We’ve had this awesome video created by a very talented artist to help explain what we do at ExcessUPS.com, in case anyone wasn’t sure. Sit back and enjoy the hilarious video!
People ask us all the time if it’s okay to buy refurbished UPS batteries, or they found a great deal on a UPS with refurbished batteries and they want to know if it’s a good deal. Even worse, some people have bought a used UPS under the pretense that it came with refurbished batteries, only to find out that the batteries are totally dead and need to be replaced.
A lot of of this stuff comes from online marketplaces and classifieds where people advertise their old UPSs as being sold with refurbished batteries. Everyone wants a good deal, but you have to be aware of the facts and not get scammed.
We need to dispel this myth once and for all.
THERE’S NO SUCH THING as refurbished UPS batteries! UPS batteries can not be refurbished, serviced, revitalized, rebuilt, repaired, or re certified.
Once UPS batteries have reached the end of their service life, they’re finished. Higher quality UPS batteries are designed to provide 3-5 years of life time. Some will last even longer depending on use/abuse. We’ve seen UPS batteries that have provided decent run time at 7 years! But, once this life time is over, the battery is no longer usable and needs to be recycled. It can not be repaired or serviced.
So next time someone offers you that amazingly cheap UPS with “refurbished” batteries, know that it’s a scam and turn the other way. If you want reliable power protection, always get fresh new high quality batteries for your UPS.
A cold start is when you start a UPS without input power. This is useful if you need to test if the UPS is not turning on due to bad input power or if you need to turn the UPS on to operate during a power outage/failure. It’s also a good test to see if the battery in the UPS is functional (not necessarily at full charge, but holding some charge)
To cold start a Smart-UPS:
1. Turn OFF and Unplug the UPS from the wall
2. Press and HOLD the power button (Test) on the front of the UPS until you hear a long beep
3. During the long beep, let go of the TEST button. If you waited too long and the beep stopped, you’ll have to do it again
4. If you let go during the long beep, the UPS should start, go through the self test and run off battery power. The unit will beep to let you know that it’s running on batteries
5. If you’r testing to see if the wall outlet is working, you can plug the UPS back in to the wall socket, if there is acceptable power, the UPS will switch to normal operation
It is not recommended to plug laser printers in to a UPS. Laser printers consume a lot of power during normal operation and especially at the initial time the fuser warms up. This large consumption of power can easily overload a UPS. Laser printers should be plugged directly into the wall socket. The power supplies on laser printers are designed for this use.
If you have a Back-UPS it is also not recommended to plug the laser printer in to the surge protected outlets. The power the laser printer consumes could have adverse affects on the rest of the protected equipment, even on the battery back up up side of the UPS.
If you really need to put a laser printer on a UPS, then you need to size the UPS properly to accommodate the large power consumption of the laser printer. Check with the manufacturer to find out exactly how much wattage the laser printer consumes during printing, and how much voltage is consumed during the initial warm up stage. You’ll need a Smart-UPS, large than a Smart-UPS 1500VA. Don’t be surprised if you end up needing a Smart-UPS 2200VA or a Smart-UPS 3000.
We’ve been getting a lot of inquiries from customers trying to set up a power back up for their Panasonic Viera 65″ Plasma 3D TV. This TV costs over $3,000 brand new, it’s definitely worth investing into a proper UPS to protect the TV from damage caused by surges, voltage spikes, over voltage, power sags, brownouts and power failure.
The power consumption for the TC-P65VT30 is 159W. This plasma TV doesn’t need a huge UPS, but it definitely needs a good high quality one to keep it protected.
A UPS like the Smart-UPS 700 will do the job perfectly. This is a line interactive UPS, maximum capacity of 450W, offering power boost (AVR Boost), power drop (AVR Drop), surge protection, power filtering and run time.
For example, for the Plasma TV alone, this UPS could provide 28 minutes of run time. When it comes to TV’s, you’re not really going after the run time, you should be more concerned with the power filtering and enough capacity to protect all the equipment. If the power fails, you have a few minutes to safely shut down the TV, or if you must, finish the next 20 minutes of the show.
