How long does a UPS last without being used?

[Thready]

I kept an APC Pro 1000 S in storage for a year, and tonight I decided to get it out and replace my surge protector. It showed up as full battery and it's working fine.

 

What did that year of no activity do to the battery? It's a lead acid battery, I guess like a car battery?

[manikyath]

presuming you remembered to disconnect the battery befores storage.. having it in storage for a year is probably better for the battery than having it running for a year.

 

lead-acid batteries can be a bit weird in storage though, depending on which charge level they went into storage with they may have lost a lot of capacity, or held up just fine.

 

that said.. your UPS's self tests will shout at you when it's time to replace it.

[Quackers101]

depends on how it's being used and the scenarios it's getting put up with.

Also the depending on what type of battery it uses and how well that is going to deal with things or how long.

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Quackers101 said:

Also the depending on what type of battery

except for those few lithium models (that make it obviously clear they're lithium) it's all sealed lead-acid batteries.

[Windows7ge]

There isn't a strait forward answer without going ahead and performing capacity diagnostics on the battery. As manikyath explained it depends on what state the battery was in before storage and weather it was connected and/or trickle discharging to the control circuitry.

 

From my experience though working with similar APC units I have a APC UPS Pro 1500 from way way back. About 15 years old now I'd estimate. Maybe older. It's been used. Left in storage for a year. Used again. Left in storage. Used again. Etc. Etc.

 

I've only ever had to replace the battery once. Assuming APC hasn't decreased the quality of their batteries I think it's a non-concern. You should still have some good life left in it regardless.

[Thready]

Accidental reply. Please delete.

[Thready]

17 hours ago, Quackers101 said:

depends on how it's being used and the scenarios it's getting put up with.

Also the depending on what type of battery it uses and how well that is going to deal with things or how long.

 

17 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

There isn't a strait forward answer without going ahead and performing capacity diagnostics on the battery. As manikyath explained it depends on what state the battery was in before storage and weather it was connected and/or trickle discharging to the control circuitry.

 

From my experience though working with similar APC units I have a APC UPS Pro 1500 from way way back. About 15 years old now I'd estimate. Maybe older. It's been used. Left in storage for a year. Used again. Left in storage. Used again. Etc. Etc.

 

I've only ever had to replace the battery once. Assuming APC hasn't decreased the quality of their batteries I think it's a non-concern. You should still have some good life left in it regardless.

 

17 hours ago, manikyath said:

presuming you remembered to disconnect the battery befores storage.. having it in storage for a year is probably better for the battery than having it running for a year.

 

lead-acid batteries can be a bit weird in storage though, depending on which charge level they went into storage with they may have lost a lot of capacity, or held up just fine.

 

that said.. your UPS's self tests will shout at you when it's time to replace it.

I should add that I only connect my PC (with a 650W PSU), 2 monitors, and internet modem and router to the (surge + battery) outlets. The demand is relatively low.

 

We don't have long blackouts where I live. I live in tornado alley but in a 30 year old home with a modern circuit breaker, built in 1990, and our power lines run below ground. We've only had 1 surge to the home that I remember.

 

The vast majority of our power outages are about a second long, so I'm not worried about the performance decreasing, I'm just concerned if the battery actually kicks in when it's supposed to and about the fluctuation going from full power, to zero, back to full in a second, but multiple times a night in a storm.

 

If the power outage lasts more than a second, which is maybe once a year in a bad storm, it's usually less than 10 minutes. If it completely shuts things down for the night that's ok with me.  It's just the fluctuation from off-on-off-on multiple times a night I'm concerned about. So I guess I'm trying to say I don't need a perfect battery, just one that will kick in for a few seconds at a time.