I need to replace the battery in an APC Back-UPS Pro 700 UPS. I've replaced many UPS batteries over the years so it's no big deal, but I started thinking about something this time.
The User Guide for the UPS says "Charge the battery for at least 16 hours before use." The Install Guide for the replacement battery (genuine APC replacement battery RBC17) doesn't mention charging the battery before use.
Other than the battery won't be fully charged for quite a while (if it isn't charged before use), is there any reason why the original battery should be charged before use, but the replacement battery doesn't mention it?
Hmmm... That is interesting... I had one die recently and ended up buying a new unit (not just the battery) as I believed they could not be replaced. So I am interested to see if I could use the battery you mentioned (I still have the dead unit).
When I was setting up the new unit I remembered having to charge the battery before use so was looking out for it in the setup instructions, but I did not see it. Now I can gloss over the details in instructions as good as anyone, but even with a concerted effort to look for it, it still took me 5-10 mins, or at least it felt like it. This is a long way of getting to say "are you sure it doesn't include the recommendation to charge it first?".
I have a friend that works for Schneider Electric, and they used to have a big office/warehouse here in my neck of the woods. He stated that charge before use was a precaution to make sure you had a fully operational UPS since the state of the battery would be unknown due to warehousing and shipping. APC was worried about lawsuits etc that a newly swapped out battery and running the UPS and then later power goes out and no UPS. I think also this was to calibrate the battery to the battery control module but that is my layman's view.
If you have a battery charger/retainer, it would not be a bad idea to top off the replacement battery before putting it in the UPS, but I doubt it is necessary. In normal use, the UPS is providing line power to the attached devices. It is only during a power failure or significant voltage deviation that it switches to battery power. The battery should charge during normal use.
That would be my total guess. Perhaps charging for 16 hours resets the UPS’s battery constant - which would be a function of the UPS… not the battery… hence it being in the UPS manual.
I have several Back UPS 1500’s (about a decade old), and I know for that model, if you don’t connect the UPS to a USB port and reset the battery install date in the powerchute software, the runtime is very low on a fresh battery. As I understand it, this is due to the UPS adjusting its battery constant during the life of the previous battery. And believe it or not, even on a fresh fully charged battery, if the runtime says 3 minutes, it will drop the load in that much time (or less). In my case, setting the battery install date makes this runtime value jump to a reasonable/expected level.
I looked thru the UPS User Guide again. Turns out there is a paragraph near the end titled "Replace Battery". All it says is...
Deliver the used battery to a recycling facility. Replace the used battery with an APC by Schneider Electric approved battery. Replacement batteries can be ordered through the APC by Schneider Electric Web site, www.apc.com. Battery replacement part for Back-UPS Pro BR700G is APCRBC17.
No mention in that paragraph about "pre-charging".
It's a precaution for heat as well. There will be heat during charging and if there's an outage half way. There will be heat during discharge and another cycle of charge again. The chance is pretty low though.
Keep in mind that the guidance may have been written YEARS apart by different people. Perhaps the older guidance was based on experience/knowledge known at that time, and the newer guidance reflects new experience/knowledge? Or perhaps the older guidance was influenced by someone more knowledgeable, and the new guidance is from someone right out of school?
In any event, why make this a philosophical discussion? Why WOULDN'T you FULLY charge the battery you depend on BEFORE using it?
Maybe but what if you have no means of charging that replacement battery before installing it? Sure in a mission critical business environment, you will go and spend the extra money to get it charged before installing it, buy an external charger, get it charged from a battery place, etc, but if you live in an apartment, don't have a use for a charger because you don't have a car or whatever, also your setup might not be mission critical either and you can live with a downed computer for a few hours, during a black out. Most likely everything plugged in to it will also have been turned off because most home UPS's are not hot swappable, only have 1 battery or are very hard to change in most cases.
Depends on the type of UPS you have, the OPs UPS is an "interactive" UPS if I'm not mistaking and will kick in when the UPS detects sags, overvoltage and other anomalies. So most of the time, the AC output it's directly connected to in the AC input.
But there are also "online" UPS that is always using the battery, some call them active UPS or AC-DC/DC-AC UPS. These UPS are always dependent on the battery, these are used in very critical data centers that need perfect power 100% of the time, these are very expensive and are rarely seen in the home or small business environments.
There are also the old offline or standby UPS that will only kick in on power loss but not on under/over voltage situations, they are very cheap and are getting less and less common witht he advancements in UPS technology.
So yes most most of the time you are not using the battery but not only when you lose power, they can kick in anytime or always be used depending on the UPS.
Hmmm... That is interesting... I had one die recently and ended up buying a new unit (not just the battery) as I believed they could not be replaced. So I am interested to see if I could use the battery you mentioned (I still have the dead unit).
What UPS brand and model do you have? I have never seen one that would not allow a battery replacement. Where I live there are local stores that sell the replacements and take back your dead battery for recycling.
So the battery needs to be charged before use, not before installation. Installing the battery and plugging it in with no load is how you charge it. This is a home use or small business use UPS,
Most people do it that way, some will use a portable charger and charge it before to minimize downtime when using it with a PC. Most home UPS systems use a 12V Lead Acid and/or AGM battery, so most electronic car chargers can be used to charge it before install, so you can use the UPS immediately and be 100% protected.
But changing the battery and plugging everything in right away will just make it so that the UPS will have a limited run time compared to max charged. So for my server I would pre charge it, but for my audio/video system, I would just change it and power everything back up right away as it's main purpose is for over/under voltage conditions.
Hmmmm…. Most people only change their UPS battery when they’ve figured out that it has already failed. Thus, simply swapping in the new battery means these users are no less protected than they were with a bad battery. Thus, I would simply take the easy route and not pre-charge the battery.
Now, I am sure there is a small minority of folks who proactively replace their UPS batteries as part of a preventative maintenance schedule. For those users, sure, go ahead and pre-charge the battery before swapping it out.
For me, our power is incredibly reliable except when a hurricane comes through the area. Thus, I wait until the battery goes bad before buying a replacement. I swap the replacement in immediately and simply let’r rip!
I always just replace the battery. Both of mine are hot swappable rack style anyways, so I don't even have to turn off the UPS or any connected devices to swap the battery.
I have the hub, router, cable modem and cable DVR on the UPS. We also rarely have outages outside of hurricanes but do see occasional "micro outages" where power drops just long enough to reboot the above. With the UPS, I don't have to wait for the reboot.
In my experience with multiple UPS devices from APC and CyberPower, the larger units normally come with two 7 amp hour batteries. I usually purchase Duracell 8 amp hour AGM replacement batteries that are the same size and terminal type as the original batteries. Sometimes you can even get 9 AH batteries. They are a few dollars more than the 7 AH batteries. The 8 AH batteries should deliver an extra 14% run time vs the 7 AH batteries. I have never had an issue with the replacement batteries. I do not normally use the software that comes with the USP units, so I do not know if they software can distinguish between the battery AH ratings.
My APC Smart UPS requires the 9AH batteries. When I could only find the Duracell 7AH replacements at the store, I tried them but I was getting overload issues. It seems that they aren't able to match the output performance of the stock 9AH batteries.
