UPS batteries

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kdn

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#34364 22-May-2009 13:58

Hi guys,

Just got my hands on an APC smart-UPS 3000. Planning on using it at home which should keep me running for a fair few days! The batteries in it are stuffed, does anyone know whether there is a place that sells them cheap (in auckland) or whether I can take the current batteries to get serviced?

list price for the RBC11 batteries are $650 and I need a pair of them. I am prepared to pay some money, but not that much.

Any advice would be great.

Flamer.

sbiddle

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#216985 22-May-2009 15:00

Where did you get that price from? Did you try IT Power who are the APC repair people?

You can't "service" the SLA batteris inside a UPS, once they're stuffed they can only be recycled for reuse. You need to buy a new batteries once they won't hold their charge.

mjb

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#217017 22-May-2009 17:19

I bought new ones for my UPS from Jaycar. If you take out the APC branded pack, and pry it apart, you'll find they're just commodity gel cells. As long as you find replacements that are rated (voltage *and* amp-hour) the same or slightly higher, you're golden.

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sbiddle

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#217019 22-May-2009 17:31

Just be aware that UPS and regular gel cells are different. UPS batteries have a fatter tab on the battery, the other ones won't necessarily give the same performance in a UPS.

kdn

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#217462 24-May-2009 18:01

mjb: I bought new ones for my UPS from Jaycar. If you take out the APC branded pack, and pry it apart, you'll find they're just commodity gel cells. As long as you find replacements that are rated (voltage *and* amp-hour) the same or slightly higher, you're golden.

spot-on. Found they were just generic branded 12v 18ah batteries, 4 of them altogether, with two cells bolted together, I will keep all the bolts and fittings off the old ones and I can get them for 80$ each from jaycar.. bit better than 650 for apc ones. (PS not sure what you mean by gel cells but these are sealed lead acid batteries)

cheers.

exportgoldman

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#217481 24-May-2009 18:48

Yeah I've always found on the smaller UPS's (e.g. the smartups tower 1000VHA) that the batteries replacement cost is within 10% of the cost of a new UPS :0/

I've always wondered why it was so much when you say, batteries from jcar work fine.

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mjb

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#217496 24-May-2009 19:27

"gel cell" is just another name for SLA, nothing in it.

edit: well, to be correct, there is a small difference, but most that SLA batteries you buy are gel cells.

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