[Novalug] Can I test a UPS battery?

[Peter Larsen]

Beartooth wrote:
> On Thu, 10 May 2007, Peter Larsen wrote:
> 
>> Most management console has an easy way to see predicted uptime. You 
>> should set your UPS to do a 'calibrate' test, which does, as people 
>> here suggest, a full load and then unload - and it measures how fast 
>> the batteries discharge.
> 
>     Console? Console?? It has an on/test button, and an off button.

And a serial (and maybe even a USB) port in the back! you should have 
recieved at least one cable with each unit. It's meant to hook up the 
UPS to the host, allowing you to manage the UPS and for the UPS to tell 
the PC to "hurry up and shut down" when power is lost.

>> 2-3 years old batteries are OLD. If you have a management console on 
>> the UPS, it should have told you to replace the battery (there's a 
>> small parameter in the UPS that holds the age of the battery; when the 
>> age is more than 1 year this should start to trigger "time to replace").
> 
>     I tried connecting an XP machine to a UPS with software; played 
> merry hell with stuff I wanted a lot worse, like a serial port my GPS 
> could talk to the topo map software through.

ehhh ... it's pretty straight forward, in particular on XP. The CD that 
came with the unit you install, next you take your USB cable and plug it 
into the PC and then the unit. Fire up the new software, and it's point 
and click. With Linux you may have to fiddle a little with the source of 
the connection and the type of "beast" you're communicating with, but a 
standard master connection on the serial port should work.

>     I've wondered about connecting linux. Trouble is, my #1 and #2 
> machines dual boot to XP. I'd forget the UPS, sure as shootin' -- and XP 
> would detect it, wouldn't it? And foul me up royally.

Shouldn't matter. The setup is stored on the UPS, not on your OS. It's 
like a very small computer on the UPS. Once setup, you don't even need 
to hook it up to your computer unless you want to automatically shutdown 
before the battery runs out.

>     I might try connecting a linux-only machine to one -- just to try it 
> out, and be ready when I get map software I can handle, whereupon I'll 
> have an M$-free house again, instanter.

You're confusing me with that GPS and map stuff. That's applications 
that doesn't have influence on how the UPS works. If you're running out 
of serial ports, use USB.

>     Somebody here told us last time APC was way overpriced. Maybe that's 
> changed. I simply ordered a battery from the shop, expecting them to get 
> me a Taiwan import -- but it says APC all over it, and I think I paid 
> $30 - 40.

Depending on size and model, that sounds reasonable. However, if it 
meant you just trashed the old battery, you missed my point :)  To 
recycle batteries isn't cheap, and rechargable batteries can't just be 
put on the dump.

>> If you don't run a monthly scheduled calibrate, meaning your batteries 
>> constantly hold a charge, that wears them down faster. It's important 
>> to drain them regularly. This is what "calibrate" does, and of the APC 
>> packs that I've gotten the last year or two, all of them are set to 
>> automatically do this once a month. With the management console, you 
>> can change that to what-ever schedule you please.
> 
>     That directly contradicts one of the things I did manage to grasp on 
> the googled sites I tried to read.

Don't believe everything you google ;)  Rechargeable batteries have 
evolved a lot over the time. But one thing is true - they do loose their 
ability to charge with time.

>> Bottom line - get your apc daemon running. Run the smartups (I presume 
>> it's a smartups?) management console available for Linux on APC, and 
>> set the operational parameters for the UPS. I know this goes against 
>> the "plug and forget" mentality, but it saves your money as the unit 
>> lives longer.
> 
>     Smartups? Probably way out of my class. I have a backups pro 650, a 
> backups RS 1500, the backups LS 700 that I just put the new battery into 
> (downstairs), and the backups 650 that I was asking about. (I was trying 
> to get another backups pro, and goofed.)

SmartUPS, Pro etc. are just models. SmartUPS have a little computer in 
them. Some of the older models didn't. But you could manage them all, 
and get basic information such as battery life etc. using the management 
console.

>     It sounds like I better just go ahead and replace the battery in the 
> 700 -- and start fixin' to get one for the pro 650, which got its second 
> battery last year or the year before ...

With 2-3 year old UPSs that's the way I would go. But again, I think you 
should consider recycling the old batteries.

Regards
   Peter Larsen
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