other expensive TVs.

 

well, i hate being stupid...glad i asked, I have thrown 2 away, was getting ready to junk this one.


guess if I had put batteries in those, would have been ok.

yeah, this stuff is old,

got a HP Laserjet 4, it was made in '93!!!




these guys?


United Package Smashers - The Truth About United Parcel Service ...

Resources and information for unhappy and disgruntled UPS customers and employees.
http://www.unitedpackagesmashers.com/

they took my wifes purse to the wrong street, in the wrong town, and LEFT IT.

 

I'll agree that two of my previous UPS's were tossed because the new battery cost was the same as replacing the units with newer models.
However, I do have two that I still use and due to long battery life and their ability to protect the DSL line as well as the wireless router.
I dont mind paying a little extra for the batteries in those units.

Rich.

 

For the smaller units, it is almost cheaper to get a new unit. I had a 350va model that was for my router, etc and a battery is about $20 + $12 or so shipping and I got a new one (550va) for $40. If you get into those 1500va or bigger server models, then it makes sense, or just a nice one that works well.

 

Do the UPS have surge suppression built in? If so, the surge suppression is probably handled with devices called Transient Voltage Suppressors (TVS) or Transorbs. These devices can go bad (either all at once, IE, their voltage rating is exceeded one time by a whole lot for a long time or then can go bad overtime, ie, their voltage rating is exceeded by just a little, but many many times).

More than you wanted to know,
~Rob

 

UPS: Basically a big Battery connected to a big DC-to-AC Inverter. It is made complete with a Battery Charger to keep the battery up. Throw in a little fancy load switching hardware to provide for maintenance and such, and you've got the basis for a "U P S"...

The BIG commercial units provide the same function at industrial sites, just more watts, cleaner power(pure sinewave) and VERY $$$!!! (Sadly, same crappy batteries nowdays!)
It is not merely an accident of pronunciation that I sometimes refer to some of our plant's "UPS" equipment as "OOOPS!"

K.

 

In my experience (u.S. Coast Guard Electronics Technician), the battery is the weak point in almost all UPS. Over 95% of the time the battery dies. In my whole career I have only only seen two UPS's that have had the circuit board fail, thus rendering the unit dead for good.

 

The only battery for big commercial UPS's is a C&D wet-cell stationary battery.. Wet cells, require that "personal touch", but they LAST!
We have two old 15Kva UPS's, one with a 125volt string of C&D wet cells(DCU-17's) that lasted 30yrs(mf'd in 02-1973)!!! Capacity-wise, they were still testing almost like new, but the post seals leaked so much that the maintenance to keep the straps clean got too high.
Another newer UPS right next to it (30Kva) wound up arriving with 40 sealed AGM type VRLA 12volt batts(automotive sized ups batts) and they are constantly being replaced.. It's on its 3rd complete set since arriving in 1997! Several individual battery failures inbetween complete replacements. (that one is one of my "OOOPS" units! ) They never make more than 2 yrs w/o replacing at least 2 batts. Heaven help us if we had to make much of a draw on them!
I guess you can tell the bigger sealed batts are NOT my favorites! They have about the same lifetime as the little sealed ones in the APC brand mini-UPS's that you are using. Sadly, the more batts in the string, the more often the failures!!!

K.