Eaton 3S 850 UPS problem x 2 (large animated image)

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#3433792 12-Nov-2025 15:15

SomeoneSomewhere:

EMEA = Europe, Middle East, and Asia. We often get lumped in with that; it can be a catch-all for 230V-land.

The A is usually Africa. Most large organisations work on NA (North America), LATAM (Latin America/South America), EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) and APAC (Asia Pacific).

There is a variation of EMEA with and N thrown in which I can't quite remember and sometimes the is A removed if a dedicated African area exists for the company, and APAC sometimes gets split into Asia & Oceania. It's all about timezones and who is local time-wise to the common support offices/regional head offices.

Anyway, thats why Ulairi was redirected from EMEA to APAC, the NA team that first did it should've realised.

Tinkerisk

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#3433813 12-Nov-2025 17:24

freitasm:

… or just time to replace all the batteries (including the 700, just in case)?

Correct. Depending how often you had a power black out in the past, the replacement cycle for standard batteries is 3-4 yrs - more or less.

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#3433815 12-Nov-2025 17:29

Tinkerisk:

freitasm:

… or just time to replace all the batteries (including the 700, just in case)?

Correct. Depending how often you had a power black out in the past, the replacement cycle for standard batteries is 3-4 yrs - more or less.

Yes but these two batteries are just over two years old. Should last longer than this.

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#3433827 12-Nov-2025 17:47

freitasm:

Yes but these two batteries are just over two years old. Should last longer than this.

Is that really calculated from the date of manufacture (sometimes printed on the battery) or the date of purchase? Sometimes these things sit on the shelves at the retailer before they are sold and already start to age there (or worse: discharge). The frequency and depth of the discharge cycles also have a significant impact on the service life.

I also have EATONs and recently replaced all the batteries. Apart from a half-hour repair to the mains power supply and my initial operational test with the NUTserver, they have not had to endure any further stress in the last 5 years, i.e. they have lasted longer than the average specified. The statistical annual power outage duration here in our city is currently 9-10 minutes. Therefore, I only use them „just in case“ to shut down the servers after 15 minutes in a controlled manner, not to bridge longer outages, as these hardly ever occur.

There are also longer-lasting battery sets from CSB for commercial users, in case you want to buy new batteries elsewhere and they fit in terms of electrical parameters and, above all, installation dimensions.

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#3435899 19-Nov-2025 10:33

timmmay:

Before I purchased my Eaton UPS I contacted their support with a question, I found them very helpful. I suggest you give them a call or send them an email and get information from the manufacturer.

Well that does not seem to be the case in 2025. I emailed the APAC email address provided (TrippLiteTechnicalSupportAPAC@Eaton.com) and a week later they have not responded. I also followed up with the US support email address that handed me off (dittechsupport@eaton.com) and they have given me a 'thoroughly good ignoring' over the last five days. Eaton's support sucks. Since being left 'on my own' I have got to the bottom of my fault by myself.

.....................................

To recap, my UPS is a Eaton 3S 550AU purchased in 2018. The fault was that the three outlets on the battery back-up protected rail were dead (This probably occurred after a power interruption). The power button did not illuminate. The three outlets on the other rail (i.e. not on battery back-up) were working okay, despite the power button not being illuminated. The circuit breaker was not protruding and appeared to be fully in. The battery (DJW12-5.0 12V5.0AH) has never been replaced and it was now 7.5 years old. I suspected that this fault may caused by a dead battery but I wanted to check with Eaton to avoid wasting money on a replacement battery if there was actually a more serious fault and the entire unit needed replacement.

I hooked the UPS up to a 12V supply connected to the battery terminals. The three outlets stayed 'dead' until I also connected the UPS to mains power via its power cord. At that point it gave an audible click and the LED illuminated green on the power button. The three protected outlets were now working again. I then cut the mains power (i.e. leaving it only on the 12V source) and the battery back-up rail outlets stayed live, the unit gave the proper warning beeps and the power button LED flashed green. I reconnected mains power and the beeping stopped and the indicator light went back to to solid green and the outlets remained 'live'. Everything is working as expected.

I then disconnected the 12 volt supply (battery terminals now 'open circuit') and the battery-protected rail stayed live while mains power was still applied. I then cut the main power to the unit and it gave an audible click and the protected rail went dead again. Reconnecting power made the non-protected outlets live again but the protected outlets stayed dead (i.e. the same as my original fault).

So the conclusion is that if you have a fully dead battery and there is mains power loss, then the protected rail will go down and those protected outlets will stay 'dead' until you both (1) replace the battery and (2) reconnect the UPS to mains power, in that order.

