Personal Edition and runtime estimate

[Anonymous user]

I installed Powerchute Personal Edition 3.02 a week or so ago. I've had the UPS for quite awhile, but just used the basic 'treat it like a laptop battery' of Windows 7. I installed it as I wanted to check a few things after a long outage drained the battery. It's a Back-UPS ES750, and the battery is only 10 months old. It took a few days for it to reach 100%.

So far, the estimated runtime bounces between 1 and 2 minutes. It shows I'm using around 108-115 Watts, out of 450. I have run a self-test, which passes. How long does it take to get a realistic estimate? Do I need to deliberately run it off the battery for awhile?

[BillP]

Andrew,

Switch the UPS to battery output with the computer attached should give you an accurate reading.

[Anonymous user]

I wonder if the battery is bad, or something needs to be 'reset' to relearn the battery. I unplugged the UPS with the monitor running, and it was dropping very fast. It was down to 73% and the UPS started continuously beeping in barely 30 seconds. The battery is a genuine APC that is only 10 months old...

[BillP]

Andrew,

Sounds like a bad battery. You should contact Technical Support at 1-800-890-4272. Since the battery is only 10 month old it is under warranty and can be replaced.

[Anonymous user]

I bought a brand new battery. Gave it a few days to guarantee it's fully charged. I then did a pull-the-plug test. And just like the previous battery, the percentage available dropped very fast, and the UPS started continuously beeping after less than a minute. Just how long should a 120W load run? Or is it the cheap Made-In-Vietnam battery (I peeled back the APC label) you are now shipping as official APC batteries? The original battery that came with the UPS when I bought it a few years ago was a CSB brand.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Andrew,

The battery should be able to sustain the load for 20 plus minutes. I recommend you call into Technical Support 1-800-890-4272 since the battery is under warrant.

As for the battery manufacturer, we have a few manufactures that are approved to supply batteries. The all meet the same quality standards.