You're missing something very important. UPS batteries are deep discharge cycle type batteries. Car batteries, aren't. Car batteries are made to never discharge too much, while providing very high CCA (cold cranking amps), something a UPS will never need. On the other hand, UPS batteries are built to have lots of deep discharge cycles. The physical difference is the amount and shape of the cells inside each type of battery. So yeah... it works but the car battery will only last a couple cycles, kinda expensive... Don't do this
UPS batteries..... unless you use LiFe batteries are not deep cycle batteries at all. they are simple sealed lead acid batteries they are NOT designed for deep discharge and recharge any more than a lead acid car battery is. These are not even close to the same as a deep cycle battery use in boats or RVs etc. I recondition these batteries if theyre not too badly damaged so I know for a fact that a straight 12 volt 18Ah battery is not a deep cycle battery. It is nothing more than a motorcycle battery.
@@dalefeekes313 wrong. check the datasheet of for example any 12v 7ah sealed lead acid or gel battery and compare the amount of deep descharge cycles it can withstand against a common for example 85ah car battery. the stats are there. to get the enormous CCA vehicles need, the batteries are made different. another example is you can't get near half of the CCA putting 10 7ah batteries in parallel compared to a single 70ah car battery. I get your point with the specific "deep discharge batteries" but thats kinda marketing snake oil, they're actually very similar to UPS or moto batteries
Great video, I've been wanting to do this for a while to ensure my internet and router don't go down during a power outage. My recommendations: Use marine/deep cycle batteries, battery boxes, and maybe storage container to consolidate (portable?) the system. For the preppers out there, it would be interesting to see how to recharge this system using solar panels only. Cheers.
@annestywest7488 I bought a Cyberpower cp1500pfclcda 1500va 1000w sine wave battery back-up system it has 2 9AH batteries 24v so I added 2 100AH sealed lead acid batteries 24v but it can't see that I added more AH to it and at 207w it only runs 44 minutes then shuts off but the batteries are still at 24.5v when it cuts off. Can I hack the system to change the settings? Maybe I should just buy a power inverter to run my things?
@annestywest7488 sadly some ups models do not actually check the voltage of the battery to deteemine runtime, they just have timers based on the load. I had an Eaton like that. I don't think you can change the ups settings.
Many people concern and diaagreed ...why need to modify the UpS instead of buying ready made sold online and in many hardware store....so my answer is...this project is thinking out of the box...many inverter sold came with no spark fuse..event they built in fuse..that does not protect the unit board..once its sparked..the whole unit became unuseable...throw away...i came here after my inverter unit was damaged/blown...this make me think how this UPS work...there is many UPS was thrown away after the built in battery died..not many people known thay the battery is replaceable...thank you admin..you inspired many people in the world..keep a good work..keep post it..
you should realy use marine battery or solar battery becouse car battery is designed to deliver high amperage in small bursts but marine and solar battery are designed for draining compleatly
Yes, but modern UPS have a low voltage cutoff, so car batteries won't get damaged directly. However deep cycle batteries can do much more cycles before a drop in capacity than regular car batteries. In the end, car batteries lasts much longer during an outage than small UPS batteries.
Excellent setup and clear instructions, I like to stress to viewers that you need to pay attention to the transformers and validate they can handle the load.
I use a old 1500 volt amp...(1500 watt) ...APC brand UPS that was thrown away to power up my modem, WiFi, TV, clock and the modem cooling fan when the power goes out. The total load is 363 watts so there is plenty of reserve in the UPS as this is only 1/4 rated load. I added a 55 amp hour power wheelchair SLA sealed lead acid battery to extend the run time. This system has been on line for 3 years with no attention needed. I added an LED volt meter that is constantly on so I can see the battery health in a glance. Its better to have a larger UPS running at a lower load than rated.
Exactly. The number of batteries in parallel can be any, but it is important to warn the audience that the UPS has the power indicated on the label, which it can supply, such as 350W. In practice, about half to 75 percent of the power consumption is used, ie about 175-230W. This means that you can power devices that have a maximum power consumption of up to 230W. If someone powered devices that have a higher consumption, a Bosch battery up to 100Ah would certainly be able to do it, but the UPS transformer will not be able to do it and it will burn with all the electronics. This is called overload and the UPS transformer really can't handle long-term overload. The author of the video has to be very careful about that, and so do the viewers.
Che fach, muh. I recognize that accent. My grandparents were from Alba Julia and came to the USA in 1932. They spoke Romanian at home but they forbid each other from speaking anything but English outside the home. I learned a few words and phrases but that was 60+ years ago. Great job on the UPS!