So 'yes', the fault was simply that I had left it too long and it was merely a dead battery. I'm now going to replace the battery. I've posted this in case anyone else strikes the same issue.

Ulairi

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#3435915 19-Nov-2025 10:55

Ulairi:

So 'yes', the fault was simply that I had left it too long and it was merely a dead battery. I'm now going to replace the battery.

One replacement option is via PBTech ($111): https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/BATCSB1205/CSB-12V-25W5AH-Replacement-Battery-To-suit-3S550AU

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#3435916 19-Nov-2025 10:58

I found the best prices at https://www.upspower.co.nz/

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#3435918 19-Nov-2025 11:23

Place I know of will just replace the lead acid UPS batteries after any reasonable outage because they seem to be a 1 or 2 shot type thing. On the subsequent outages they would die without warning at a very short runtime.

If they are just holding over for a generator to start then fine, but using the lead acid batteries capacity down to near zero seems to be the end of them.

Bring on the lithium ones.

Richard rich.ms

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#3435920 19-Nov-2025 11:27

Good point.

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#3435922 19-Nov-2025 11:31

freitasm:

I found the best prices at https://www.upspower.co.nz/

Thanks for that hint - much cheaper for the same part number (HRL 1225W made by CSB in Vietnam for $78.30 with GST added) https://www.upspower.co.nz/product-group/434-csb-hrl-12v-25w-5ah-10-year-design-battery-f2-terminal/category/2586-high-rate-long-life

Dynamic

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#3435923 19-Nov-2025 11:34

richms:

Place I know of will just replace the lead acid UPS batteries after any reasonable outage because they seem to be a 1 or 2 shot type thing. On the subsequent outages they would die without warning at a very short runtime.

If they are just holding over for a generator to start then fine, but using the lead acid batteries capacity down to near zero seems to be the end of them.

Bring on the lithium ones.

It's my understanding that lead-acid batteries don't like being deeply discharged. Ideally UPS management software would shut down the UPS when the batteries still have around 30-50% charge, but for a simple UPS not managed by a computer this is not easily possible. Examples we have of this are small UPS devices in comms cupboards keeping an ONT/router/switch/PABX running for a period of time in a power outage. In recent time we aim to replace these after 3 years of time and consider it impractical (not cost-effective) to monitor the number of outages.

I wish UPS devices with more recent battery tech were closer in price to lead-acid models, but we're not there yet.

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Ulairi

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#3435926 19-Nov-2025 11:42

Dynamic:

It's my understanding that lead-acid batteries don't like being deeply discharged. Ideally UPS management software would shut down the UPS when the batteries still have around 30-50% charge, but for a simple UPS not managed by a computer this is not easily possible.

Yes - in this case the Eaton battery is AGM lead acid. AGM is more tolerant than a flooded cell lead acid battery (see https://thebatterytips.com/battery-specifications/how-low-to-discharge-agm-battery/).

But any lead acid (Flooded, AGM, Gel, Calcium) has a limited lifespan and does not hold up well after being deep discharged.

Lithium Ion bring their own complications (self discharge). Maybe it's 'bring on Sodium'?

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#3435932 19-Nov-2025 12:03

Self discharge isn't usually a major issue for UPS duty as they've got mains available near 24/7.

Ulairi

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#3435935 19-Nov-2025 12:23

SomeoneSomewhere:

Self discharge isn't usually a major issue for UPS duty as they've got mains available near 24/7.

At the risk of straying from the main topic 😉, Li-Ion batteries don't like being on trickle charge (trickle charging causes Li build up on the anode). So that means that they would need to be cycled if used inside a UPS. That will also mean a finite life (based on the No. of cycles) and they will be self-discharging when not on charge.

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#3436091 20-Nov-2025 01:12

freitasm:

@Dynamic:

Eaton replacement battery guide (seems to be missing your exact models!): UPS Replacement Battery Selector, Select a Replacement UPS Or Battery

Yes, the 700 and 850 aren't listed.

I bought a HRL1234 from https://upspower.co.nz for the 700 before, so I asked them which model for the 850. I will get on test.

I recently replaced mine (which were ancient) with Drypower from simpower

https://www.simpower.co.nz/product/individual-cells-batteries/sealed-lead-acid-batteries/drypower-12v-36w-cell-sealed-lead-acid-battery/

https://www.simpower.co.nz/product/individual-cells-batteries/sealed-lead-acid-batteries/drypower-12nbn7p-f2-12v-sla-battery/

The later one is the same battery/specs, just cheaper due to being leftovers from a bulk project

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