Does my UPS work?

There are two issues involved:

- how long do you want to support your load

- what's the magnitude of the *peak* load.

E.g., a 500VA UPS isn't going to power a 400W load (W != VA); REGARDLESS of how large the battery in that 500VA UPS happens to be!

I use 1500VA UPS's, here -- though I doubt any of them see more than a 500W load.

Reply to
Don Y
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BTW, I too t hink overall the reviews are worth reading and valuable but

a) it's well known t hat people who are dissatisfied are a lot more likely to complain than those who are satisfied are to say so.

b) in this case one guy who gave it one star said "Battery replacement on this is far too complicated for a consumer product". But it's actually as simple as can be. Doesn't even require a screwdriver. Just press on the plastic where the tabs are and the big door slides open, pour out the battery and disconnect the two wires (which have female spade connectors, on miine. The webpage shows a battery with one 3-wire connector, maybe even easier.)

c) Another guy who gave it five stars said "Thing has worked fabulously for 3 years and is still working great. Every now and again, I've removed the battery, popped off the rubber stoppers, filled with distilled water, dried, capped off the holes with rubber stoppers, charged each battery using a car battery charger at 3 amps, reinstalled. These batteries just don't quit running if you maintain them properly. To bad APC doesn't put this in the manual." The owner of Battery Warehouse reminded me that there is no water inside, but some kind of jelly.. What a blowhard the reviewer is.

d) one study somewhere said that there are people who complain on online reviews when they've never even bought or used the item. It said their reviews tended to ramble about the general topic wihtout going into specifics about the item. Not surprising. That's why Amazon verifies if you've bought the product from them and labels those reviews that way.

Reply to
micky

I presume that means lead-acid. (Most of this sort of thing use "SLA" - sealed lead-acid - which have a gel inside rather than liquid, which means the batteries can be used any way up.)

(Sounds healthy!) I'd guess two 12-volt ones.

Can you figure out how to open it? If so, have a look: the batteries are usually pretty obvious. They tend to be big grey (or occasionally black) blocks, usually with spade terminals; if you're lucky, they'll have a label on (or text moulded into the plastic), giving voltage and amp-hour rating; maybe also model number.

Reply to
J. P. Gilliver (John)

The larger capacity APC units (you have one) use TWO 12v batteries in series to obtain the 24V nominal.

Do a Google Search for APC Back-UPS XS 1300G manual (the G is for "Green", I believe) and you should find the manual you're looking for. I was just gifted yet another APC unit and didn't have the manual (it was an older model) and locating them on the APC site was difficult. Nothing would be returned with their search engine.

When I did the Google search I found one... Guess where? On the APC site. Go figure.

Also, look on the outside of your unit for a small (maybe 1"x3/8") white bar code label it will have something like BX1300 or XB1300 on it. That number means more than the model number emblazoned on the case of the UPS.

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

Here, Dave, this should be the manual you need:

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

Thanks.

For the record, it was a bad idea to trim off the other newsgroups. I started this thread in XP and included this group because I thought you'd be interested. It's only by chance I noticed the thread is longer here, and if it hadn't been a lot longer, I would have missed all the replies that followed a post that had ng snipped.

Reply to
micky

Thanks Ed. I took a look, and bookmarked them, but

a) the guy at the store here was really nice to me a couple years ago. When I went to pay him I saw I had lost my wallet. Went back to where I had lunch, and paid for it, and owner told me they didn't have it.

Went back to battery store and he gave me one of the two I wanted on credit, never met him before. I only needed one at the moment.

Got money at the bank the next day and went back and paid him. Also stopped at the restaurant again and found out owner-wife had the wallet the previous day and went home without telling owner-husband. So I got my wallet back with everything in it. I'd dropped it on the floor under the table where I ate.

b) it wasn't that much more money

c) he let me try the battery in the UPS before I bought it. . I didn't know until this morning that even the one I paid $7 for and which said Working on it didn't do anything when plugged it, even with an all-but-dead battery . It doesn't have to have a load but it does have to have a decent battery, or even the Online light doesn't go on. I think the design stinks.

d) I wanted to get one of the batteries right away.

Reply to
micky

I choose the newsgroups that I want my posts to appear in. If it ends up not being seen because you choose to read ONE of the multiple groups to which you've cross-posted, so be it. *I'm* not missing out on anything! :>

Reply to
Don Y

The manual, absolutely, but for replacement batteries, this won't work and the manual won't either. They give the batteries silly names like RBC2, RBC32, Replacement Battery Cartridge #32

For the battery give google the ups model number and use the words replacement battery. I didn't think of that. Google suggested it.

Hmmm. By accident I went straight to google. I guess that saved me some time.

Reply to
micky

My first UPS was for some reaons 70 or 80% off at a computer store. They had 3.

Not APC and it had it's on/off switch in a cupola at the top, so it was a lot easier to reach when the UPS was on the floor.

When I looked inside, there were plastic ribs holding the battery in place so I broke out the ribs and put in a bigger battery. I figured itwould only recharge as fast as it could, and I never drained the battery anyhow, That one failed, but I still don't think the bigger battery caused the failure. ????