Mi se pare absolut genial cum ai un vocabular impecabil in limba engleza (mult superior unor vorbitori nativi) si accent balcanic puternic. You could be the best russian spy in america, ever.
I like the video and the concept of using larger batteries for your ups backup units. You must realize that ups inverters are not very efficient and the chargers are not a high rate charger. A 1500 VA ups can only run 500- 700 watts for long periods. The low volt amperage is 25-35 amps @ 24vdc for 120vac output. this translates to 2-3 hours of run time max. The 2 amp charger will take 2 days to replace this charge in the batteries. Also realize that the inverter will not switch on if the power has already gone out and the ups was not plugged in at the time to mains. A ups uses the mains to sync ac hz on mains and then switches inverter to match. If you take a fully charged ups out of the closet and turn it on to provide backup power nothing will happen as it has no mains to sync to.
I though the same, but it seems at least this model is able to power on, even if it was disconected before the power is gone. If I remember right, I added this info as a text somewhere almost at the end of the video. It is not happy to power on like that, but it does :) Not sure about other models, though.
Bill is right, you need to keep the same battery technology unless you want to go and reprogram the new float voltage and also I have done this before, but ended up charging the battery array externally as the internal battery charging circuit is designed for small capacity battery banks (No more than 36Ah and considering the SUA1500 has 2 x 17-22Ah gel cell batteries in them anyway) I ended up having an external MPPT 24 volt solar setup that charges the batteries and I just switch it on when I need mains power and off when I do not. Additionally if your pushing the UPS output past 930 Watts for long durations (this is based on the 1500 VA variant, the transformer can overheat quickly and kill your UPS. Stay under 500 Watts as a constant load and it will run for past 10 hours without any issues if your battery bank is big enough. With an external Charge controller, you can let the battery float to whatever the battery technology you purchase is. Remember that long durations of just charging will make the batteries lazy when you do throw a heavy load at them, so remember to calibrate the UPS to the batteries ...oh and disconnect that blasted buzzer! If you want to get more grunt out of your UPS, adding extra FET's to anything other than the base model (4 FET's only) gives hardly any improvement except a slightly better surge capability. I ran 2 x 100Ah batteries on a 50 Watt dual solar cell MPPT for my remote shed. I got over 6 hours of 360 time before the UPS started hinting it was running low, so I just switched it all off and 2 days of sunshine later....another 6 hours again If you do want a bigger max load output, alas the 1500 is 24 volt, but it then goes up to 48 volts for the 2200 all the way up to 5KVA. The 5 KVA and up models go to 96 and then 120 volts... The longer your cable run, the bigger the cable will need to be and especially if your going to mode a 1500, change those DC cables for 2 Gauge as running a 750 watt load for more than 20 minutes will leave you with the insulation starting to melt! 4 guage at a push ... DO NOT FORGET THE BATTERY ISOLATOR, FUSE THE HELL OUT OF IT AND DO NOT LEAVE IT UNATTENDED WHEN YOU FIRST FINISH IT UP!
@@UltimateDIY the lead-acid AGMs in stock UPS, marine batteries, and car batteries are all lead-acid, all work the same way, all have the same charging voltage thresholds. The difference is that the UPS charger cannot supply as much current as a big charger can. If the UPS charger is stupid and is relying too much on the internal resistance of the 7AH pack for current limiting, it will overhead because it's trying to deliver too much current for a long time. Minimal quality UPS are smarter than that and current limits to protect itself even if the battery is shorted. The only real advantage to having an external charger for your bank is that the external charger will charge at a much higher rate than the builtin UPS charging circuit can. IIRC, the optimum charge rate for a lead-acid battery is about .1C, where C is the capacity in AH. So a 7AH battery *optimally* charges at .7A, and will take about 10 hours to charge 100%. You can take it as a given that UPSs target somewhat less than 10 hours. Say 5 - .2C. Meanwhile, a 250AH truck battery wants to charge at 25A for 10 hours. No consumer UPS is going to charge remotely close to that level, and even at the 7AH's double-optimum rate, it'd take over over 5 days to charge. Reprogramming float voltage et. al. would only be needed if you changed to a different battery chemistry. Like LifFePO or NiCd. But you're not. You could potentially rig up an automotive charger into a UPS to charge the backup battery automatically, but that' would require rather more surgery on the UPS.