Like most people, you probably have a DVR System, home theatre system, a blu ray player and some other cool devices. You can also plug these in to the UPS to make sure they’re protected. Keep an eye on the wattage consumption of the devices to make sure you’re not going to overload the UPS. A UPS shouldn’t have more than 80% load.
If you’re a power user with a big variety of devices then make a list of the devices and add up the power consumption. On the back of the devices near the power cord there will be a label with the consumption. Also, you can look on-line for for this information.
Example list of devices and their power consumption ratings:
1. PlayStation (380W)
2. Sony 3D Blu-Ray Player (22W)
3. Sony Home Theatre (130W)
4. Cable Receiver (150W)
5. Plasma TV (159W)
Total = 841
* These numbers are the maximum the device can consume. During normal operation, the devices will probably consume less than that. My guess is we’d be running at around 650-700W.
With the above set up, the Smart-UPS 700 would not suffice. The needed battery backup for this set up would be a Smart-UPS 1400 (950W). If you have less than what’s described above, you can go with the Smart-UPS 1000 (670W). Check your configuration to make sure you’re getting the right UPS. It’s better to size a slightly bigger UPS for the job than not have enough capacity.
If you need help figuring out which UPS is needed for your home theatre system, get in touch with us and we’ll get you the one you need!
If you’ve recently added or changed a SmartCell on a Matrix-UPS and you’re seeing a “No battery communication” fault on the LCD display of the Matrix, try the following suggestions.
The SmartCell communicates with the Matrix-UPS using an RJ22 (telephone handset) cable. This cable goes from the OUTPUT (BATT COMM OUT) on the SmartCell to the Matrix EU (top part of the Matrix) INPUT (BATT COMM) jack. So OUT on the SmartCell, IN on the Matrix. 
This is one of the most common mistakes, make sure to check this first and check this several times as it’s easy to overlook such a small detail.
Remember: Out on the SmartCell, IN on the Matrix
If several SmartCells are installed, change the order of the comm cables and the battery packs. Take the comm cable from one and plug it in to the OUTPUT (BATT COMM) of another. Are you plugging it in the right order? If you have a lot of SmartCells, disconnect all and start one by one. Is at least one registering in the system, is that one wired properly? Add on another SmartCell, did that one show up in the system? Check on the front LCD display, go to the “UPS Status” menu and scroll down to see how many battery packs are attached, you can also check in the UPS Diagnostics menu.
If several Matrix UPSs are available on site, take the battery pack to another Matrix and see if it registers in the UPS Status menu. Try a different RJ22 cable, that could be the problem. If you’ve changed the cable and it starts showing up on the second Matrix, it should show up on the first one as well. Even RJ22 cables can go bad once in awhile!
If the SmartCell is working properly on one Matrix but not on the other, you could have bad “BATT COMM” jack on that Matrix. If none of these combinations work, you may have a problem with the SmartCell.
If all of a sudden the Battery Charge LED’s on your Smart-UPS started blinking, there could be several things going on.
1. The battery LED’s start blinking once the UPS knows it can’t support the attached load for longer than 2 minutes. This could be because your batteries are aging and at that load, you won’t have more than two minutes of run time. It could also be because you increased the load. Try and take some of the load off and see if the LED’s stop blinking.
2. Reset the Low Battery Signal – For example, take a Smart-UPS 1400 with 15 minutes of run time at the current load, if the low battery signal is set to 9 minutes, then if there’s less than 8 minutes of run time available the LED’s will start blinking. Set the battery signal warning time to a lesser value in the configuration menu and the UPS shutdown parameters sub menu in Powerchute plus.
3. Perform a run time calibration – this will give you accurate run time availability. This will also let you know if it’s time to change your batteries, they might have aged to the point where they can’t provide enough run time, but they haven’t completely expired. Follow the calibration procedure to do a calibration.
The batteries inside of a UPS discharge during storage. There are several factors that affect the discharge rate including temperature in storage and battery rating. Also, the type of UPS and the method of storage will affect the discharge rate. Take a look at these interesting figures of discharge rates.
Keep in mind that the type of batteries used in a UPS have a “self discharge” characteristic. In 20° Celsius (68° Fahrenheit) temperature, the battery naturally loses 3% per month. After 6-9 months, the battery could become completely discharge and not usable.
