UPS Battery Replacement

Replacing an APC UPS battery pair labeled CP1290 12V 9AH. The unit has two confusing labels: on front is XS1500 and on back is BX1500. Was this a transition unit, insides BX1500?

Need recommendations of battery brand and type. Battery type includes high temperature batteries. Is this a better battery overall?

Buying batteries from Amazon.

Batteries in the unit are swollen and cracked but not leaking.

They are fastened together with a cable coming out between the to batteries that are mechanically packaged top to top.

Not sure if I can easily get apart and reuse that mechanical setup. Suggestions please.

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Run, do not walk, to the nearest trash bin and toss that thing out, all of it, the batts, ups, everything.

Those things are total junk.

I bought around 10 of those (apc xs1500/bx1500) back when they came out (2005?) and none of them are still around.

Half of them, when the time came to do something (like supply backup power), arc'ed like a lighting strike, released the magic smoke and went dead.

The others that didn't have that feature, ate batteries like candy, I don't think any lasted 2 years. As you noticed, there are two batteries taped together and are somewhat bonded by a plastic frame and more tape.

There is nothing special about the batteries, like you, I replaced/rebuilt the carrier with ones from amazon (and a few from Microcenter) but like the originals, the lifespan was incredibly short.

I ran across a web site a while back where someone analyzed that series and discovered its the self-test killing the unit off. Instead of running the self-test every week to 10 days, that test runs every 24 to 36 hours and those short tests, after just a year, already killed off 50% of the usable life. After 14 months, the battery is practically useless (at 35%) and pretty much DOA at 18 months.

Add in the fact that the battery pack is wedged into a metal chamber with little to no air flow, it's just not a well designed ups.

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If you look at the picture, on the front where the red APC letters are, that is actually a door that slides down. I think those were the first consumer level ups's that had "user replaceable batteries" and they designed the cabinet for safety when being replaced (thus the metal battery chamber).

Those batteries are $35-$40 each and what I'm saying is, that ups is not worth the $70-$80 and your time to rebuild the pack assembly. It's probably not going to work when you need it anyways.

Piece of shit.

-bruce snipped-for-privacy@ripco.com

Reply to
Bruce Esquibel

I have one of those and can confirm that it eats batteries and doesn't run very well. However, my total experience is with one unit, so treat it as anecdotal.

Are you sure that's the UPS that the OP owns? It might also be this model: I have two of them that run without problems. I also have about 5 customers that have them. Batteries have been lasting about 5 years and no lightning bolts or smog problems.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Jeff Liebermann

I have three UPS Back-UPS 750s, rebadged as IBM eServer UPS 750T. They're really cheap on eBay, and run great. I had one overheat about a year ago, so I threw it out, but the current three have been running flawlessly for years and don't eat batteries at all.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
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Phil Hobbs

Misspoke. They're rebadged SmartUPSes, not BackUPSes.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Phil Hobbs

If you have a Interstate Battery nearby, they keep lots of UPS batteries in stock.

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dangerous dan

For those not familiar with APC marketspeak, the SmartUPS series are all sine wave generators, most with continuous backup (i.e. no power transfer relay). The BackUPS series are modified sine wave, also known as step wise stair case generators, usually with a relay to do the power transfer. The SmartUPS series does a better job tolerating the crappy waveforms produced by emergency generators than the BackUPS.

I just looked at my pile of dead and semi-dead APC UPS's. All have one thing in common... no batteries. If I sell one, I buy the batteries. Looking at the pile, there are 10 UPS's, only one of which is a SmartUPS. The SmartUPS's are all in service. The BackUPS's all sit on my shelf.

I get quite a few SmartUPS's from the local recycler. People recycle them when the batteries die because they don't want to replace expensive batteries. I buy the electronics and supply my own batteries. So far, they all have worked just fine.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Jeff Liebermann

No clue unless the OP chimes back.

