Should the Batteries in My UPS System Last Long?
For alot of people / company’s an APC battery is the foundation of their workstation. This is particularly true when your primary ups power supply is, in fact, less than entirely reliable. Those who live in areas that experience regular storms, for example. Knowing when your battery needs replacing is important; if you do not know, then you are left in a very insecure, vunerable position. This article looks to provide you with a simple guide on how to keep your APC batteries in check.
Something very important to remember when you rely on APC batteries to keep your work station, home computer or network up and running is to always play it safe. What this means is that you should be ready and willing to replace your APC batteries before they expire, and not after.
An APC battery is meant to be used as an emergency power supply, and as such, different rules apply than if you were talking about some double A batteries for your remote control. When the batteries run out in the remote control for the TV, then you can replace them. It’s ok to do this in this situation as it’s hardly an emergency now is it.
APC batteries need to be replaced regularly just as you would regularly replace the 9 volt battery in your smoke detector, whether you know the battery to be expired or not. It might or might not be expired. If it’s still working, it might save your life in the event of a fire, but if it’s not, then the only way to find out is to have the smoke detector fail to make a sound when there is a fire.
The best way to go about replacing your APC batteries is to use the warranty as a rough guideline. Most APC batteries will last beyond the warranty, simply because that’s the only way to stay in business (you won’t last long in any industry if you find yourself living up to every warranty you issue). Once the warranty runs out, you can usually expect the battery to be reliable for some time after, but it’s wise to replace it as soon as is convenient.
The warranty, then, can be seen as a “minimum possible performance” guideline. As a minimum, a well made APC batterry is guaranteed to last as long as the warranty, but the battery will probably last longer than the warranty.
Most manufacturers and retailers, that are reputable, will in general, will offer a one year warranty. Some may offer shorter or longer warranties, but one year is generally considered to be as long as the average APC replacement battery should be expected to last with any degree of reliability.
In short, treat your emergency power supply like your emergency safety kit. When a hurricane knocks your power out, the last thing is to find out that your batteries in your flash light are dead. You might well think they are ok, but if they have not been checked for a year or so, then what do you expect. Have power solutions to hand for your ups system before anything major goes wrong.
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