Back-UPS RS 1500 - New Battery is Seemingly Bad?

[Anonymous user]

I've had this unit for less than three years. Prior to my problems, I had roughly 20-25 minutes of battery run-time per PowerChute.

Approximately one year ago I encountered a power outage and the unit went to battery for approximately 10 minutes prior to all connected loads being disconnected and the unit turned off (I knew this was going to be an extended outage, so I decided to shut everything down). When the utility source returned, I powered everything up and PowerChute indicated that I had less than 5 minutes of battery run-time and that I should replace the battery. Today, about a year later, I finally got around to replacing the battery. Much to my surprise, I only have 6 or 7 minutes of battery run-time available. PowerChute says that the batteries are 100% charged and I have approximately 275W of load (out of 865W, or roughly 32% loaded). Are the brand new batteries I bought from APC bad? Is something else going on here? Am I overlooking something obvious?

I looked though the FAQ's and couldn't find anything useful.

Let me know if you need any additional information to help answer my question. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks. I read that thread and I'll give it a shot. I'll post back in a day or so with an update.

[BillP]

sure thing

[BillP]

most likely the batteries you have are fine. i would look at [this thread|https://community.exchange.se.com/t5/Home-and-Office-Forum/bd-p/home-office-forum] and follow the same suggestion that we are trying for this issue. the UPS may provide you with 20 or 25 minutes of runtime but thinks it only has 5 minutes or something. you can discharge the UPS completely until it turns off with the USB communication cable disconnected and then let the UPS charge back up so it realizes how much runtime it has. the runtime reported when the UPS is online is just an estimate so sometimes it can become inaccurate like this.

[Anonymous user]

Didn't work. Still showing only 5 minutes of run-time with 285W of load.

I drained the battery using a lamp and a fan. Charged overnight with nothing connected. Connected everything this morning and powered on. Battery is at full charge according to PowerChute, but still minimal run-time.

Any other suggestions? Did I do something incorrectly?

Thanks.

[BillP]

how long did the actual battery last though for runtime?

[Anonymous user]

It ran on battery for at least 30 minutes. Somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes would be an accurate statement. There was approximately 100W of load. I'm confident in saying that the batteries are not the issue, but I would like to resolve the issue of PowerChute displaying the incorrect run-time so I can continue to use that program over Windows native UPS power management.

[BillP]

unfortunately, i cant think of any other way to calibrate this. if this were a Smart UPS we could fix it but there is no way to do it on a Back UPS. even though it provides the amount of runtime, it'd have to be replaced if it does not report the correct runtime in the software even after the discharge/recharge process 😕

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for your help anyway!

I may try the discharge / recharge method again, but with one change. I'd like to see what happens if I power my computer on at the beginning of the recharge period to see if PowerChute recognizes the small amount of charge on the batteries and adjusts the time remaining accordingly during the ensuing eight hours of charging.

Thanks again!

[BillP · Accepted solution]

no problem!