[Novalug] Can I test a UPS battery?

[Beartooth]

On Thu, 10 May 2007, Peter Larsen wrote:

> Beartooth wrote:
[...]
>>     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.

 	The newest has something labelled "data port" that looks 
roughly like an ethernet cable would fit it. The oldest has a 
serial port, yes. Can't get at the other two this minute.

>>> 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.
>
> 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.

 	Now, that sounds like a thing to try. Does it then shriek 
differently than now, when it does?
>
>>     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.

 	I don't see any. What happened was simple. Once the UPS 
had been connected to the computer's one serial port, it or the 
XP seized it and wouldn't let go -- preventing the GPS from using 
it, and therefore vitiating the only purpose I was or am willing 
to tolerate M$ for. (I can run proprietary map software under 
Crossover Office; but I can't get it to connect to the GPSs -- 
and that's it's whole raison d'etre.)

>>     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.

 	This is a college town, engineers or no engineers -- PC 
as all Hell. They'd string me up if I threw a batery anywhere. 
Otoh, all the auto parts shops accept dead ones to recycle.

 	I'm not going to get credit for it now. (I'll try to 
remember to ask next time.) So why futz with UPS, catching the 
driver or one of us making a special trip, when I can just drop 
it off on the way home?

>>> 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.

 	OK. But these are unequivocally sealed lead-acid. And I 
don't do any such thing with my vehicle batteries. Never have, 
never heard of anyone who did. And they run year after year after 
year. Don't both they and the UPS batteries sit there being kept 
charged 99 44/100% of the time? And put out heavily for short 
periods at long intervals? I'm anything but an electrical OR an 
electronic expert. What am I missing?

>>> 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.

 	Just for once, I'm ahead of you -- shudda thunka saying 
so.

 	Just for the record, in fact, I offered the first dead 
one to a friend who teaches at Tech and casts his own bullets. 
He, nobody's fool, said the lead in it wasn't worth the grief to 
handle.

 	*That* convinced me.

 	I thought he'd break the seal somehow, drain it into cold 
water on top of a pound or so of ground CaCO2, stir well, rinse 
the lead, and melt it up. Calcium sulphate is -- what? gypsum? 
Sounds harmless enough ...

-- 
Beartooth Implacable, Curmudgeon On Line
Know your enemies. They are your leaders.