Calibrare baterii APC

Hi, Folks. Well, Kern was absolutely right. The problem with my UPS was batteries. It was unexpe te! though, be ause there was no in!i ation o" a ba! battery right up until the UPS "aile! entirely. For those who might en ounter the same thing, an! !on#t know what#s happening $I !i!n#t either%, here#s what happene!. & week or so ago, I turne! on one o" my SmartUPS '(()*+T mo!els. The loa! is a small !ual P) III unix ser,er $Solaris -, .-/% an! a 011 tape !ri,e. 2uring the normal sel"test that runs when you "irst turn on any &P3 UPS, the UPS #"reake! out#. The alarm stuttere! at about 0 or 4 beeps per se on!, an! all the panel lights "lashe! spasmo!i ally, as i" something was loose insi!e the UPS. I turne! o"" the UPS an! it#s loa!, then turne! the UPS on again. This time, e,erything seeme! "ine. I boote! the system that was atta he!, an! there were no problems. The status monitor showe! 5 minutes runtime $whi h in!i ates "airly low apa ity%, but the batteries showe! "ully harge!. I began to suspe t a ba! in,erter in the UPS. Howe,er, Kern tol! me that he suspe te! the batteries. So I took the UPS o""line, put an ol! SU) /(( in it#s pla e $6ust barely big enough to han!le the startup peaks ) I get an #o,erloa!# lamp lit "or about 7 se on!s !uring boot%, an! he ke! out the batteries. They !i! in!i ate that they were near the en! o" li"e, so I or!ere! a repla ement set. Those ame in on Fri!ay, an! a"ter the initial harge, a omplete harge8!is harge y le to re alibrate the UPS, an! some testing, I put it ba k in ser,i e. Surprise9 $:r maybe not;% Kern was right ) there is nothing wrong with the in,erter or the harging ir uit, an! the new ells "ixe! e,erything. What on"use! me is that there was no #repla e battery# in!i ation "rom the UPS, e,en when it "aile!, plus a "air amount o" runtime in!i ate! with a "ull harge. So i" you see su h beha,ior on one o" your UPS mo!els, it makes sense to repla e the batteries, e,en i" there is no in!i ation that the batteries ha,e "aile! yet. :ne o" the things I learne! !uring this pro ess is that the UPS internal alibration will lose a ura y o,er the li"e o" the battery. I always !o a re alibrate when I install new ells, but rarely !o it a"ter that, as it#s time) onsuming, an! you really an#t use the system atta he! to the UPS while !oing it. Sin e my systems are almost onstantly in use, it#s a pain to s he!ule a re al, an! I ten! to put it o"". This time it bit me. I#! suggest that "olks !o a re al at least on e e,ery six months. It will make your runtime estimates mu h more a urate, an! also allows you to keep tra k o" the state o" your batteries. For those who !on#t know how to !o this, here#s what you !o. This pro ee!ure shoul! not be on"use! with the #<e alibrate# "eature in the &P3 Power hutePlus so"tware. They !o not !o the same thing. =From &P3#s web site> Per"orm a <untime 3alibration. This is a manual pro e!ure an! shoul! not be on"use! with the runtime alibration per"orme! through Power3hute plus. The batteries insi!e o" the Smart)UPS are ontrolle! by a mi ropro essor within the UPS. Sometimes it is ne essary to reset this

