BX1300LCD - No Low Battery indicator but very low runtime

[rseiler_apc]

This is a 7 year-old UPS, so the warranty is long done. It's not on its first battery, but I don't know the history of it beyond the battery being installed about 2 years ago.

What's happening: with a 225W load (confirmed in Powerchute and LCD), the runtime is about 5 mins (100% charge). It should be more like 30.

If it's the battery, shouldn't the unit have the Low Battery indicator lit?  Powerchute doesn't see anything wrong either. Self-tests pass.

If it's not the battery, what could it be?  Could a UPS fail in this way?

Incidentally, the 5 mins figure is very real: it shuts off in that amount of time. It's not a case of the estimate being wrong.

[BillP]

Hello,

i was recently helping the user in this thread (Re: New UPS "BR900GI" suddenly runtime is very low ) but it seems to be essentially the same issue and likely resolution. The only difference is you should validate the 5 minutes with no USB cable attached. Low battery indicator is a little different and you see it when the UPS is operating on battery and running low on capacity. Depending on UPS model, when you have low runtime and are online, you will get an indicator but I don't know if this one does that.

This is likely due to an aging battery and not the UPS.

[rseiler_apc]

Thanks, I didn't realize but should have that the low battery indicator measured battery capacity remaining during an outage.

About the cable, while I didn't disconnect it earlier, I did bring the PC out of Windows and into the BIOS during the last test. This way, when I pulled the plug on the UPS, Powerchute would have no effect, and when the PC suddenly lost power I wouldn't damage anything. That should be essentially the same as not having the cable plugged in, right?

One big difference with that other thread is that his runtime drop started suddenly. Mine is not sudden. I haven't been involved with this UPS for that long, but for at least a year it's been like this. I don't know if that changes the equation at all.

[BillP]

Hi again,

I tend to agree with your thought on the USB cable but I can't say for sure if this particular UPS model does anything differently if it sees something active on the USB port (without further testing).

Do you know how old the battery is? If it reports 5 minutes but only really lasts 5 minutes without any outside software intervention, I still think it would be due to diminished capacity/life on the battery itself and not UPS related.

[rseiler_apc]

The thing with many batteries is that you don't know how old they are when you get them, but I did some checking and this one was installed 3 years ago. At the time, its runtime was about 14 mins (same load), so it might have been a weak battery to start.

However, messages from that time also indicate that the runtime of the battery it replaced was ALSO 14 mins. That low number was in fact why they changed the battery in the first place.

It seems rather strange.

[BillP]

Yes, you should get about 33 minutes or so with a 225 watt load as you suggested. I agree it seems strange but I cannot say I have seen something like this be the fault of the UPS itself, like I said, unless PowerChute or a data connection to the UPS has caused an early shutdown to occur. That would not affect the displayed runtime though being 5 minutes too.

Do you know if the first battery replaced was the original? I would assume so based on when these model units were first released and how you said it was about 7 years old. And if the second battery was a genuine APC replacement battery?

My gut tells me the problem is with the battery capacity/useful life. Anywhere from 2-5 years is normal but not getting the full 33 minutes or so could be due to a poor quality battery from the start. Another suggestion to at least consider is since the UPS is older now, you could trade it in (with poor quality battery and all) to get a discount on a newer UPS with new battery and a 3 year warranty on both - rather than buying a new battery for the aging UPS.

Let me know if you have further questions.

[rseiler_apc]

The latest battery wasn't genuine APC, but the previous battery likely was, as it was most likely the original (though I'm not sure).

OK, so at this point we'll decide between a known-good battery, the trade-in program, or some other UPS. Thanks.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

You're welcome