In the post he said it was XS1500 on the front and BX1500 on the back, which was how the ones I had were marked. Since the one you show is also an XS1500, maybe the BX is something with year or series type. I do notice though, some of the current ones are BX1500G, so maybe they are all like that. No letter is maybe the first run?

It still doesn't change the fact those white ones were crap.

-bruce snipped-for-privacy@ripco.com

Reply to
Bruce Esquibel

I have had good luck with both Panasonic and Power-Sonic sealed lead- acid batteries, and bad luck with everything else I've tried, including BB Battery, UB, CSB, and Power Patrol. All the Power-Sonics I bought before 2013 were made in Mexico, but the ones I bought in 2013 were made in China. I put them in my old APC UPS (circa 2000), and they're still in there now, but their longevity remains to be seen. I'd be inclined to trust a Yuasa, based on experience with their flooded batteries, but I have no experience with their sealed lead-acid batteries. I get about five or six years from these batteries in a computer UPS, where the utility power is pretty reliable. I have mostly used the "7 Ah" size (which, these days, is often labeled 7.2 or 7.5 Ah).

I usually order them online from Digi-Key or Mouser.

Be careful. I've checked Amazon before and a few sellers there are showing *pictures* of a Power-Sonic battery but probably *shipping* some junk battery. Caveat emptor.

Note that the "7 Ah" size can come with 3/16" wide or 1/4" wide tab terminals; make sure you get the right one. Also, I worked on an APC

1U rack-mount UPS that specified batteries with a flame-resistant casing; this was only easy to find in Panasonic's line. (They are in the Power-Sonic catalog but I couldn't figure out how to buy them in small quantities.)

Standard disclaimers apply: I don't get money or other consideration from any companies mentioned.

Matt Roberds

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mroberds

So much for 5 customers without problems. Last week, I checked out the various UPS's at a customers site, and that all of them were APC XS 1300 or XS 1500, all indicating dead batteries. When I installed my sacred pair of known good 12v 9A AGM batteries in one unit, it ran, but refused to recharge the batteries. Same with another set of known good batteries. No error messages on the LCD or lights. I found the same problem in 4 other units and one APC XS 1000. Something is seriously broken in the electronics.

Fixing these UPS's is a financial loser. A set of replacement batteries costs about $43. My guess is about 1 hr labor at $75/hr for a total of $118. I can buy a new UPS for that amount. That also doesn't include any replacement parts, pickup, delivery, and runtime testing. A smart person would send them all to the recycler, which is what I suspect everyone else with the same problem probably does. However, I have an aversion to tossing things that can be fixed, so I decided to recharge my karma and perform the money losing repairs.

Once I got it apart, the fix was both easy and obvious. C69 22uf

400 VDC electrolytic was bulging. The original brand was CapXon which is known for its ability to self destruct after a few years. I replaced the capacitor, and now the batteries are charging. I now have a total of 5 UPS's repaired.

Unfortunately, leaving AGM batteries in a discharged state for extended periods is not a great idea. Out of 14 batteries, only 3 tested marginally good. The rest were dead. I would guess that someone that simply replaced the batteries, didn't notice that they weren't getting recharged, and came back in a few weeks to find that the batteries were ruined, would not be very thrilled.

However, the hapless repairman that actually tried to open the plastic box is in for yet another surprise. It's designed to be difficult or impossible to open. The problem is the snap in front panel: is easily installed, and a major PITA to remove. I had to crack the case (see other photos and look for the red circles for screw locations), partly separate the two halves of the case, and then pry around the edges of the front panel with a stiff putty knife (mega-spudger). I managed not to break or destroy anything during the struggle. The APC XS 1000 was much easier to disassemble.

After I'm done with this customers 6 assorted UPS's, I have 4 more customers with about 10 additional UPS's that will probably need pre-emptive repairs. That should recharge my good karma for at least another month of debauchery and depravity.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Jeff Liebermann

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