Also, with some series of UPSs, it’s best to make sure the battery is totally unplugged during storage, this will reduce the discharge rate to the natural self discharge rate.
Back-UPS, Back-UPS Pro and the rest of the Back-UPS family:
- when they’re powered off, it’s the same 3%, the natural discharge rate
APC Smart-UPS series
- if the battery is disconnected with the “battery disconnect” at the back of the UPS, the discharge rate is the same as the natural discharge rate (3% per month)
- if the battery is physically disconnected (by disconnecting the battery from the UPS inside the battery bay), the rate is the same as the natural discharge rate (3% per month)
- if the UPS is turned off from the front control panel, then the discharge rate rises to 5%. The extra power goes to keep the microprocessor in the UPS powered
Smart-UPS RT (1-10KVA)
- batteries should be disconnected as soon as possible
- batteries can discharge below start up voltage (85vDC) within 72 hours
- if batteries are physically disconnected, the discharge rate will be the natural discharge rate, can still fall below the the minimum required start up voltage
Smart-UPS RT (20KVA)
- batteries should be disconnected if going into storage or if power is out for an extended period of time. This will reduce the discharge rate
- the 20KVA RT’s can charge the batteries while in by pass mode, so if the UPS is operating in by-pass, it’s ok to leave the batteries connected, they’re being charged and maintained anyway
- if disconnected by the rear switch, the discharge rate is slightly higher than natural, around 5%. The extra power goes to the bleeder circuits which are required to discharge the large capacitors and keep service folk from getting hurt.
- if the Matrix UPS is turned off from the front control panel, the discharge rate jumps to 7% a month. The extra power goes to the microprocessor that keeps the settings
- if storing for an extended period of time, disconnect the battery packs from the Matrix completely. This should reduce the discharge rate to the minimum
Symmetra UPSs
- anytime the power is off or bypass for over 24 hours, disconnect the battery modules (SYBT2, SYBT5, SYBATT)
- battery modules can quickly discharge below the needed start up voltage (90vdc)
Please note:
- UPS batteries batteries don’t like the heat. The hotter the temperature in the room, the higher the discharge rate rises
- at 30° Celsius (89.6° Fahrenheit) ups batteries discharge at 3% a month, at 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit), they discharge at 10% per month
- if room temperature is 30° Celsius (89.6° Fahrenheit), charge at least once every 6 months to maintain battery life
- if temperature is hotter, charge the batteries every two to three months to make sure you get the longest life possible
As you know we’re going all out and creating massive advertising campaigns to help spread our message in our fight against power fluctuations, power interruptions and power anomalies.
Check out this great video that explains it all!
Thank you to Esalaah who made this great video!
“I replaced the batteries on my Smart-UPS, the replace battery light went OFF but the battery charge LED’s are still flashing, what do I do?”
There are several reasons the battery charge LED’s flash, but in this case, the calibration is inaccurate. When the previous battery was coming to the end of it’s life, it wasn’t able to support the protected load for more than 2 minutes. That sets off an alarm in the UPS and it starts blinking the battery LEDs to let you know. The firmware in the UPS has reprogrammed itself with this error.
When you replaced the battery, the UPS sensed the battery was holding a charge and the replace battery light went off, but the UPS really doesn’t have a way of knowing how good this battery is. So the blinking lights remain to let you know the UPS doesn’t think that it can provide more than two minutes of run time.
In order to clear this error, you need to perform a run time calibration. If you have a newer SUA unit like the SUA750, SUA1000 or the SUA1500 you can try the software calibration feature in PowerChute. If you’d like to perform a manual calibration, that will work as well (some say even more accurately). Make sure to charge the battery to 100%, it’s even better if you let the unit charge for 24 hours.
If you have an older unit like the SU700NET, SU1000NET, SU1400NEt then it’s best to perform a manual run time calibration. The software calibration isn’t as accurate with these units.
Follow the manual calibration instructions to perform this calibration and clear the error.
Once the calibration is complete, the UPS should be reprogrammed with the new run time availability and the blinking lights on the battery bars should disappear.