UPS Problems

[kicken]

I have two Cyberpower UPS devices (a CP800AVR and CP485SL that seem to not be functioning very well.  During the last couple power failures they did not work at all and on one of them trying to do a self test fails saying there is not enough battery capacity.

The batteries in both are not very old, replace them in July last year.  I'd been replacing the batteries about once a year due to this kind of symptom, which I always though seemed like it was too often.  Now the same symptoms are showing and it hasn't even been a year yet so I'm thinking maybe something else is causing issues.

I tried pulling the battery out and testing it on my own to see if it's any good or not.  It reads about 13.10v without anything connected.  I connected it up to a bunch of leds I had to test it under load and there was little drop in the voltage.  According to my meter the load I used was about 8.8 amps and the voltage dropped to about 13.06v when connected. From my understanding this should mean the battery is still fine.  If the battery were bad either the voltage would be low to start with or it would drop significantly under a load. Is that right, or could it still be a battery problem?

That leads me to believe that maybe the UPS units themselves are the problem.  Is there any relatively simple way to try and diagnose if something in the unit is bad and possibly fix it?  I can't really afford to keep feeding them batteries at this rate, especially since I'm now not convinced the batteries are the problem.

According to the monitoring software the load on the 800AVR is typically only 130ish watts, so I don't think it being overloaded is the problem.  The USB port on the 485SL is broke so I can't see what it reports the load at, but it should be similar.

[QuantumLogic]

In what kind of environment are these UPSes being used?
Are they on the floor or on a shelf?  Carpet or hard flooring?  Do they have airspace around them for cooling?  Are they near heating/cooling vents?
What kind of temperatures are the UPSes experiencing throughout the year?  Is it always 20 C or does it fluctuate between 25 C and 40 C?

The reason for asking these questions is because one of the largest life-reducing aspects of UPS batteries is... you guessed it... temperature.
Higher temperatures will reduce lead acid battery life.

Also, how is your power?  Are the UPSes constantly being triggered by electrical "events", boosting, bucking, switching?
The more the UPS is used, the less life the batteries will provide over time.

Finally, where are you buying the replacement batteries?
Some aftermarket batteries are not quite as good as OEM and can have a much-reduced lifespan.

In my experience for APC Smart-series of UPSes (not necessarily comparable to yours), normal battery life is around 2 to 3 years if temperatures are kept around 25 C constantly and electrical events are somewhat rare (about 5 - 12 blips per year with a prolonged outage 0 to 2 times a year) and the replacement batteries are either OEM (expensive) or one of the larger aftermarket brands like American Battery Co.

The fact that you are only getting 1 year (or even less), tells me that either the environment is harsher than what is considered "normal" or there may be something going on with the UPSes or the batteries or both.  But to have both UPSes act in a similar fashion leads me to believe it is more environmental unless you are really unlucky.

[David Hess]

My experience with Cyberpower UPS units is that they destroy their batteries after about a year and are junk so what you describe seems perfectly normal to me.

[kicken]

In what kind of environment are these UPSes being used?
Are they on the floor or on a shelf?  Carpet or hard flooring?  Do they have airspace around them for cooling?  Are they near heating/cooling vents?
What kind of temperatures are the UPSes experiencing throughout the year?  Is it always 20 C or does it fluctuate between 25 C and 40 C?

One is on a couple bricks that are on the floor under my desk.  Prior to the first time I changed the battery I had it just sitting on the carpet and noticed it was pretty hot when I went to pull it out.  Since then I've had it up on the bricks and it will get warm where the transform and such is but not hot.  The battery side stays near ambient temp.  When I pulled the battery yesterday the side closest to the transformer was just slightly warm.  The ambient in the room is generally around 26C.

The other is on top of my entertainment center, plenty of air around it to keep it cool.

Also, how is your power?  Are the UPSes constantly being triggered by electrical "events", boosting, bucking, switching?
The more the UPS is used, the less life the batteries will provide over time.

Over the summer months the power there are a fair bit brief (second or two) interrupts or brownouts due to stormy weather.  The rest of the year it's general pretty stable.  According to the monitoring software in the last 24 weeks there has been 6 events.  5 outages totaling 12 seconds and 1 under voltage for 2 seconds.  I'm assuming that doesn't include the most recent couple outages where the device simply failed. 

I haven't really been keeping track but I feel like the situation probably isn't much different than what you described, which is why I feel like a year (or less) of life seems too short.

Finally, where are you buying the replacement batteries?
Some aftermarket batteries are not quite as good as OEM and can have a much-reduced lifespan.

So far from my local Batteries+ store.  The last round I bought were Duracell Ultra brand.  A friend recently linked me to ReplaceUPSBattery.com which has some for about half the price as the local shop, might give them a try.  If they work that would help with the cost of feeding them batteries.

I put a different (but not new) battery in my 800AVR and did a self-test which it initially failed.  After unplugging one of my two monitors from the battery side and letting it sit for half a day I did the self-test again and that time it passed.  I did a third one just now and it also passed.  On the failure the capacity meter dropped immediately to 30%.  Both times it passed the capacity meter dropped to 53% instead. I suppose the load of the monitor made the difference but either way the total load was well under the rating for the unit.

Is there any better way to try and test the batteries independently of the UPS besides just applying a load and checking the voltage like I did in my first post to verify if they really are the problem?

My experience with Cyberpower UPS units is that they destroy their batteries after about a year and are junk so what you describe seems perfectly normal to me.

I've been slowly developing a similar opinion.

I wish I could remember the brand of UPS I had back in the early 2000s, it worked great for several years.  At the time I didn't realize you could just replace the batteries in them so when it finally stopped working I tossed it.   

[QuantumLogic]

Thanks for the detailed response.
It sounds like you have a normal use situation based on what you describe for the environment and electrical supply.

I don't know anything about the Duracell Ultra brand, but I assume they are decent due to the Duracell name.

Is there any better way to try and test the batteries independently of the UPS besides just applying a load and checking the voltage like I did in my first post to verify if they really are the problem?

 
I don't know.  The batteries are the standard sealed lead-acid type, so you could Google for suggestions on how to perform that kind of testing.  People that are into solar power and battery banks would probably be the best to ask.  Some people use old UPS batteries.  They are just larger versions of what is in the Cyberpower UPS.

Honestly, the self-test performed by the UPS is a pretty good indicator of how the battery will perform in an actual-use situation.  At least for the APC SmartUPS series it is.
In the past I've had batteries fail the self-test and before I had a chance to replace them the power went out for a few seconds.  Sure enough, the UPS cut the load (my computer + networking equipment) without warning, so the UPS really did believe the battery was incapable of sustaining the load.
I've also had the UPS neglect to indicate the battery was bad (the red "bad battery" LED never lit up) and cut power to the load during the self-test it automatically performs every 2 weeks.  It took me a while to figure out why my computer was rebooting unexpectedly (I don't use monitoring software).  My UPSes are over 10 years old now, so it's probably time to start thinking about replacing them.  Bonus: I could finally have a UPS with USB (current ones are serial port only).

As David succinctly said, the Cyberpower brand isn't one of the higher-tier manufacturers of UPSes.  I didn't want to trash your stuff. 

[David Hess]

I wish I could remember the brand of UPS I had back in the early 2000s, it worked great for several years.  At the time I didn't realize you could just replace the batteries in them so when it finally stopped working I tossed it.   

I have no complaints about the Powerware and Eaton (same company now?) UPS units that I have.  The batteries have tended to last about 5 years although I have had to oil or replace some fans.