Will you be prepared when your UPS battery goes south? I sure wasn’t …
My PC’s trusty UPS launched into its familiar squawk as I was clacking away at the keyboard this afternoon.
“BZZZZZZT … BEEP … BEEP … BEEP …”
The sound startled my daughter out of her iMac AIM trance.
“What’s that weird noise, Dad?”
“Ah, nothing … it’s just the PC’s UPS,” I replied nonchalantly. “The power must have dipped.”
I had heard the low-power song of the UPS many times over the years. From past experiences, I attributed the first BZZZZZZT as the UPS battery kicking in. Under normal circumstances (as long as the power hadn’t gone out) the beeping never lasted more than a few minutes before a second BZZZZZZT would signal the house power back at full strength..
But today was a different story.
The beeping went on for a while … until my PC shut down. The house power held steady.
After a moment or two of chin scratching, I figured that it wasn’t a power fluctuation … it was the UPS battery taking a hike.
The PC refused to boot back up while it was plugged into the uninterrruptible power supply. But it fired right up after I rearranged the power cords by plugging the PC into the plane jane surge surpressor side of the unit.
This made a light go in my head off … it must be the UPS battery, whether or not the “Check Battery” light was lit or not.
Another kick in the pants. Having a spare UPS battery on the shelf — seeing that this UPS is a few years old — might not have been a bad idea. If only I listened to my own advice on checking uninterruptible power supply batteries.
Sheesh …
The batteries in an uninterruptible power supply will not last indefinitely. (I’ve had a few go south on me over the years.) That’s why you should periodically test the UPS to make sure that the batteries are still functioning. While some models may have alarms to warn of a failing battery, others may not.
When the uninterruptible power supply battery finally does give up the ghost, you may be able to replace it, depending on the model and manufacturer. The better UPS manufacturers will offer a battery exchange program, allowing you to send in your old battery. And like soon to be jailbird Martha says, “that’s a good thing.” Battery disposal is a non-trivial matter. You shouldn’t ever consider throwing a great big UPS battery in the trash–the last place it should land is a landfill.
[tags]UPS battery[/tags]