RBC123 vs. RBC124

[Anonymous user]

I have a Back-UPS XS 1000.  I need a new battery.  A local store has the RBC124 in stock but not the RBC123.  Can i use the RBC124 in my unit? The seem to be the same physical size.  Wondering if the RBC124 would give me more time on battery power?  Or would it overheat unit and not work properly?

[BillP]

Hi,

The UPS has been designed and test to use the RBC123 so you should not replace an RBC123 with an RBC124. 

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Why it doesn't works? The battery has the same size... only the capacity will be growing up. What can be happens wrong?

[BillP]

Hi Dirk, a higher capacity battery will take longer to charge and will also provide a longer runtime. APC would recommend not increasing the capacity of the batteries from 7.2ah to 9.0ah as it falls outside the manufacturer specs and would not be supported in the event of a fault. 

[Anonymous user]

@BDC Services

You have an error in your response; using an RBC124 over an RBC123 does not increase Voltage (not to mention, you can't go from Volts to Amp Hours anyway...). The Voltage for both batteries is the same; 12V. The Amp Hours (capacity) is the only thing that changes; from 7Ah to 9Ah. The RBC124 is a higher Capacity Battery than the RBC123, and will take longer to recharge; however both batteries have the same output at 12V. Unless someone can produce a specific technical answer from and engineering standpoint, I don't see any problems with using the higher capacity battery (especially if it is already out of warranty). 🙂

On 2017-11-05 21:44, BDC Services said:

Hi Dirk, a higher capacity battery will take longer to charge and will also provide a longer runtime. APC would recommend not increasing the capacity of the batteries from 7.2V to 9.0ah as it falls outside the manufacturer specs and would not be supported in the event of a fault. 

[BillP]

Just a typo... V changed to ah

[Anonymous user]

RBC123 is a 12V 7Ah battery while the RBC124 is a 12V 9Ah battery.  The rule for charging lead acid batteries is that the charging current be 25% of the battery capacity thus the ideal charging current for the RBC123 is 7Ah x 0.25= 1.75Ah and for the RBC124 it would be 9Ah x 0.25 = 2.25Ah.  That said, if you plug a RBC124 in place of RBC123, it will take longer to charge.  If you plug a RBC123 in place of RBC124 the charging current may be too high and this can result in a premature battery failure. 

[mburko]

I upgraded from 7AH to 9AH and recommend it. 

1) Longer charge time? Not an issue. Perfectly OK to "slow charge" a Lead-Acid (LA) battery. Think "trickle charge".  Trickle charge is recommended for storage of LA car batteries. 

Even if you have frequent outages. The charge time to 7Ah of charge (capacity) is the same. It is the extra 2Ah that will take more time. 

Slower charging generates less heat. heat is the enemy (not the only one) of batteries.

2)Longer run time on battery? What could be bad about that? Minutes remaining will be wrong. It will show the time for a 7Ah battery. That is shorter than the time for a 9Ah battery.

Comments?, Mitch

[JonPro]

Hi @mburko 

I personally haven't done replacing the battery of a UPS with a much higher AH rating and we recommend as well that you use the same type of battery that was designed for the UPS as this is how the device was designed including the battery charger.

It could induce stress to the charger that could result in premature failure.

Let's see if there are others who could share their inputs.