UPS Battery life

[jnelsoninjax]

How long does the battery on a standard (not rack mounted) UPS average? I have an APC, it is about 2 or 3 years old, and the area we are in does experience electrical noise and brownouts. The management software says that the battery is fine, but I am just wondering do you wait for it to tell you it needs replaced or do you change it every X number of years?

[adrynalyne]

6 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

How long does the battery on a standard (not rack mounted) UPS average? I have an APC, it is about 2 or 3 years old, and the area we are in does experience electrical noise and brownouts. The management software says that the battery is fine, but I am just wondering do you wait for it to tell you it needs replaced or do you change it every X number of years?

In my experience its 3-5 years max. Depends on the battery quality I suppose.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

@warwagon can answer this one.

 

But as long as you aren't having an issue with it, I wouldn't worry...

[adrynalyne]

1 minute ago, Mindovermaster said:

@warwagon can answer this one.

 

But as long as you aren't having an issue with it, I wouldn't worry...

He needs to keep on top of it--you don't want it to go bad and not know it.

Been there, done that too.

[jnelsoninjax]

Just now, adrynalyne said:

He needs to keep on top of it--you don't want it to go bad and not know it.

Been there, done that too.

It tests automatically each month, but would suggest that I monitor it more now due to the age and power conditions?

[adrynalyne]

Just now, jnelsoninjax said:

It tests automatically each month, but would suggest that I monitor it more now due to the age and power conditions?

I mean, once a month is probably fine. In my experience however, I've only had about a 50% success rate on those tests.

Meaning, half the time they did alert me, but I also had a few times where the battery just flat out died.

I'd buy a backup battery at 3 years, so if it does go bad, you have it readily available to pop in.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Might be an unpopular opinion but ...

 

"How long does the battery on a standard UPS average"

 

... until they don't keep whatever is plugged into it powered very long.  I had the original batteries in my Cyberpower UPS for about 7-8 years ... only replaced them because, well, I had to power down within a minute or so.  They were fine for a brief power flicker.  Unless your batteries are absurdly hard to find ... I wouldn't worry about it.

[jnelsoninjax]

26 minutes ago, Jim K said:

Might be an unpopular opinion but ...

 

"How long does the battery on a standard UPS average"

 

... until they don't keep whatever is plugged into it powered very long.  I had the original batteries in my Cyberpower UPS for about 7-8 years ... only replaced them because, well, I had to power down within a minute or so.  They were fine for a brief power flicker.  Unless your batteries are absurdly hard to find ... I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks Jim! I have an extra battery, I had forgotten that I even had it, so my question was just more a curiosity then anything.