When to replace UPS battery?

[Guest]

I have a Belkin F6C1000 UPS, and the Belkin software just popped up a
message saying that I need to replace the battery. The UPS is about 3
years old now, and the Belkin software says the battery level is
100%. Do I really need to replace the battery if it is still able to
hold a full charge? Or is this a ploy by Belkin to get me to spend
more money?

 

[Angelo Campanella]

I have a Belkin F6C1000 UPS, and the Belkin software just popped up a
message saying that I need to replace the battery. The UPS is about 3
years old now, and the Belkin software says the battery level is
100%. Do I really need to replace the battery if it is still able to
hold a full charge? Or is this a ploy by Belkin to get me to spend
more money?

Storage batteries exemplify the term "fickle".

Consider your experience with automobile batteries. Somewhere around 4
years, the starting capacity dwindles. All the kings horses and men will
not bring it the fountain of youth.

True, I have gotten up to nine years from an auto battery, but that was
about 1972, and none so since.

A storage battery starts life in good shape. It's only a matter of time
until it ages. The only way you can really tell of its contemporaneous
capacity is to make it run your system solo while clocking the time it
takes to deteriorate somewhat; say to 50% capacity remaining.

Your software probaly has a programmed WAG as to when the next needed
UPS function will be likely crippled just when you need it.

I have had a UPS for about 8 yeas now. I replaced its sealed lead acid
("SLA") battery a few yearrs ago. The last time the power hiccoughed
here, I don't think it carried the load. (But since I now work
exclusively on my T43 laptop, I don't give a hoot about my UPS. IOW, the
laptop battery is now my defacto UPS).

Angelo Campanella

 

[Joel]

I have a Belkin F6C1000 UPS, and the Belkin software just popped up a
message saying that I need to replace the battery. The UPS is about 3
years old now, and the Belkin software says the battery level is
100%. Do I really need to replace the battery if it is still able to
hold a full charge? Or is this a ploy by Belkin to get me to spend
more money?

Do whatever you feel like, it's yours and you know exactly when it's alive
or dead.

 

[CBFalconer]

.... snip ...

Consider your experience with automobile batteries. Somewhere
around 4 years, the starting capacity dwindles. All the kings
horses and men will not bring it the fountain of youth.

True, I have gotten up to nine years from an auto battery, but
that was about 1972, and none so since.

Well, my 1999 Escort failed the original battery the winter of
2006/7 at about 80k miles. Quite sharply, too, which was the
surprise to me.

 

[kony]

I have a Belkin F6C1000 UPS, and the Belkin software just popped up a
message saying that I need to replace the battery. The UPS is about 3
years old now, and the Belkin software says the battery level is
100%. Do I really need to replace the battery if it is still able to
hold a full charge? Or is this a ploy by Belkin to get me to spend
more money?

Charge being full is defined by the voltage attained, not a
good sign of battery fitness for any particular runtime.

Runtime is the question, how long you need. If your use
requires trying to run system as long as possible after AC
power is off, replace the battery often, like now.

If you instead initiate a rapid shutdown after AC power is
off, you can get a few more years out of the battery.

Because it's a lead-acid battery the age is only one factor,
another is how often and how low the battery was drained
from prior power outtages. Draining one fully (Until the
unit turns itself off due to low battery) will put a lot
more wear on the battery than quickly turning off, ASAP.

If you wish to keep using the same battery and the software
warning is annoying, find the way to reset the battery
warning and take it upon yourself to schedule when to
replace it.

Belkin doesn't need a ploy to sell a battery because it
almost certainly uses some fairly standard battery type you
can buy at many places - only needing to reuse the connector
from the old battery pack if it is proprietary, but usually
it is not, usually it's only a matter of choosing between
the thinner or wider connector type on a standard size and
capacity SLA battery.

 

[VanguardLH]

I have a Belkin F6C1000 UPS, and the Belkin software just popped up a
message saying that I need to replace the battery. The UPS is about
3
years old now, and the Belkin software says the battery level is
100%. Do I really need to replace the battery if it is still able
to
hold a full charge? Or is this a ploy by Belkin to get me to spend
more money?

100% full charge means nothing when there is no load. You need to put
the UPS under load to determine how long it will keep your computer
powered. Yank the UPS's power cord from the wall and see how long it
takes before the UPS can't keep your system up. You might not want to
be logged into Windows at the time and instead just boot to DOS using
a bootable floppy.

 

[Mike Walsh]

UPS batteries have a notoriously short life, considering how little most of them get used. Three years is probably about the average life, but there is no need to replace it if it still good. You should be able to test it with the Belkin software. Watch the remaining battery life while you run a 10 second test (the AC feed will be switched off so that you will be running on the battery during the test). One of my UPSs shows 95% remaining after the test. My other UPS (a Belkin) shows 22% because of a weak battery.

 

[kony]

Storage batteries exemplify the term "fickle".

Consider your experience with automobile batteries. Somewhere around 4
years, the starting capacity dwindles. All the kings horses and men will
not bring it the fountain of youth.

True, I have gotten up to nine years from an auto battery, but that was
about 1972, and none so since.

It seems that at some point they started using more porous
plates to increase CCA, which is lovely if your car is 20
below zero but not if it's more than about 4 years old.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

I have a Belkin F6C1000 UPS, and the Belkin software just popped up a
message saying that I need to replace the battery. The UPS is about 3
years old now, and the Belkin software says the battery level is
100%. Do I really need to replace the battery if it is still able to
hold a full charge? Or is this a ploy by Belkin to get me to spend
more money?

Couldn't Belkin's wonderful tech support tell you?
BTW, forget the tech support number listed on the box and instead dial
1-800-223-5546, ext. 2879, which is Belkin's tech support escalation
line.

Have you tried disconnecting the AC power cord and then unplugging
the battery for several minutes? Because that may reset any battery
life monitor and stop the warning message from appearing. However
almost every battery backup I've tried (only cheap ones) automatically
ran a load test on the battery for several seconds after power-up, and
some also did this every several hours.

Battery prices vary a lot, and security alarm supply houses seem to be
some of the cheapest sources.

 

[kony]

Couldn't Belkin's wonderful tech support tell you?
BTW, forget the tech support number listed on the box and instead dial
1-800-223-5546, ext. 2879, which is Belkin's tech support escalation
line.

Have you tried disconnecting the AC power cord and then unplugging
the battery for several minutes? Because that may reset any battery
life monitor and stop the warning message from appearing. However
almost every battery backup I've tried (only cheap ones) automatically
ran a load test on the battery for several seconds after power-up, and
some also did this every several hours.

Battery prices vary a lot, and security alarm supply houses seem to be
some of the cheapest sources.

I can't recall on a Belkin I have but many UPS allow setting
"new battery" designation in the bundled windows software.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message
<04bb3f29-b8c6-4bfd-b54b-d9a823ff50e7@u10g2000prn.googlegroups.com>

Couldn't Belkin's wonderful tech support tell you?
BTW, forget the tech support number listed on the box and instead dial
1-800-223-5546, ext. 2879, which is Belkin's tech support escalation
line.

You do realize that encouraging customers to contact an escalation line
for issues which barely justify a call to the frontline techs will just
encourage the company to disable that escalation route completely, 'eh?

 

[kony]

In message
<04bb3f29-b8c6-4bfd-b54b-d9a823ff50e7@u10g2000prn.googlegroups.com>


You do realize that encouraging customers to contact an escalation line
for issues which barely justify a call to the frontline techs will just
encourage the company to disable that escalation route completely, 'eh?

.... or start giving the level 1 techs enough information
that it doesn't (presumably the customer had called the
other number first) get escalated?