On Dec 7, 4:09*pm, D Yuniskis wrote:
Hi,

I don't have anything other than "gut feel" to resort to
as evidence but it sure *seems* like most UPS designs
EAT batteries!

We rarely have outages here. *So, there is no real
draw on the batteries in our UPS's. *So, they should just
be on float charges.

Yet, the batteries seem to wear out far too frequently, IMO.

I could possibly understand regular outages cycling the
batteries too deeply. *And, chargers too aggressively
replenishing them (after all, a UPS that quits because its
battery wasn't fully recharged earns a bad reputation for
its manufacturer). *But, I can't see how even periodic
battery tests (performed by the UPS itself) could be the
problem -- unless there is something wrong with the
approach being used?

Can anyone with firsthand knowledge shed some light on this?
I.e., what *is* the UPS doing to/with the battery when it
is not being used to supply the load?

If this hasn't been discussed already. I would say the batteries have
top priority. Regardless of what charging rate is used, brand, etc..
In the last 15 years or so...I've had numerous brands such as; APC,
Cyberpower, Trip-lite and some other "X" brands as well, all of them
with many years of good service.
For me, the average lifetime of a SLA battery has been about 3 years.
Several have passed the 4+ year mark, and a few for several months.
I consider this to be GOOD.
I have had "fairly" consistent input power, nothing unusual, mostly
several seconds, and maybe once in awhile 10-15 minutes of outage.
Once in a blue moon it goes out for several hours; therefore I shut
everything down, once that annoying beep gets past 15 minutes or so.
IMHO. I would say the QUALITY of the battery is the most important
factor. A well built battery, will be able to handle those odd
charging rates a lot better.
The best batteries (again, IMO) have been Panasonic & Yuasa. I have
seen others fair well too, but I cant recall their brands. The best
would be made in Japan, Taiwan and USA. (in no particular order) Some
Chinese have fared well, but they are not on the top of my list. I can
only imagine the quality will increase since most manufactures will
(if they haven't already) eventually move their assembly to mainland
China.
Bottom line: The quality of the battery is almost everything in a UPS.
Just my 25 cents worth (I added 20 for inflation
Cheers
Dave