New Batteries for Symmetra LX

[BillP]

Hello, we have a Symmetra LX with 10 batteries. APC notified us that we shouldnt really keep batteries in the unit for more than 5 years, as they will go bad and no longer hold charge.


I managed to get budget to replace 5 batteries. But have to leave 5 older ones in the UPS.

My question; is there a way I can tell which of the old batteries are the best of the bunch?

Currently the runtime on the UPS should be around 2hr, but we get approx 40 mins when tested. So either all the batteries are just shadows of what they used to be. Or there are some that are discharging faster than others.


Thanks,
Dekkar

[BillP]

There's a lot of useful information available in the Diags > Batts menu to determine the quality of the batteries. If you can grab this info from the screen and post it here, we can help find the batteries that are the worst off. In the batts menu, there are 5 pages of info as indicated by the numbers in the top right corner. I would grab the info on pages 4 and 5 in addition to serial numbers (on page 2).

[BillP]

I think I can see the menu you are talking about.... A whole bunch of numbers for each battery. I will compile them and post them soon,.


Thanks for the help.

[BillP]

Ok here goes diags --> Batts --> Pg 4/5 (ps my old username i cant log into.. not too sure why)


Batt1: 0.00 2.11 864
. 4000 5 19 41
Batt2: 0.00 2.11 864
. 4000 5 19 40
Batt3: 0.00 2.11 864
. 4000 5 19 41
Batt4: 0.00 2.12 864
. 4000 5 18 39
Batt5: 0.00 2.11 864
. 4000 5 18 39
Batt6: 0.00 2.13 864
. 4000 5 18 39
Batt7: 0.00 2.10 864
. 4000 4 18 41
Batt8: 0.00 2.13 864
. 4000 4 18 41
Batt9: 0.00 2.12 864
. 4000 4 18 41


Pg 5/5


Batt1: 1 1.00 0712.0
. 0712.4 0089.4
Batt2: 1 1.00 0712.4
. 0712.4 0088.8
Batt3: 1 1.00 0712.4
. 0712.4 0102.6
Batt4: 1 1.00 0712.1
. 0712.1 0099.2
Batt5: 1 1.00 0711.7
. 0711.7 0101.6
Batt6: 1 1.00 0712.6
. 0712.6 0090.8
Batt7: 1 1.00 0713.4
. 0713.4 0096.4
Batt8: 1 1.00 0713.4
. 0713.4 0075.4
Batt9: 1 1.00 0713.3
. 0713.3 0097.5



Thats it.... I think there were 2 batteries replaced under warranty about a year ago, I can check the mfg date and make sure I keep those ones. I just need to find out which 5 are the worst of all these!


Thanks for the help!
Nathan

Message was edited by: dekkar

Message was edited by: dekkar

[BillP]

Hmm this is odd. Do you have any other batteries? Was the unit on battery at all when you recorded these values? Any faults?

Also, could you grab the serial numbers on the batteries with their manufacture dates?

[BillP]

No Faults, and it was on power....... I checked the battery cage, and the one that I am looking at is like an extenstion to the main unit.


Its a box of 9 batteries, and on top of this is the actual UPS, which has the power modules in it, plus 4 more batteries... (these batteries are newly replaced ones)

Battery 1 CD0422160701 05/25/04 10
Battery 2 CD0422160705 05/25/04 10
Battery 3 CD0422160708 05/25/04 10
Battery 4 CD0422160707 05/25/04 10
Battery 5 CD0422160703 05/25/04 10
Battery 6 CD0422160709 05/25/04 10
Battery 7 CD0421161339 05/25/04 10
Battery 8 CD0422160704 05/25/04 10
Battery 9 CD0421161674 05/24/04 10

[BillP]

Main Intelligence Module (MIM)
Serial Number: ED0419000543 Master Firmware Revision: 506
Manufacture Date: 05/04/04 Slave Firmware Revision: 601
Module Type: SYMIM5
Redundant Intelligence Module (RIM)
Serial Number: CD0521120981 Master Firmware Revision: 509
Manufacture Date: 05/23/05 Slave Firmware Revision: 602
Module Type: SYMIM5


Thanks,
Nathan

[BillP]

Hmm okay, that may explain some of the weirdness. APC has honestly never really tested to see what happens when you have different firmwares running on the intelligence modules, and 506 fw is pretty old. I would recommend putting the newer one (509 fw) into the main intelligence module slot, the one on the bottom in the upper right hand corner.

With those swapped, you could try to force the unit on battery for a few minutes to see if any of those battery values change after it charges back up. Either way though, I figure since they are all about the same age and in theory should have discharged the same number of times, it probably doesn't really matter all too much which ones you replace now.

[BillP]

ahhhh ok cool..... Then I guess I will start from the top and work my way down.


and I'll look into the firmware issues.


Thanks for the help,
Nathan

[BillP]

Hello, we have a Symmetra LX with 10 batteries. APC notified us that we shouldnt really keep batteries in the unit for more than 5 years, as they will go bad and no longer hold charge.


I managed to get budget to replace 5 batteries. But have to leave 5 older ones in the UPS.

My question; is there a way I can tell which of the old batteries are the best of the bunch?

Currently the runtime on the UPS should be around 2hr, but we get approx 40 mins when tested. So either all the batteries are just shadows of what they used to be. Or there are some that are discharging faster than others.


Thanks,
Dekkar

[BillP · Accepted solution]

No problem. Sorry I didn't have a more exact response for all of your work... 😕