Battery Replacement Guidelines for Smart-UPS 5000 VA

[Anonymous user]

Hello,

We have several Smart-UPS 5000 VA (part# SUA5000RMT5U) units that provide battery backup to our network switches. They are just about 3 years old. Can someone give me guidelines as to when we should change the batteries out on these units? The support very high profile devices in our company and downtime is not an option..

Thanks in advance!

Josh

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Here is some general information -> http://www.apc.com/support/index?page=content&country=US〈=en&id=FA158934

With normal usage (light usage, normal self test every two weeks, good storage environment), you'd see 3-5 years average life for the lead acid batteries in this type of UPS. You could start budgeting around this timeframe too.

Some of our newer UPSs as well have begun to offer a "predicted replace battery date" but this one does not offer it unfortunately.

The self test, by default unless someone has changed it, does its UPS self test every two weeks. It is able to catch most battery failures at a time where you probably have about a month or so before the battery is complete toast. But, there can be a few situations it cannot predict - such as a catastrophic battery failure that could've stemmed from when the battery was manufactured some place in a factory.

So, to be safe, if you have multiple UPSs, analyze how long the batteries typically last to made a judgement on when to budget or to be extra safe, start doing it proactively replacing at the 3-4 year mark.

For some more in depth reading, try some of our white papers. White paper 39 for example has some good info on reliability and life expectancy beyond our knowledge base -> http://www.apc.com/whitepaper/?wp=39

I went to the white papers (via White Papers) and searched battery to find a lot of good stuff to back up decision making on replacing and just good background info.

[Anonymous user]

Hi Angela,

This was tremendously helpful. Thanks!

-Josh

[BillP]

You're very welcome!