APC CS650 - discharge

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

I have a APC CS650 with a year old battery. I had a power outage a while ago that discharged the battery. When the power returned the replace battery was lit and it was beeping....I left it in this state for a day and it did not go away.

I then disconnected the battery and charged it...reconnected it and now the UPS will not power on, the only thing that happens is that the on bat led lit up when I connect the power cable....nothing happens when I push or hold the power button.

Any suggestions?

--Mats

[BillP]

Hi Mats,

When you mention:

On 11/10/2018 11:01 PM, Mats said:

I then disconnected the battery and charged it

Do you mean you disconnected / removed the battery from the UPS, charged it externally, then reinstalled it in the UPS? Under usual conditions the UPS would charge the battery to the appropriate float voltage, while the battery is installed in the UPS and AC input is available.

Is the battery you have been using an APC supplied RBC17? If so, I would recommend contacting your local APC tech support in order to have that battery replaced under warranty. 

On the other hand, if the On-Battery LED is on even though the unit is connected to AC input, it could indicate an issue with the UPS (unless there is genuinely no AC available due to a potential outlet / input cord issue)

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

Yes, I left it in the UPS for over a day and the replace bat was still lit and it was beeping. I removed the battery and charged it with CTEK charger externally and charge was complete after a couple of hours with no errors.

The Battery is APC supplied and I have tested the UPS with several outlets. It seems as it has broken down completely, the on bat led is lit even with no batter present and connected to AC power.

Is it worth to try and fix it?

--Mats

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

After some more testing by swapping the battery from another ups with the battery from the failing UPS it woke up and it turned out to be the battery after all. I'm a bit surprised that the UPS behaves this strange with a failing battery. Is that normal for this model?

What's even more interesting is that this battery is not old at all 1.5-2 years, the ups has very low load (below 20 %), it is not running very hot and has not had more than one longer power failure during this period.

I couldn't really give up since chargers reported the battery as full and ok so I did some more testing with different loads connected to the battery directly, it turned out that even though it reported ok voltage 14.4, it could not handle any load. I broke of the top on the battery and checked the fluid levels of each cell (not recommended) and was surprised to see that the first two was nearly empty. I refilled all cells with battery water and re-charged it with the top off outdoors. Now it works perfect.

Is it normal that sealed lead acid batteries goes dry like this?

It is not that the cost is that high to replace it every year but from an environmental perspective it seem wrong to throw it away when it seems to work fine after a simple refill.

--Mats