APC UPS - Bad Batteries or Unit?

[egtrev]

Hello,

Not sure if anyone has any experience with these but I have an APC Smart 1000 (SUA1000i).
The battery indicator shows 5 bars and passes the self test.
As soon as I pull power the battery indicator goes straight to 1 flashing bar, it last about 3 minutes before dying (no load/nothing connected).
I can connect back to the power, leave it overnight and it will show 5 bars again and self test fine.

If there anyway I can check if this is a battery issue or the unit itself?
I obviousely don't want to buy new batteries if it's something else.

Thanks for any help.

 

[mcconkeymike]

It sounds like it is the battery(s) but how old is the unit? I'm pretty sure that if it is over 3 years they recommend replacing the battery(s).

 

[joex444]

Pull the batteries out and check the voltage on them. They're either 6V or 12V batteries and they'll say right on them. If you're seeing something much lower after a full night of charging then the batteries aren't able to hold a charge anymore and should be replaced. The lifespan on a typical sealed lead acid battery, typically what you'll find inside, is about 3-5 years so if you've had this for 3+ years then that's probably the issue. If it's a new purchase, just return it - it's defective in some way and you don't really care why, you just bought it.

 

[mjslakeridge]

It is most likely the batteries simply wearing out, but I did have an issue with the charging circuitry in my UPS that was actually causing the batteries to fail. I smelled a strong sulfur odor one morning and tracked it down (finally) to the UPS. I couldn't slide the battery out because it had a large bulge on the side with some acid leaking out. Had to completely dis-assemble the ups to get the battery out and then I could see some discoloration on the charging units pcb.

See the bulge on the right hand side in this picture:

Also see the discoloration on the pcb near the bottom of the "silver" thing:

 

[makkem]

Hi
Try fully charging the battery then turn the unit off and leave it off for a day then turn it back on and see if you still have 5 bars,a dying battery will self discharge quite rapidly.

 

[egtrev]

The unit itself is around 5 years old, but the batteries were replaced about 14 months ago by a third party.
I've opened the front up and pulled out the batteries (there are two glued and linked together)
The voltage on my meter shows 25.2 together and 12.4/13.1 individually (not sure what it's meant to be?)
I can't see any numbers on the batteries, they just say Genuine APC by Schneider RBC and a bunch of warnings etc.

I'll try leaving the unit off overnight and see what the bars show then.