Brand New Back-UPS HS 500 - much lower runtime than expected

[BillP]

I estimated the load of my network devices at 30W, and when put into the runtime calculator it suggests a runtime of 1 hour 33 minutes.

After I charged my new unit (a couple of days on 100% charge) it still says estimated runtime 52 minutes. This is despite the fact that the actual load is fluctuating between 3 and 7 Watts - much lower than my estimation.

From reading these forums, I'm currently running the UPS off battery as an attempt to help it calibrate itself - but so far it's got down to 41% and remaining runtime is 22 minutes - exactly inline with the original estimate of 52 minutes at 100% charge. It has taken about 40 minutes to reach the 22 minutes remaining stage - so it's lasting slightly longer than it's original estimate, but nowhere near what I should expect.

I'm not sure if this is significant - but during the discharge process, it's telling me the load is 0 Watts.

Am I right in assuming that I now need to see what the runtime estimation is after it fully charges? How important is it that I repeat this process with the unit under minimum of 30% load?

If the conclusion after adequate calibration is that the battery isn't meeting published runtime then should I expect to be sent a replacement battery?

Note: the runtime calculator suggests that at 5 Watts it should run for over 6 hours.

[BillP]

I estimated the load of my network devices at 30W, and when put into the runtime calculator it suggests a runtime of 1 hour 33 minutes.

After I charged my new unit (a couple of days on 100% charge) it still says estimated runtime 52 minutes. This is despite the fact that the actual load is fluctuating between 3 and 7 Watts - much lower than my estimation.

From reading these forums, I'm currently running the UPS off battery as an attempt to help it calibrate itself - but so far it's got down to 41% and remaining runtime is 22 minutes - exactly inline with the original estimate of 52 minutes at 100% charge. It has taken about 40 minutes to reach the 22 minutes remaining stage - so it's lasting slightly longer than it's original estimate, but nowhere near what I should expect.

I'm not sure if this is significant - but during the discharge process, it's telling me the load is 0 Watts.

Am I right in assuming that I now need to see what the runtime estimation is after it fully charges? How important is it that I repeat this process with the unit under minimum of 30% load?

If the conclusion after adequate calibration is that the battery isn't meeting published runtime then should I expect to be sent a replacement battery?

Note: the runtime calculator suggests that at 5 Watts it should run for over 6 hours.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

OK, thanks I'll try that another day.

However, would you agree that the runtime should be AT LEAST the 1 hour 33 minutes estimated by the runtime calculator? Common sense would suggest that for a load less than 30 Watts to last less than that would indicate a problem.

By the way - during my previous runtime test, when it said it had 25% capacity left, is that based on it's estimate, or is that based on actual measurements of capacity (eg. voltage of the battery)? ie. are you saying that the battery may actually have had far more than 25% capacity at that stage?

Message was edited by: bilbo--baggins