mi ropro essor, espe ially a"ter the installation o" new batteries. Stop the Power3hute plus so"tware "rom running an! !is onne t the serial able. There must be at least a ?(@ loa! atta he! to the UPS !uring this pro e!ure, but the pro ess will ause the UPS to shut o"" an! ut power to its outlets. There"ore, atta h a non) riti al loa! to the UPS an! then "or e the UPS on battery by !is onne ting it "rom utility power. &llow the unit to run on battery until it turns o"" ompletely. 1ake sure a ?(@ loa! is present9 Plug the UPS ba k into the wall outlet an! allow it to re harge $it will re harge more Aui kly turne! o"" an! with no loa! present%. :n e the unit has re harge!, the BBruntime remaining## al ulation shoul! be more a urate. <emember that i" the unit is an ol!er mo!el, then the runtime will not impro,e signi"i antly. Ca kgroun!> &n &P3 Smart)UPS has a mi ropro essor whi h al ulates runtime primarily base! on the loa! atta he! to the UPS an! on its battery apa ity. :n the right si!e o" the "ront !isplay panel there is a ,erti al graph o" "i,e D+2s. +a h D+2 is an in!i ation o" battery harge in in rements o" twenty per ent> 7(, 0(, /(, -(, E((@ $bottom to top%. For example, i" the battery harge is 55@, then only "our o" the "i,e D+2s are illuminate!. To ensure that an operating system re ei,es a gra e"ul shut!own when using Power3hute plus or a SmartSlot a essory, an alert is generate! by the Smart)UPS in!i ating that the UPS has rea he! a low battery on!ition. The alert is au!ible $rapi! beeping%, ,isual $"lashing battery D+2 or D+2s%, an! rea!able through the graphi al inter"a e o" Power3hute plus so"tware $or a nati,e UPS shut!own program within a parti ular operating system.% In or!er to al ulate this BBlow battery on!ition,## all Smart)UPS pro!u ts ha,e a pre on"igure! low battery signal warning time o" two minutes $this is the "a tory !e"ault setting%. There are a total o" "our user) hangeable settings> 7, 4, ', or E( minutes. I" the low battery signal warning time is set "or 7 minutes, then the alerts will a ti,ate simultaneously two minutes prior to shut!own. Similarly, i" the total runtime "or a parti ular UPS is ?( minutes with a low battery signal warning time set at E( minutes, then the UPS will run on battery "or 7( minutes be"ore the low battery alert begins. Total runtime is primarily base! on two "a tors, battery apa ity an! UPS loa!. UPS loa! an! runtime on battery are in,ersely proportional> as loa! in reases, battery runtime !e reases an! ,i e ,ersa. When utility power is lost, the UPS begins !is harging the battery in or!er to support the atta he! loa!. :n e power returns, the Smart)UPS will automati ally begin to re harge its battery. 1y omments on this pro ee!ure> I belie,e this pro ee!ure works "or all &P3 mo!els that alulate runtime, not 6ust the SmartUPS. It#s important that you loa! the UPS to ?(@ o" the UPS apa ity, as reporte! by ap ups! or another UPS monitor program. I#,e "oun! that normal house lamps o" !i""erent wattages allow me to a!6ust the loa! to almost exa tly what I want, whi h is between ?(@ an! ?4@ o" the UPS apa ity. This is riti al te getting an a urate rea!ing $a or!ing to the &P3 web !o uments%. &lways bring the UPS to E((@ harge "irst, as in!i ate! by the "ront panel lamps, or your UPS monitoring so"tware. Set the UPS shut!own time to 7 minutes, all other settings to nominal, an! !is onne t the serial port able "rom the UPS be"ore running the re alibration. I" you lea,e a monitoring program running through the serial port, it will turn the UPS o"" early, an! you !on#t want to !o that !uring a re alibration run. When the run is omplete, an! the UPS turns o"", you an reatta h the serial able, an! the normal loa!s, an! re harge the batteries normally. I" you think you might

