Is there a recommended minimum load? SU 3000 XL

[Anonymous user]

Hi guys,

I have recently purchased a rackmount Smart-UPS 3000 XL.

At the moment my rack only draws around 250-300W measured with my trusty power meter (it contains one Dell PE1950 server, a switch and modem/router), however I wanted a fair bit of extra capacity for future expansion - at least one more server and probably a disk array to go into the rack in the next 6 to 12 months or so.

Anyway, I've suddenly found myself concerned about the low load I'll be putting on the UPS.

Is there any issue running such a low load (250-300W) with this UPS? I note that the runtime table on the APC website shows runtimes right down to 50W?
I have some vague recollection of reading about running low loads on a UPS being a bad idea?


I have a few other questions as well, if anyone is feeling kind 🙂

- what service life whould I expect from the battery in this UPS?
- what service life should I expect for the UPS itself?
- is it a good idea to "exercise" the UPS now and then? i.e. run my rack on battery for a while every "x" months or something similar?

All help greatly appreciated!


Cheers,
Mat.

[Anonymous user]

Many thanks, Techie - much appreciated!

[Techie_apc]

You are welcome Mat!

Have a nice day!

:)

[Anonymous user]

One of my units is from 1992 or so and it works fine. The perks about older units is that you can tweak the pots inside to adjust float voltage and such to extend battery life at the expense of run-time. Although, they may continue to work, UPSs follow bath-tub curve failure pattern, so the chance of random failure increases after a certain age. I'm not sure exactly when, but I'd go with what APC says.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Hi guys,

I have recently purchased a rackmount Smart-UPS 3000 XL.

At the moment my rack only draws around 250-300W measured with my trusty power meter (it contains one Dell PE1950 server, a switch and modem/router), however I wanted a fair bit of extra capacity for future expansion - at least one more server and probably a disk array to go into the rack in the next 6 to 12 months or so.

Anyway, I've suddenly found myself concerned about the low load I'll be putting on the UPS.

Is there any issue running such a low load (250-300W) with this UPS? I note that the runtime table on the APC website shows runtimes right down to 50W?
I have some vague recollection of reading about running low loads on a UPS being a bad idea?


I have a few other questions as well, if anyone is feeling kind 🙂

- what service life whould I expect from the battery in this UPS?
- what service life should I expect for the UPS itself?
- is it a good idea to "exercise" the UPS now and then? i.e. run my rack on battery for a while every "x" months or something similar?

All help greatly appreciated!


Cheers,
Mat.