Reply to
micky

Yes. First, even the one that was marked Working was like yours. It did nothing when plugged in, but I brought it to the store and he let me try the new battery in it. I had no load and the Online light was off even after I plugged it in, but after I pushed the button, that light flashed green, in a few seconds the yellow self-test light went on, and when that went off, the first light was steady green.

Then I took the two batteries I bought and tested the one at home that Paul pointed out had terrible Amazon rattngs. It was dead too, even when plugged in with the old batteries ---- What a crummy design --- but with new ones -- they didnt fit in the case but the wires were long enough -- it acted just like in the previous paragraph. I couldn't hear it hum but my fingers could feel it, including for a minute or two after I turned it off, even though it had only been on for couple minutes. So it takes that long to cool off when it's barely gotten hot I forgot to test it with the lamp, darn, but it probably works. Well there's that transfer issue. It uses a very common size battery, two NP7-12's, which will fit my home burglar alarm too.

Air can get in through any of the 8 3-prong holes for electric plugs that are not being used. Or they can go out that way, but that puts all the air near the back of the box. I suppose I should drill a couple holes in the case, maybe 1/2? inch on each side. One inch?

Reply to
micky

Well la-di-da. FTR, alt.home.repair was a group I cross posted to. XP was the group I posted to. I showed concern for you but you won't show the same for me.

Reply to
micky

I have 12 of them (1500VA units) servicing various bits of kit, here. At the very least, they are "outlet multipliers"; consider that you typically need several outlets for a "workstation" (computer, monitor, printer, desk lamp, charging stand for mouse, yada yada...)

You should be able to find *discarded* UPS's within walking distance, if you put your mind to it! :> They are frequently discarded by companies and individuals -- esp when their batteries need replacing ("manufacturer prices" being somewhat outrageous; my last *pair* of

7.2AHr batteries set me back $50, total -- I think manufacturer wants double that)

You typically design a charger to charge at the battery's C/20 rate. Bigger battery tends to have higher charge rate. Or, said another way, a charger expecting a smaller battery will take longer to charge a larger battery. It is conceivable that the charger could overheat if it was underdesigned (i.e., expecting a shorter duty cycle) but probably not a real concern.

Said still another way, installing a *smaller* battery can lead to woes.

[This assumes the batteries have the same chemistry and that the charger isn't a total crap-job]

There is a fair bit of variation between APC models. But, *most* APC models seem to "cook" batteries. Conspiracy theorists may assume it is to boost battery sales. Or, you can choose to think their designers are incompetent. Or, you can choose to think they are opting to bring the battery back to it's "recharged" state as quickly as possible (to protect against the *next* outage).

Some models allow you to adjust the float voltage of the battery. Others require hardware modifications if you want to prolong battery life.

Also, the depth of discharge that the battery experiences affects its lifespan. (Keep in mind that many UPS's -- esp APC -- run a short test cycle on the battery daily. AFAICT, there isn't an

*easy* way to defeat this test)
Reply to
Don Y

Thanks! Based on the images etc., it does look like the correct manual.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

Reply to
David W. Hodgins

There are enough wires around it (it supplies two desktop computers, two monitors, cable modem, sound amplifier, router, tv, and a light) that it will be difficult to access without unplugging everything. As the battery seems to be ok (just over 2 years old), I'll leave it where it is. It has good air flow, and anytime I hear thunder, I turn everything off, including the ups, an unplug it, just to be on the safe side. I trust it to handle short outages, voltage spikes or drops, but not a nearby lightning strike. I've lost a lot of electronic devices due to lightning strikes in the past.

I'll keep that in mind for when the battery eventually does go.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

Reply to
David W. Hodgins

It's either a single battery, or two in one case, so it looks like one.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

Reply to
David W. Hodgins

I took the time to reply. The fact that you didn't take the time to chase down all replies that might originate in any of the different groups that you included in your post isn't my worry.

If you'd prefer I *not* reply to any of your requests for information, I can easily oblige...

Reply to
Don Y

Yes, they certainly do give them silly names like RBC2 and RCB32. However, any battery supply house worthy of the name will have cross references to the batteries used in perhaps the widest selling brand of UPS devices.

APC and others with "proprietary" numbers count on some people being idiots and unable or unwilling to look past the end of their fingertip as the mouth the words in the owner's manuals. ;)

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

[snip]

[snip]

So now the expert on Newsgroup posting has taken to replying to his own posts? Wonderful. Take bit of your own "expert" advice and start trimming your posts. We really don't need to read the entire thread over and over. Nor, for that matter, do we need to know the saga of your missing wallet and who, exactly found it and where.

Somehow I don't think your idea of drilling 1/2" or 1" holes in the case of your UPS for added ventilation is the brightest idea. To ensure you don't accidentally damage something and not have a working UPS when you need it, I'd suggest drilling those holes while the unit is plugged in. That way you'll know immediately if you damaged something. :)

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

Quite a few of those APC manuals actually cover a multitude of their "models." The best indicator/reference is usually that little bar code label reading "BX1300" or "BS1300" etc.

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

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