CyberPower UPS Failed in Power Outage

[gadje]

Bill in NC wrote:
Anyone tried LiFe batteries in their UPS at replacement time?

Those should last much longer than lead-acid.

A LiFe battery in UPS size costs ~$30:

Nermak 12V 7ah LiFePO4

I wouldn't do that. I think the charger needs to be LiFePO4 specific, and there is the potential of something going really wrong and starting a fire. Your insurance company will decline the claim.

I hope someone will start making UPS that come equipped with LiFePO4 batteries, then yes I would get one of those!

[JoeH]

Bill in NC wrote:
Anyone tried LiFe batteries in their UPS at replacement time?

Those should last much longer than lead-acid.

A LiFe battery in UPS size costs ~$30:

Nermak 12V 7ah LiFePO4

There was a big discussion about that 6-9 months ago here. A few had, but at least one person rolled their own batteries from purchased cells and BMS circuits. I used that series of posts to look further into possibly using LiFePO4 batteries in some of my UPSs that need replacement batteries.

The issue is the rated amperage for many of the inexpensive LiFePO4 batteries. For example the linked battery has a BMS rated for 8 A, or approximately 100 W continuous power that will allow a brief spike of draw to a higher current before shutting down the battery and therefore the UPS. Two of these batteries in an UPS is only 200 W. If the UPS is rated for more than that, unless you are careful to attach equipment drawing no more than that, then your UPS is going to shut down from the BMS over-current protection well before the batteries are done discharging.

Now on the same page they sell a 36 Ah battery with a BMS rated for 36 A. That is the type of rating you would need to power a 1200-1500 VA UPS. But it is $120 per battery, you would need 2, and they will not fit in as replacements for the original batteries. Finding the smaller 7 or 9 Ah rating batteries with MBS circuits that will handle higher continuous current draws needed for UPS usage is not easy.

I may still build a battery myself, but will have to do more research into buying cells rated for enough current. Getting a BMS that can handle it is relatively easy, they just are more expensive and may need passive or active cooling added.

[PeterB]

My experience with the Cyberpower UPS's has been uniformly good -- the weakness, as others have pointed out, is the battery ... the batteries can crap out, show as full, when in fact they've lost load-bearing capacity. I've even rescued a couple of Cyberpowers from the trash and restored them to life by buying new batteries. Oh, and the UPS's can also totally misbehave in other ways when the battery is no good... for example, intermittently turning themselves off for no reason, blinking power button, etc.

[Buzz]

"(2) The serial port for USB to connect to a computer is RJ-11. That will only work with a specially wired RJ-11 to USB cable. Common USB B to USB A cables won't work here. Lose that factory cable and you'll have to find an overpriced replacement somewhere."


Damn..... I gotta check the drawers/cabinets/storage bins/locker; I had a bunch of those collected from over the years. Not sure how many survived our downsizing several years ago, but if they're really overpriced, it may be time to start looking for them.

How overpriced are we talking about?


==

[gadje]

You can probably make those cables if you take a USB cable and crimp an RJ45 connector at the end. BTW, I think it was RJ45, the wider 8 pin Ethernet version, not RJ11, the 4 pin telephone version. I also have a few of those laying around.

[Bill in NC]

gadje wrote:
[quote=Bill in NC]
Anyone tried LiFe batteries in their UPS at replacement time?

Those should last much longer than lead-acid.

A LiFe battery in UPS size costs ~$30:

Nermak 12V 7ah LiFePO4

I wouldn't do that. I think the charger needs to be LiFePO4 specific, and there is the potential of something going really wrong and starting a fire. Your insurance company will decline the claim.

I hope someone will start making UPS that come equipped with LiFePO4 batteries, then yes I would get one of those!
"cough"...Bluetti..."cough"

if you're willing to pay that price.

[Bill in NC]

JoeH wrote:
[quote=Bill in NC]
Anyone tried LiFe batteries in their UPS at replacement time?

Those should last much longer than lead-acid.

A LiFe battery in UPS size costs ~$30:

Nermak 12V 7ah LiFePO4

There was a big discussion about that 6-9 months ago here. A few had, but at least one person rolled their own batteries from purchased cells and BMS circuits. I used that series of posts to look further into possibly using LiFePO4 batteries in some of my UPSs that need replacement batteries.

The issue is the rated amperage for many of the inexpensive LiFePO4 batteries. For example the linked battery has a BMS rated for 8 A, or approximately 100 W continuous power that will allow a brief spike of draw to a higher current before shutting down the battery and therefore the UPS. Two of these batteries in an UPS is only 200 W. If the UPS is rated for more than that, unless you are careful to attach equipment drawing no more than that, then your UPS is going to shut down from the BMS over-current protection well before the batteries are done discharging.

Now on the same page they sell a 36 Ah battery with a BMS rated for 36 A. That is the type of rating you would need to power a 1200-1500 VA UPS. But it is $120 per battery, you would need 2, and they will not fit in as replacements for the original batteries. Finding the smaller 7 or 9 Ah rating batteries with MBS circuits that will handle higher continuous current draws needed for UPS usage is not easy.

I may still build a battery myself, but will have to do more research into buying cells rated for enough current. Getting a BMS that can handle it is relatively easy, they just are more expensive and may need passive or active cooling added.
well, my APC Smart UPS (bought refurbished w/ new lead-acid batteries) only has the cable modem, wireless router, & Blu-ray player on it...my plasma HDTV is not connected.

since those combined fall well within the wattage limit I will probably buy that type of LiFe when the lead-acid batteries need replacing.