Opinion on old battery date when buying a new unit

[Anonymous user]

I know of issues with stores selling units with older dates on the batteries (ie QA sticker on battery dated *2010* feb) when the unit is new from the store (ie same unit purchased in Aug *2012*). I am not going to accuse anyone of selling rotting fruit but want an opinion on how one should view this. If I buy a UPS from a local computer store (+and understand that most of the UPS issues deal with weight and cost of shipping+) - then the odds are high that I will get perhaps a unit with an old battery. However, buying from a larger big box like a Sams or Costco, which should be moving inventory faster than the local store, the odds should be lower to get stuck with a similar unit with an older battery.

I learned after reading about cell phone LiON batteries, this IS a problem - that shelf life does affect longevity of the battery. But I am not 100% sure on the type of batteries used in the APC units and if seeing a long shelf life such as the above (over 2 years) is a problem or not. Is there any rule of thumb? Note - I am interested more in the Back-UPS Pro 1300 style of unit.

And yes maybe someone will suggest "plug X into the UPS and see how long it lasts and if it lasts more than Y then it is good to go". Yeah. But IF shelf life is a factor that is no different than saying "Turn the key on the car with 200,000 miles and if the car starts you are good to go.". If the battery comes unused already 2.5yrs old, will the unit last as long if the battery came 6mths old?

Thanks
belly

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Between 6 months - 1 year is where the problems start. We will actually "refresh" our batteries over 12 months from our own stock but as you mentioned, our resellers may have these units in their warehouses/stores for longer than that.