@@fromagefrizzbizz9377 There is a small chemistry difference between car lead-acid batteries and the deep cycle lead-acid batteries. I think car batteries lead plates contain some barium alloyed with the lead. It is possible that some have calcium alloyed with the lead. As you use the battery, the lead sponge on the anode (negative terminal) turns to PbSO4. At the cathode (positive terminal), the PbO2 (spongey PbO2) turns to PbSO4. The purpose of the barium or calcium is to prevent the formation of large PbSO4 crystals. In any case, once you use the battery too much, too much PbSO4 covers the plates and it is hard to recharge it. The purpose of car batteries is to give high amperage (100 A to 500 A) for a short period of time to just turn the engine, which is why it uses the high surface area spongey lead and PbO2. In the case of deep cycle batteries, the plates aren’t so spongey and can’t give high amperage. The plates aren’t the high surface area type.
You can adjust float voltage using SM protocol in hyperterminal. Plus charging can be boosted upto 14 Amps in 1500VA model by solding a resistor on board. Transformer will heat up but you can install better fan to cool it down. You can easily run 2 100Ah batteries by doing that without any additional charger or anything.
I did this a LONG time ago using deep cycle batteries from my wife's power chair. I had a relatively small APC backup and two deep cycles in parallel. It gave me (according to the reporting software) something like 1 to 2 hours. First test seemed to be accurate. Rarely used it, but I did note the tiny backup took a LONG time charging them up again. Our power here is usually very reliable, the batteries leaked a bit after a number years of disuse. Tonight I was in the middle of something semi important and power went off. Hmph! I had just read a How-to-Geek article on having battery backup for your router. Yea! Was VERY surprised that even $300+ backups were reporting less than 30 minutes of half load time.
You used inverter much better give you much better battery time ok those things batter eater no joke i have one i have have 5 inverter 500 watts,800watts,1100watts,1500watts and 3000watts inverter much better
You should have used ring terminals for larger gauge wire, the blue insulated are for 14-16 gauge wire,I believe the ones with yellow insulated for 10-12 gauge would have been the correct size. When connecting to the battery terminals you could have just used ring terminals connected to one of the screws which tighten the cable connection, this would have been more secure than your bundle of wire. Also, if you change the battery orientation so that you have a positive and negative post at each end the UPS connection will be at one end, the fuse at the other end.
this is a wonderful example of thought and action... I did smile abit with the stupid 40watt bulb install... at least I know that I am not the only one who sometimes has issue with a stupid light bulb... nice video my friend... "R" (oh the doors are opened) "forever"
The reason why the cable didn't fit through the groove is mainly because of the insulation to copper ratio. Mains cables are double insulated (at least European is or should be) which adds to the diameter even if there isn't a lot of copper. The cables designed for connecting to batteries don't have as much insulation and have a ton more copper for higher current.
@@UltimateDIY its a good idea but I'm wondering whether the float voltages will be different. The deep cycle I have in mind needs topping up with 0 TDS water over the sealed kind you used here.
Great video, thank you so much! Has anyone (else, because I'm going to try) also charged the batteries from a solar panel? I'm thinking about doing this and just unplugging the UPS from the mains.
Yes.... just get an MPPT charge controller between the solar panel and the battery. Make sure you select the battery type on the initial setup on the charge controller because each kind uses a different charging and float voltage. LiFePo4 lithium batteries need to have 14.5 volts maximum while a lot of he lead acid type batteries use 13.6 as a maximum. Solar charge controllers cost $20 to $30.
Great setup, you have skills. I have the same idea to do something like that. I wanna disconnect the 230v main and charge from solar. That way i can use it as a backup power-supply for fridge, computer, fans etc. I do not wan't mains connected all the time. 30 Watt solar panel can charge my mini UPS with 12v 7A battery (Real 3.5Ah) in less than 3 hours. I also have a 230v - 12v battery charger + trainer at 12v - 1A and does it also within 3 Hours. Because Lead-Acid batteries have a discharge cut-off at 50% capacity they charge quickly from 50% to 100%. Basically your 88Ah - 24v (2x12v) Car battery backup unit has only 44Ah - 24v capacity = 1KWh of real capacity to use with the UPS inverter. If your UPS charges at 10A it will do so in 4 hours to 100%. These old inverters from the 1990's have a very low efficiency, probably 75% or less at high 230v loads. So you lose another 250Wh of capacity to conversion & heat and end up with only 750Wh. Not to bad for a shabby 24v car battery that cost probably $120 or less. You do have to be aware of gasses. Regular maintenance of the battery is required like with your car. My Mini UPS has a few (4) switches on the back to set cut-off voltage and acoustic alarms at different loads (voltage drops), e.a. 160v, 172, 184v and 196v at either 50Hz or 60Hz meaning you can (un)safely drain the 12v Lead Acid down to almost 20% making it compatible with expensive deep cycle gell types, if i am right? Maybe it is just a security threshold voltage when the backup battery kicks in to protect delicate electronics like your PC from surges or dips without power loss?
