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#1
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UPS hack possible?
If anyone knows of a more appropriate NG for this, please advise.
My APC UPS has been screaming at me to get another replacement battery. I have replaced it before, it is a piddly 12V. Today as I was readying my boat for winter it came to me that I have two big expensive Deep-cycle 12V batteries going to waste all winter, while if I could use a jumper to hack into the UPS they could possibly be used instead. It would provide much more of a backup source and would be of help in maintaining them through the winter as well. I would be interested in hearing any feedback about it. Thanks, pflu |
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#2
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UPS hack possible?
"Pflueger" wrote in message If anyone knows of a more appropriate NG for this, please advise. My APC UPS has been screaming at me to get another replacement battery. I have replaced it before, it is a piddly 12V. Today as I was readying my boat for winter it came to me that I have two big expensive Deep-cycle 12V batteries going to waste all winter, while if I could use a jumper to hack into the UPS they could possibly be used instead. It would provide much more of a backup source and would be of help in maintaining them through the winter as well. I would be interested in hearing any feedback about it. Thanks, pflu You have to tell it that you replaced the battery. The message most likely has nothing to do with the state of the battery. Did you tell it to do a self test? |
#3
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UPS hack possible?
"Pflueger" wrote in message ... If anyone knows of a more appropriate NG for this, please advise. My APC UPS has been screaming at me to get another replacement battery. I have replaced it before, it is a piddly 12V. Today as I was readying my boat for winter it came to me that I have two big expensive Deep-cycle 12V batteries going to waste all winter, while if I could use a jumper to hack into the UPS they could possibly be used instead. It would provide much more of a backup source and would be of help in maintaining them through the winter as well. I would be interested in hearing any feedback about it. Thanks, pflu I work for a major battery manufacturer and also have worked on my share of UPS's over the years...so I feel qualified to answer your question. The answer is not as clear cut as you might imagine. Since the charger is designed to charge a smaller battery there is of course the possibility the batteries may not charge fully... however a problem might only occur is there was a very long power failure and the batteries got deeply discharged. The real danger is in the emission of hydrogen gas...which of course is explosive! The battery that's in the UPS now should be a VRLA battery. That stands for valve-regulated lead-acid. It's designed to allow a negligible amount of hydrogen gas emission under all but a thermal run-away condition. The deep-cycle batteries you have, could be the "wet" type which would emit hydrogen and could therefore be potentially dangerous. Since VLRA deep cycle batteries do exist the ones you have *might* be safe to use...but be sure to find out if they are the "wet" type (with liquid acid inside) or "sealed" VLRA's The VLRA is a fairly expensive battery and can cost over $200 each! The good news, is that since the charger is going to be undersized for the batteries the chances of a dangerous emission of hydrogen is minimized...but that is not to say it would be safe. Since you will be using the deep cycle batteries in the summer (presumably in your boat) you are going to have to replace the internal battery anyway... So you might as well not bother with the deep-cycle batteries you have. When in doubt err on the side of caution. |
#4
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UPS hack possible?
"philo" wrote in message ... "Pflueger" wrote in message ... If anyone knows of a more appropriate NG for this, please advise. My APC UPS has been screaming at me to get another replacement battery. I have replaced it before, it is a piddly 12V. Today as I was readying my boat for winter it came to me that I have two big expensive Deep-cycle 12V batteries going to waste all winter, while if I could use a jumper to hack into the UPS they could possibly be used instead. It would provide much more of a backup source and would be of help in maintaining them through the winter as well. I would be interested in hearing any feedback about it. Thanks, pflu I work for a major battery manufacturer and also have worked on my share of UPS's over the years...so I feel qualified to answer your question. The answer is not as clear cut as you might imagine. Since the charger is designed to charge a smaller battery there is of course the possibility the batteries may not charge fully... however a problem might only occur is there was a very long power failure and the batteries got deeply discharged. The real danger is in the emission of hydrogen gas...which of course is explosive! The battery that's in the UPS now should be a VRLA battery. That stands for valve-regulated lead-acid. It's designed to allow a negligible amount of hydrogen gas emission under all but a thermal run-away condition. The deep-cycle batteries you have, could be the "wet" type which would emit hydrogen and could therefore be potentially dangerous. Since VLRA deep cycle batteries do exist the ones you have *might* be safe to use...but be sure to find out if they are the "wet" type (with liquid acid inside) or "sealed" VLRA's The VLRA is a fairly expensive battery and can cost over $200 each! The good news, is that since the charger is going to be undersized for the batteries the chances of a dangerous emission of hydrogen is minimized...but that is not to say it would be safe. Since you will be using the deep cycle batteries in the summer (presumably in your boat) you are going to have to replace the internal battery anyway... So you might as well not bother with the deep-cycle batteries you have. When in doubt err on the side of caution. Thanks for the info. The deep cycle batteries are the wet type. I would bet neither would need any charging from the UPS all winter as you say, especially if hooked up in parallel. I use the UPS almost exclusively only for the voltage-leveling attributes, not document preserving -- if they keep my automatic bilge pump going all summer, they would probably only need the usual amount of monitoring over winter. If I decide to try it I will take care to provide plenty of venting. Once I got the jumpers in place I could forsee even using one of my handy portable 12V jump-start power packs for backup as well -- they are VLRA types. |
#5
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UPS hack possible?
snip I work for a major battery manufacturer and also have worked on my share of UPS's over the years...so I feel qualified to answer your question. The answer is not as clear cut as you might imagine. Since the charger is designed to charge a smaller battery there is of course the possibility the batteries may not charge fully... however a problem might only occur is there was a very long power failure and the batteries got deeply discharged. The real danger is in the emission of hydrogen gas...which of course is explosive! The battery that's in the UPS now should be a VRLA battery. That stands for valve-regulated lead-acid. It's designed to allow a negligible amount of hydrogen gas emission under all but a thermal run-away condition. The deep-cycle batteries you have, could be the "wet" type which would emit hydrogen and could therefore be potentially dangerous. Since VLRA deep cycle batteries do exist the ones you have *might* be safe to use...but be sure to find out if they are the "wet" type (with liquid acid inside) or "sealed" VLRA's The VLRA is a fairly expensive battery and can cost over $200 each! The good news, is that since the charger is going to be undersized for the batteries the chances of a dangerous emission of hydrogen is minimized...but that is not to say it would be safe. Since you will be using the deep cycle batteries in the summer (presumably in your boat) you are going to have to replace the internal battery anyway... So you might as well not bother with the deep-cycle batteries you have. When in doubt err on the side of caution. Thanks for the info. The deep cycle batteries are the wet type. I would bet neither would need any charging from the UPS all winter as you say, especially if hooked up in parallel. I use the UPS almost exclusively only for the voltage-leveling attributes, not document preserving -- if they keep my automatic bilge pump going all summer, they would probably only need the usual amount of monitoring over winter. If I decide to try it I will take care to provide plenty of venting. Once I got the jumpers in place I could forsee even using one of my handy portable 12V jump-start power packs for backup as well -- they are VLRA types. Considering the batteries will be a much higher Ampere-Hour than the charger, the amount of gassing will be negligible...but I just wanted to sure you were fully cautioned. Basically, no smoking or flames near the batteries! BTW: There are several possible charging methods...but if the voltage remains below 14.2 volts while on charge, the gassing is next to nothing. I see I also made a few typos, valve regulated lead acid is VRLA G |
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