Has APC got any failure rates (%) by age statistics on their batteries?

[Anonymous user]

Hi UPS Experts!

We have just deployed about 100 UPSs (2200 RM and X 1500) and now need to budget for proactive battery replacements down the road.

APC states that battery life expectency is 3-5 years. With such a large deployment of UPSs, the savings can be considerable if we stretch battery replacement out to 5 years but we don't want to do that if half of them will die prior to their replacement! At the same time, we don't want to replace the batteries every 3 years if they are still performing well and have some life left in them.

If failure rate stats were available then we could make an informed decision. For instance, if typical (ie. under normal operating conditions) failure rates were 2%, 3%, 5% for years 3, 4, and 5 then we would probably go with 5 years. But if it jumped to 25% in the 5th year, then we would go with battery replacement every 4 years.

Please don't respond "it depends". I know there are several factors that determine how long a battery actually will last. I'm just wondering if large field tests have been done and what the results were. These don't necessarily have to be APC results. Since UPS batteries are UPS batteries, even stats from another UPS vendor or 3rd party would suffice.

Thanks for your response. Ian.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

I look after about 300 apc ups , the majority being SUA3000's and also have 8 Symmetra PX40's and 80's' ... in my experience the biggest factor in battery life expectancy is how cool the environment is your ups is operating in: Eg in my Data center where I've got 16 Celcius air to the racks, the batteries in my Smart-UPS and Symmetra PX's have lasted up to 6 to 8 years. I have Matrix UPS with Panasonic cells in them that are 9 to 10 years old now and still passing the self tests and doing their job. BUT, out in comm rooms where there is poor ventilation and the ups is running in 26 , 27, 28 or even 30 plus Celcius temperature range, the battery life can be as little as 3 years, per the bottom end of the APC spec.
Dave