the problem of extending an ups with batteries of greater capacity, is the UPS is not designed to work for such a long time, and less if you connect a computer that costs at least 300w, the transformer that it has at some point will burn, if the ups have no over consumption protection
Ups has an eprom similar to those, found in laptop batteries. To upload its contents to the pc, you may need to do the same as with laptops. 10 discharges in Windows, 1 discharge in Bios (must be about 45 min). In bios, each discharge will enable one option, that may be off by default, when you buy the device. That will enable lower fan speed, less heat, higher performance, and less cpu usage. To achieve this, you may need 10x 11 discharges, depending on your computer’s health.
Thank you for watching. I don't have enough experience to recommend anything. Just keep in mind that the more Ah, the slower it will charge to maximum. Also, the more Ah, the better the cooling on your ups must be, to be able to handle longer battery run time.
Great video! A bit too much of explanation at some points, but still very good. I can tell you're from Europe by the accent, because, let's admit it, all we europeans are just like that. Which country are you from? I love those connectors but can't find anything even remotely similar in stores in Bulgaria.
Hi there neighbour. Romanian here :) Yes, we europeans have have a special accent and I do sometimes get caught in my explanations and continue to rumble. Try to search on ebay for quick release battery terminals, they should be available. Although with a long delivery time...
Thank you! It's an APC SmartUPS 1400. It cost about 60$ second hand and the batteries about 70$ each. Could be a little wrong about the prices, as the exchange rate has changed over time.
Great instructional video...The question is, if you use batteries like the marine or telecom batteries, how would you know if the UPS charging circuit will be able to properly trickle charge these batteries?
@@UltimateDIY Ok thanks. I googled APC UPS 3000va schematic and i got a 6page pdf document with schematics...so i will review and look for clues there.
Cables/wires and fuses! Power is pulled by a load it is not pused by a source. If the ups has a 60 amp fuse then thats all you need. It will match the demand of the device. No reason to not reuse the fuse. Likewise the wires are sized for the amps pulled through them, however if you make the run longer you should up size the rest of the run. Likewise with connectors. The more you have the more resistance you introduce, voltage drops, and subsequently reduce run time as the ups will see a lower voltage. As you are not dealing with fault potential then just rate your dc parts to the fuse and keep it simple otherwise you are getting into i²t and time constants for interrupt and disconnect ratings that will blow your mind. Lastly the charge profile is unknown for the ups, we should assume it is correct for the technology supplied. Firther we should expect it is tumed for the exact batteries supplied given these are "quality" products. As such deviation from the battery spec is going to cause issues in the accuracy of the equipment and the safe and reliable working of the batteries. Clearly however there is a cost benefit, but anyone should be aware of the dangers involved in the incorrect charging of batteries. All the best.
@@UltimateDIY Haha I was kidding dude. Good project though, you made me send back my APC BE700G-UK and buy an APC BX1400UI so I can do this the same as yours in future. I certainly did not miss the point. Thank you for the great video and subbed!
@@UltimateDIY However, I have a tip about the electrical tape. Instead use heat shrink tubing (need a heat gun) instead of the tape or cable clamps around the tape instead of super glue. If you ever have to replace the fuse you will have to rip that all open.
Ultimate DIY Hi, I just did a 24volt (using 2x690amp truck batteries) ups 1500 watt setup last night. And then thought to see what RU-vid would say about it. And found your excellent video. As far as overheating is concerned, (With inclosed fan) My main goal is to keep the furnace and couple of lights going in a power outage so the load would be minimal. I don't see a problem.. The wires are 10 gauge. The size for a small dryer. I don't expect to use this every day but if I did, I'd use #8, ( electric stove size).. the bigger the better. This is just my preference and not in any code book. The less resistance, the higher the efficiency. On a longer power outage, say 6hrs, my Millar welder @ 10.5 kW ac, would be used for a couple of hrs to recharge the batteries. My initial search was on how to hard wire the ups set up to the breaker panel. I imagine there's a couple of automatic switches to buy so the ups doesn't backfeed into itself and a switch to keep from electrocuting the lines men repairing the line. Or trying to light up the neighbourhood . I'd appreciate any input/thoughts, thanks.
