UPS Battery Lifetime - What are the lab results?

[Anonymous user]

I have seen postings all over the place that says the batteries will last 3 to 5 years. This does not help me too much for budgeting purposes. I need to estimate annually how many batteries I expect to fail for the next fiscal year.

From testing, what is the mean and standard deviation for the life of APC batteries? I am sure that APC has this type of data somewhere. I realize that this will vary depending on use, but I would assume that there has been at least some lab testing. I doubt that a mean of 4 years and standard deviation of 1 year or a half year would be correct since that would mean that out of all that I have, I would have had to replace something by now. It seems to me that APC says 3 to 5 years to be conservative. Maybe 3-5 years is on the low-end, where 5 years is the true mean. I have found that many of my batteries last 5 years, +/- 1 year for Smart-UPS and 3-5 years for desktop units.

Units that we use are SU2200's, SU1400's, BE500's and BE650's. But, if someone has detailed specs, it would be helpful to all of us to have the complete list rather than info for these 4 units.

[Erasmus_apc]

Marked as assumed answered based on date of last response.

[BillP]

Hello....In my 15 years as an APC partner I have been in the business of replacing batteries in all APC models and sizes. The lifespan of the SLA batteries totally depends upon the environment in which the UPS is deployed. Warmer conditions definitely decrease battery life as well as how many charging cycles the unit goes through, If the power in your building fluctuates often the unit has to recharge the battery. The 3-5 years given as an answer by APC is really right on the money, It is rare that I have someone need to have batteries changed @ 3yrs but it does happen. I generally tell my customers that have to include batteries in the budget to call it four years and have the batteries changed at that point. Hopefully this helps!

[Erasmus_apc · Accepted solution]

APC testing has given a range of 3-5 years for battery lifetime based on testing done with standard IT loads. We cannot provide internal testing details regarding our batteries to customers, but as the above user stated, battery life is dependent upon various factors. Temperature, humidity, frequency of discharge due to power event, ventilation space, age, shorted cells/fuses on a battery, storage length prior to install, and UPS battery charging circuit issues can all affect a battery's expected lifetime.

Our expectancy of 3-5 years is based on good environment, light usage, and the exclusion of any possible miscellaneous system/battery faults. Will a battery last for longer than that? Yes, it is possible but for batteries past their lifetime there is a much higher chance of "abnormal" failure (swelling, venting, intense heat emission) than just your standard "replace battery" LED coming on. I have seen batteries legitimately fail around two years...and some not failing until seven years pass.

If your building power is "excellent", I would look at any batteries that are four to five years old and plan on replacing them proactively. If your power is "good" then I would look at batteries that are three to four years, and if your power is "poor" then look at batteries that are two to three years old.