Shelf Life of Unused RS 1500LCD

[Anonymous user]

I just purchased 2 APC BackUPS RS units (a 1300LCD and a 1500LCD). One order was in error so I need to sell one of the two.

The 1300 was manufactured in 5/2010 the 1500 in 10/2008.

I'd rather keep the 1500 but the 2 years of sitting on the shelf concerns me. Have there been any improvements in those two years in any other aspect of the units that I should take into consideration?

Thanks.

[Anonymous user]

This wasn't purchased from APC but the box was unopened. So it sat on a shelf someplace for 2 years, the battery never having been hooked up to the unit. I spoke with APC and couldn't get a really straight answer out of them.

I've decided to keep the larger of the two with the reasoning that if the battery does go (it's not shot at the moment) the price I paid plus the cost of a new battery is still $100 less than retail.

Thanks for the reply.

[Anonymous user]

Batteries are like food, the expire even not being used, specially lead acid batteries. When they reach a specific charge level, when the charge gets too low, they start to degrade very fast, something called sulfation starts to happen inside the battery, it is a chemical reaction and once it starts happening, you can't stop it and the battery is dead. All batteries has an auto discharging level, so even if it is disconnected the charge level goes down little by little until there's no charge and if this condition is kept for too long, the battery can reach a point where it is unrecoverable. Lead acid batteries should be reacharges once every 6 months if kept in hot wherehouse or once a year if it is kept in a cool enviroment, not freezing, but something around 15 degrees C.

[Anonymous user]

So I should plan on buying a new battery sometime soon then, yes?

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Which begs the question....

Is there no one running Back-UPS with a battery greater than 2 years old that may have sat for some time?

We shall see....

Thanks for all the insights.