Thank you for watching. Maybe something like this would work? But I'm not sure if it does exactly what you need. m.made-in-china.com/product/3-Phase-ATS-Dual-Power-Automatic-Transfer-Switch-734363895.html
I part own a wireless ISP did this on a few UPSs for our tower sites the 7 amp hour battery's just do not live long in those metal sealed boxes with the switches and power injectors to the power over Ethernet radios heat and cold kills them in less than a year I just made jumpers out of 10 gauge wire with terminals to match the UPC brand units removed the 7 amp hour batteries from them of course ran them thru the weather tight boxes with grommets to boat battery boxes from Wal Mart ive used every thing from a garden tractor battery up to a pair of deep cycle trolling motor ones to get 24 volts for the bigger back ups all have a lot longer life and power the UPSs for many hours when the power fails .
SeaLife TT have had one quit charging but we think it was a lightning strike that did it in also putting in a vent on the box side with a PC fan helps keep the ups cool the vents for boat bilges work well facing down with screen between the vent and sealed box all sealed with silicone to make them water tight and keeps the wasps out of the box . Yes I put a fuse inline too just in case .
The 24V fan is annoying as hell in these ups, the problem is maybe the ball bearing, is a monster fan, you can try to change to a more silent, i recomend you adding a 12v external fan, big like PC fans silent and constant to mantain all cool when it charging.
@@UltimateDIY Beautiful country! Sorry I was stereotyping. It's the accents are very similar to the untrained ear. And I really like to here english with RU,RO, accent.
The reason for it not turning on if it previously did not get AC voltage at its input is, for one, that the AC the UPS creates must be in phase with the line AC. Primarily the required clock signal comes from an active line AC voltage. Secondly, safety.
besides deep cycle being better for, well, deep cycle... i would recommend using just heatshrink, especially when you don't like glue residues... you still need proper thickness... i think i would also use better cabling but this could be cheapest i guess
Hey. It still works, but it was left unplugged for a long time at a point and one of the batteries overdischarged to a point that the ups refused to charge. So it needed to be charged with a car battery charger. Now it's working again, but I suspect the capacity of both batteries has dropped over time.
Thanks! The cooling capabilities depend a lot on the particular ups model. I am not familiar with yours, but if it does not have a fan, I would add one, just to be safe.
Do you ever smell the gases from the batteries? The charging of lead-acid batteries can be hazardous. However, many workers may not see it that way since it is such a common activity in many workplaces. The two primary risks are from hydrogen gas formed when the battery is being charged and the sulfuric acid in the battery fluid
Never smelled anything. I think modern batteries that are in a good condition release really small amount of gases. My car for example has the battery in the trunk, which is directly connected to the inside of the car. They would not have done that if the risks were too high.
Agree - wet cells should not be used indoors without a vented, explosion proof container. I have a nice RV charger to use for ham UPS nut mt wait to but the $$$ AGM battery.
Don't forget you need deep cycle batteries not normal car batteries. Deep cycle batteries can handle been drained and recharged lots where normal car batteries like to stay full all the time.
No. You can use car battery. Ups is intermittent use, more capacity means less drain on a battery. More capacity, cheaper batteries a guy can use. Doesnt work with certain cheap models of ups's, as some are designed with turn off timer based on designed battery capacity ( doesnt care about battery voltage ). Also, make sure you have enough copper to carry the load, or risk fire.
Great video. thanks for sharing!. I want to ask, i have a ups 550VA (330W) working with a 12V 9Ah AGM battery. Can i extend by adding parallel another one to increase the capacity?. The thinking is to add 2 x parallel 12V 7Ah so will be after 14Ah. Only to provide more backup time because the 12V 9Ah is more expensive than a 12V 7Ah and i can find easily good batteries in 7Ah or 7,2Ah. Thanks
Hello every one, this UPS, is it able to charge that big car battery without struggling, And what is the value of the charging current if measured, Is it limited or controlled...
Nice video, will this car battery work for my setup below. With a load of 300 watts. 1. 1500 watts 24V Inverter. 2. 80ah x 2 car battery. 3. Can I use this setup every day with 3 hours run time during power cut off. 4. Will this battery last up to 1 year of usage. Will appreciate it a lot if my questions (4) are answered as cost is an issue.
