Is a battery in your UPS feeling a little “queasy”, right now?

(Look below the following text for an actual picture of a sick battery that was undetected)

Are the batteries in your UPS more than 3 years old? 

If they are, you may have one or more batteries that are a “little under the weather.”  

In a power emergency it may fail, and the load may be dropped. 
This would be the wrong time to find a problem.

Here is a checklist of things you can do to assure that your UPS unit(s) will support their load(s) in an emergency.
1.     Perform a self-test on the UPS unit(s) routinely.  At least once a month.
2.     Check periodically to see if the UPS unit(s) will really support your load.  How?  Put the load (your servers, desktops, telecom equipment, etc.) in a stable state, that is, a state where the complete loss of electrical power will not cause damage or problems except the need to re-boot and re-initialize.  Then remove the utility power to the UPS (!).  If the unit holds the load for at least the time you need, great!  If not, change the batteries as soon as possible.  Sometimes, this test will result in the UPS dropping the load immediately.  Better to find out under controlled conditions.
3.     If the batteries have not been replaced in the last 3 years – change them, now.  More than half of all UPS service calls due to battery problems occur when the batteries are 3-5 years old.

Call APT at 949-768-5965 or 1-800-908-7655 for competitively priced, promptly delivered replacement batteries for nearly any UPS .

Below is a picture of a battery string that was removed from a customer's UPS in July 2004. The batteries were 4 years old (too old). The internal failure caused excessive heating and the result can be seen. It is significant that the routine testing of the UPS did not raise any red flags until a day or two before we were called in to replace the batteries, yet this kind of failure develops over time - perhaps weeks or months.

Here is an excellent example of the value of planned battery replacement - one of the services we offer as part of the Single Location Maintenance Agreement.