4 of of my 10 UPS had a replace battery alert in the past month?

[Anonymous user]

Perhaps it was just a statistical quirk, but it was kind of strange that 4 of my 10 UPS reported "replace battery" alerts in the past month. 3 of 4 turned out to be bogus as far as I can tell as after a test the replace battery alert went away. It was just odd to have so many in the same time period - I hadn't had a prior alert like this in a year or so.

The devices in question were 3 SU2200s and 1 SUA1500 and they were all purchased at different times.

[BillP]

I think each UPS type (Smart UPS vs. Smart UPS RT for example) does it differently but it does compare the voltage drop while on battery to a known good chart/value it keeps internally based on the current load of the system.

I think the exact specification is probably confidential based on my experience and previous dealings with this topic.

[Anonymous user]

Perhaps it was just a statistical quirk, but it was kind of strange that 4 of my 10 UPS reported "replace battery" alerts in the past month. 3 of 4 turned out to be bogus as far as I can tell as after a test the replace battery alert went away. It was just odd to have so many in the same time period - I hadn't had a prior alert like this in a year or so.

The devices in question were 3 SU2200s and 1 SUA1500 and they were all purchased at different times.

[BillP]

cernst is right - how old are these units? you can post the first several digits of the serial numbers and we can tell that way.

when a UPS does a self test, it measures the voltage drop. so if you do a self test with a heavy load it may fail but if you remove the load it may pass and then fail again a couple weeks later.

[Anonymous user]

how old are the units?

I work for a large trucking company and i'm constantly getting units in from the field that have been out there for 8-10 years. no one setup a maintenance schedule and these batteries will fail at random...old age. Usually, the batteries are so swollen, disfigured, and/or cracked, that they cannot be removed without bending the frames just a bit. check the condition of your batteries on the "failed" units.

i've also noticed that the majority of my failures happen during the summer months when it is warmer.

[Anonymous user]

The units were in the 3 to 5 year range. It may be "summer related" in the sense that during the summer time, my 1950's built building has AC on so it is cooler, but not that is is fall, the bulding is actually warmer now than in the summertime and this could have lead to the battery "bogus" need replacement warning.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

if the units are in the same environment and similar ages, it makes sense. within the 3-5 year range you probably want to start thinking about battery replacements anyway.