@@UltimateDIY In fact lead acid batteries can work on much longer ups systems. Because modern UPS systems do not go below 12.5 volts to keep battery life long. thus, they do not go below 20%, which is critical for a battery. In this context, it is more accurate to use lead acid batteries in modern ups. Because gel batteries have a price tag almost 4 times higher. With the same budget 4 times more amperage lead acid battery can be bought.
@@UltimateDIY New generation UPS systems do not reduce the battery to less than 12.5 volts. This makes a standard battery run like a deep-cycle battery. Even if you buy a gel battery, the new generation UPS systems will not use this battery to the bottom, it will stop the operation at 12.5 volts. So where's the advantage of buying a gel battery? And 4 times more expensive. I want to take my claims a step further, the old type wet batteries, bumper cover is better. periodically interferes with water and acid levels. This extends the battery life more than expected.
Why not mount the Anderson plug on the outside of the case? Then you can disconnect the batteries if required without having to worry about insulating the terminals.
The UPS needs a mains connection to charge the battery and to sense the presence of mains so that it can turn on when needed. You can always supplement the internal charger with solar panels simply by connecting a suitable supply directly to the batteries.
Hello sir, I have contacted UPS with 35ah Amron car battery. I have checked that 35ah full battery provided approximately 4hrs backup for 200 watts load. But I am using my laptop with wifi during backup time UPS automatically turned off after 5 minutes of backup instead of long time. If turned on again then also turned off after 5 minutes. It's quite difficult to use please give me a solution. Thanks in advance.
Hello. Sorry, but it's not about a universal sollution. Each brand and model of ups bahaves in a different way. Some can even be set up by connecting to a pc with a dedicated software. If it always shuts off after 5 minutes it seems to be on some kind of timer.
hi, nice video. 12,7 is very good for car battery :) is not empty. What is the voltage after the charge ? how long it last with those batteries on your consumption , have you tested ?
Question, did the UPS built in battery level indicator eventually begin to accurately represent the new battery levels? How long did it take? EDIT:Typo
@@UltimateDIY Yeah, I am thinking about buying a refurbished UPS and adding an external battery bank to it to run the modem, router, security cams, NVR and charge laptops and cellphones. Should be a constant draw of about 40 watts(without laptops and phones), which should give me about 1 day per KW, maybe 20 hrs with system losses.
Nice video to watch and learn. But I am just thinking. Aren't UPS built for emergency saving your work and eventually you need to use the generator? And isn't it better to use instead an inverter if you really need power from a bettery? Just my thoughts.
That is a nice solution. I did it in 2013 too, www.hexnut.net/2013/12/apc-ups-on-steroids-bigger-batteries.html Replaced a battery twice already, its internal resistance shot up and it could not be recovered, however still up and running.
By connecting three wires to one you get three resistors in parallel connection. We all know that the smallest resistor will take all current, and burn first, so it is with these wires. For example 3x1.5mm2 joined together will never be equal to 1x4.5mm2. This may be fine at shorter distances, at greater distances there would be serious problems
Hmm, you are right. I just took that info without checking. It seems that when in parallel, the current gets divided and the resistor with the highest resistance gets the lowest current. So in the end 3 equal resistors get exactly equal current and if one of them is thinner somehow, it will have a higher resistance and get lower current, thus not burning itself.
I have an APC Smart 1000, and I did upgrade with car battery but it shows time remaining of old battery's(shuts down after 22min and the battery bar is low but the battery's are fully charged), my load is 150-220W
Try to find the software disk and interface cable. If you talk to the UPS with their little program, you can tell it it has new batteries, and it will behave differently. You can even cycle them through a self-test diagnostic from there.
Hi. You want to determine the power factor of the unit while it is charging the batteries? Or the output while you have something plugged in? I would just buy a plug in power meter. Most of them show the power factor.
Considering APC are one of the best UPS manufacturers I always have a facepalm moment when you look at the H bridge heat sink..... Why the heck to they place the electrolytic capacitors right next to the heat sink ??? Seems crazy to me !
Nice video, my only concern is this. I think the original APC batteries are AGM gel batteries. Such a 12 V battery needs about 14,4 V charging voltate. Regular 12 V lead/acid car batteries, on other hand, need about 18 V I think. How does this affect your DYI unit? Slower charging or unable to fully charge them to 100 %?
Thank you! They should not need such a high voltage, because all cars from what I know max out at about 15v. At 18v most car electronics would be dead. So the UPS should charge the batteries without problems. The only risc is the lower resistance to full discharge cycles of the lead/acid ones. But even then, good quality ones are ok, if you don't abuse them.
