BE325-IT - Short battery time ?

[Anonymous user]

Hello sirs,

last week I got the BE325-IT Surge Protector Battery Backup, new from Amazon.

Left the battery on charge for 2 days, then connected a 5W load (measured with Power Meter) to test the backup time.

Switching to battery, after 10-12 minutes the load is switched OFF.

I did a compare with another APC unit I have, Back-UPS CS350, having the same power classification.

The time, with the same load, was 94 minutes.

I need to power low-consumption devices for the longest possible time, so 12 minutes is not acceptable.

Do you think the unit is defective ?

Thanks a lot,

Mario Di Terlizzi

[BillP]

Hi Mario,

Some Back-UPS models feature a minimum run time algorithm that kicks in and limits the run time in case of very light loads. The light load threshold tends to be 25% of full rated load so would be approximately 46W for the BE325-IT. Even with load lower than this, the run time should be limited to more than 12 minutes though.

There's a chance the UPS just needs a run time calibration, you can perform this by connecting at least 25% load and leaving the UPS to run on battery until it turns off due to low battery; for a new BE325-IT at 25% / 46W load, the expected run time is around 14 minutes. I'm linking the run time graph for reference if you are performing the calibration with a different size load. Can you let me know after how much time on battery your UPS turns off, and with what load size? Thanks.

[Anonymous user]

Hello Szabi,

thanks for your reply.

I am not so sure this UPS has a minimum load. Normally this is described in the documentation, like for another APC UPS I have, Back-UPS 1400. For that, it was mentioned in the manual with the instructions to enable/disable it.

The other UPS I tested, Back-UPS CS350, also has no minimum load.

It could be nice to know, from APC, if this unit has the minimum load or not.

In the meantime, Amazon sent me another BE325-IT to verify the problem. It is currenly powering to recharge the battery for 16 hours as described in the manual.

After that, I will do the same test with a 5W load. If it will fail again, I will return the unit permanently since it is not suitable for my needs (power a wireless router for at least 2 hours).

Let you know the result.

Regards,

Mario Di Terlizzi

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Hi,

the second unit tested is exactly the same as the first one, after 12 minutes the load is switched OFF and the beeper sounds like the battery is empty (1 beep x second). However this is not true because switching the unit OFF and ON again, the load is powered again for 12 minutes, and so on.

So it seems this unit has a "minimum load" policy, this sounds "not very correct" to me because it is not reported in the specifications, while it can be important for the end user to know, before deciding which UPS to buy.

I will return the unit to Amazon, not a good thing for APC reputation.

Regards,

Mario Di Terlizzi