Battery backup: problem with my APC?

I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a
split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows all 5
lights lit, the computer died.

Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be sub-par
even though the test lights say it is OK? What have others of you chosen?

Thanks
Ken K

On 14-Oct-2009, kenk wrote:

I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a
split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows all 5
lights lit, the computer died.

The computer died as in it won't run off the mains any more?
Or just the APC unit died?
Battery monitoring may be a chip that is independent, and
reports battery state when other parts have failed.
So could be one of the power semiconductors.
Mustek is an alternative, looks a better build quality,
but that is no guarantee of random failure..

kenk wrote:
I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a
split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows all 5
lights lit, the computer died.

Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be sub-par
even though the test lights say it is OK? What have others of you chosen?

I've tried so many different UPSes that I've given up on them. None of
them last long, and none of them are guaranteed to save you from a power
outage. Worthless pieces of garbage, they are.

Yousuf Khan

On or about Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:52:39 -0400 did Yousuf Khan
dribble thusly:

kenk wrote:
I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a
split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows all 5
lights lit, the computer died.

Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be sub-par
even though the test lights say it is OK? What have others of you chosen?

I've tried so many different UPSes that I've given up on them. None of
them last long, and none of them are guaranteed to save you from a power
outage. Worthless pieces of garbage, they are.

If you spend nothing on them, that's certainly true. Don't fault the
technology if you can't spec out the appropriate unit. I have everything
sensitive on a UPS, including my computers, external drives, and even my TiVo.

Power outages of less than several minutes don't affect me. I generally shut
things down after about three minutes, because in my area, that usually means
the power will be out for a couple of hours (typically because some idiot
driving in the rain took out a power pole).

You probably bought cheap, undersized units, which is why you've come to your
erroneous conclusion.

On or about Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:41:55 -0700 did kenk
dribble thusly:

I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a
split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows all 5
lights lit, the computer died.

Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be sub-par
even though the test lights say it is OK? What have others of you chosen?

Your "died" is pretty vague. It's possible there was a surge that exceeded
the suppression ability of the UPS. It's also possible that your computer's
power requirements exceed the capacity of the UPS. The value varies, but
typically the number of watts the unit can supply is 60% of the VA value.

"kenk" wrote in message
...
I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a
split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows all 5
lights lit, the computer died.

Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be sub-par even
though the test lights say it is OK? What have others of you chosen?

Thanks
Ken K

I would be looking at your PC's power supply. There is a very
brief delay between the loss of power, and the UPS switchover
to battery power. The PC power supply should hold during
this period. Before I had a UPS, a split-second power outage
would cause clocks to lose their time, etc., sometimes, even
my monitor would blink, but the computer would hold without
a glitch. If you want to test your UPS, pull the power cord with
a load on the UPS.

Also bear in mind that
batteries typically last only a few years at best, you have to change them
or buy a new UPS at regular intervals. (And of course every manufacturer
will have the occasional "lemon.")

3 to 5 years seems typical for the commonly used sealed lead
acid batteries in this application, where they are maintined on
a float charge. OP has not said what APC model is referred to,
and the indication referred to may only be for battery voltage,
which is a different issue to whether the battery still has
sufficient capacity to supply the initial surge when the inverter
starts, and then maintain the load.
The only real test is to have the load connected, put a
voltmeter across the battery (warning the battery is at the
utility supply voltage and live WRT to the case etc.)
then pull the plug and see what happens to its
voltage. In my experience, with a 3 or so year old battery,
you see around 13V across the battery, pull the plug
and instead of the inverter starting to feed the load,
the battery drops to a few volts.
Most APC units have the make and catalog number
of the batteries (commonly there are two) on each
battery.
There are internal fuses on the PCB and in the hope
that it is only the batteries replace the batteries,
they usually have push on blade connections.
One or more domestic tungsten bulbs can be
used as a test load, and do remember that when the
inverter starts, even with no utility supply connected,
dangerous voltages are generated.

..

Ian D wrote
kenk wrote

I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a split-second power outage. Despite the fact that
my battery shows all 5 lights lit, the computer died.

Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be sub-par
even though the test lights say it is OK? What have others of you chosen?

I would be looking at your PC's power supply. There is a very
brief delay between the loss of power, and the UPS switchover
to battery power.

Not with continuous UPSs, there is no delay at all with those.

Essentially the PC is running off the UPS output all the time and
the only thing that changes with the mains failure is that the UPS
isnt being charged anymore and runs off the battery instead.

The PC power supply should hold during
this period. Before I had a UPS, a split-second power outage
would cause clocks to lose their time, etc., sometimes, even
my monitor would blink, but the computer would hold without
a glitch. If you want to test your UPS, pull the power cord with
a load on the UPS.

Hi!

Yousuf Khan wrote:
kenk wrote:

Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be sub-par
even though the test lights say it is OK? What have others of you
chosen?

I've tried so many different UPSes that I've given up on them. None of
them last long, and none of them are guaranteed to save you from a power
outage. Worthless pieces of garbage, they are.

Next time you want to press the "send" button, please, re-read and
re-think again.

With best regards,

Iggy

Hi!

kenk wrote:
I was sitting at my desk yesterday during a storm when there was a
split-second power outage. Despite the fact that my battery shows all 5
lights lit, the computer died.

There might be several problems which can be the reason of that behaviour.

Is there a better brand to use than APC? Can the battery be sub-par
even though the test lights say it is OK? What have others of you chosen?

APC is OK brand. I would not call it the best, and also, you probably
have line-interactive UPS. The problem is that such a UPS can not
eliminate all of the problems, and also, some power supplies are not
working well with that king of UPS (I've heard about problems with
certain Chieftek PSs).

Best regards,

Iggy