ha,e a power outage !uring the re harge time, allow the UPS to re harge to 7(@ or so $in!i ate! by the panel lamps% be"ore trying to use the omputer system. This will allow the UPS to han!le short !ropouts while it re harges. :" ourse, i" you an lea,e the omputer o"" !uring the re harge time, the UPS will re harge mu h "aster. &s an asi!e, when the batteries "aile!, my total runtime at E((@ harge an! an i!le state was 5 minutes, whi h is pretty ba!. I repla e! the batteries with exten!e! apa ity ells, whi h a!! about E4@ to the sto k apa ity. *ow, a"ter two omplete harge8 !is harge y les, E((@ harge shows the a,ailable runtime to be 07 minutes on the system when it#s i!le, an! ?? minutes when the system is ,ery busy. The !i""eren es are !ue to the loa! o" the omputer, when the !isks are busy, an! the pus are not in a halte! state $my system halts the pus when they are i!le, to sa,e power an! lower heat, as !o other :S like Dinux%, when ompare! to an i!le state. &p ups! in!i ates the loa! is about 7'@ when i!le, an! as mu h as ?'@ when hea,ily loa!e!. I#,e "oun! that two harge8!is harge y les result in a more a urate re alibration when installing new ells. It appears that some batteries nee! to be put through a ouple o" omplete y les be"ore they rea h their "ull apa ity. I#,e also noti e! that the "ull) harge ,oltage is !i""erent "or ea h battery until they ha,e been through two y les. :n the initial harge o" my new batteries, the E((@ harge ,oltage on the two ells was almost .4 F23 apart. &"ter two omplete y les, the batteries measure within .(E F23 o" ea h other9 I hope this in"ormation helps anyone who might en ounter the problem I saw, an! also shows "olks how to re al their batteries. I" you ha,en#t !one a omplete re alibration in a year or two, I#! re ommen! it, so that you ha,e warning o" a low battery instea! o" what happene! to me. <egar!s, ))3arl

Where Carl Suggests You Get Batteries

Hi, Folks. I#m 6ust repla ing the batteries in one o" my SmartUPS mo!els, an! it o urs to me that some o" you may not know about the pla e I get them "rom. I ha,e no relationship with this ompany, other than as a ustomer, but I "eel they know what they are !oing, their pri es are "air, an! they ha,e some interesting batteries a,ailable that you an#t obtain "rom &P3. These are the reasons I use them, an! I thought this in"ormation might be use"ul to the US list members. They will ship outsi!e o" the US. I" you ha,e Auestions, you an onta t them through the email a!!ress liste! on their web pages. They ha,e always respon!e! pretty Aui kly to my Auestions. The ompany is alle! Cattery Wholesale 2istributors, an! they are lo ate! in Georgetown, Texas. I" you ha,e Auestions, you an rea h them by phone at $-((% ?/4)-000, 5>((&1 to 4>((P1 $their lo al time%, 1on!ay through Fri!ay. I#,e gotten email "rom them on the weeken!s, although the o""i e is not open then. I won#t post pri es, as you an get urrent pri ing "rom their web site. They ha,e an entire se tion !e!i ate! to &P3 repla ement batteries, an! it#s easy to "in! what you nee!. Hou an or!er o,er the web, or by phone. They a ept all the usual re!it ar!s.

The web site $as you might guess% is> www.batterywholesale. om The thing I really like is that they ha,e "oun! manu"a turers who make batteries in the stan!ar! ase siIes, but ha,e a!!itional apa ity o,er the original batteries shippe! with the &P3 UPS mo!els. :"ten, the !i""eren e is as mu h as E4@ or so, an! this an result in a!!itional runtime. It#s a ni e upgra!e "or a minor in rease in pri e. They are also #green)aware#, in that they en ourage you to re y le your ol! batteries, an! will a ept the ol! batteries ba k "rom you i" you annot "in! a lo al pla e that re y les them. Hou pay the shipping, but I think other than that, there is no harge. I#,e ne,er !one this, as I ha,e a battery retailer 6ust !own the street who will a ept my ol! batteries. &nyway, i" you !i!n#t know about these "olks, put the in"o asi!e where you an "in! it when you nee! repla ement batteries. I won#t make any guarantees, but I#,e been ,ery please! with their pro!u ts, ser,i e, an! pri ing. I hope you "in! them as help"ul to you as I !o. I#,e been !ealing with them sin e about E550, an! ha,e ne,er been !isappointe!. The owner o" the pla e also is ,ery goo! on te hni al issues, so i" you ha,e Auestions on their pro!u ts, he an get as te hni al as you nee! to go.
Regards, --Carl

Here is a link to the &P3 Cattery Store.