Battery is old but still good?

[Anonymous user]

I have a BE750G which I purchased in June 2012.  It was manufactured, hence the battery was new, in December 2011.  I have never replaced the battery.  The UPS has been used to backup my homemade server and router.  Today, the present load is 40 watts as per Powerchute so not a heavy duty energy draw.

Powerchute indicates the self test, which is the only testing I have done,  as "passed". However, the battery is soon to be 7 years old.  It has no structural abnormalities (bubbles, discoloration, cracks etc).  Should it be replaced simply because "it's old" or can I still use it since the self-test is good? Is there some other kind of test I can put it through to assess its viability?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi William,

A Battery typically has a 3-5 year life span. It is likely that at this age your battery would have a higher internal resistance, so the short time it is used during a self test is fine, but it would struggle to perform when the UPS is on battery for longer durations.

I recommend purchasing a new battery for this UPS but if you did want to test, I would unplug the UPS from the wall socket and time how long the UPS stays on battery before dropping the load.

Regards,

Tom