Hi,

I bought yesterday a battery for my UPS at a shop that specializes in batteries. I had my old battery there, so to get the same type, and I
asked the chap if he had a voltage meter. Something like that, he said.
He brought out a special meter with huge clamps, attached it, and said
the batter had 13.6 volts. Then he tested "load" and said said the
battery gave out only 20 out of 100. I don't know what he was actually measuring, some time of current over a resistor measurement, I suppose.
It is adjusted for the size of battery.

Do you know what meter could be that thing?

--
Cheers, Carlos.

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Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

On 2025-04-15 13:30, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

...

However, it is usually a good enough indicator for obvious cases of
dying batteries that collapse after a few tens of seconds or boil-up
under heavy load.

That's the case, the battery went down fast. The UPS software had the
time to send me an alert email, but the event did not get written to
disk logs. The battery would make 2 years in service next august.

I would have expected a much better lifetime than that, Does the
charging system follow the battery manufacturer's guidelines?
Continuous trickle charge can ruin a battery that isn't designed for it,
some batteries thrive on an occasional discharge and re-charge.

Battery technology is extremely complex. There are so many ways of
killing a battery; 'good practice' consists of juggling them to give the
best compromise.


--
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

Hi,

I bought yesterday a battery for my UPS at a shop that specializes in batteries. I had my old battery there, so to get the same type, and I
asked the chap if he had a voltage meter. Something like that, he said.
He brought out a special meter with huge clamps, attached it, and said
the batter had 13.6 volts. Then he tested "load" and said said the
battery gave out only 20 out of 100. I don't know what he was actually measuring, some time of current over a resistor measurement, I suppose.
It is adjusted for the size of battery.

Do you know what meter could be that thing?

There are car battery testers that almost short-circuit the battery
through a convoluted strip of metal which acts as a load resistor to
simulate the current drawn by a starter motor. They incorporate a
voltmeter so you can watch the terminal voltage fall on load.

It sounds as though the voltmeter in your case was calibrated with some arbitrary scale of 'goodness', based on 100% for a battery in perfect condition. The actual voltage drop will depend on many things, such as
the battery capacity (which yours was compensated for) and the ambient temperature, so interpreting the readings calls for a degree of
awareness and skill that most mechanics don't have.

However, it is usually a good enough indicator for obvious cases of
dying batteries that collapse after a few tens of seconds or boil-up
under heavy load.


--
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2025-04-15 13:30, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

...

However, it is usually a good enough indicator for obvious cases of
dying batteries that collapse after a few tens of seconds or boil-up
under heavy load.

That's the case, the battery went down fast. The UPS software had the
time to send me an alert email, but the event did not get written to
disk logs. The battery would make 2 years in service next august.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 15 Apr 2025 at 12:55:49 BST, "Liz Tuddenham" <Liz Tuddenham> wrote:

Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

On 2025-04-15 13:30, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

...

However, it is usually a good enough indicator for obvious cases of
dying batteries that collapse after a few tens of seconds or boil-up
under heavy load.

That's the case, the battery went down fast. The UPS software had the
time to send me an alert email, but the event did not get written to
disk logs. The battery would make 2 years in service next august.

I would have expected a much better lifetime than that, Does the
charging system follow the battery manufacturer's guidelines?
Continuous trickle charge can ruin a battery that isn't designed for it,
some batteries thrive on an occasional discharge and re-charge.

Battery technology is extremely complex. There are so many ways of
killing a battery; 'good practice' consists of juggling them to give the
best compromise.

The brand leader American UPS company used to be noted for overcharging its sealed lead acid batteries (to be kind it could be called getting the maximum spec from the batteries) which probably shortened their life and there were published circuit board mods to stop it doing so.


--

Roger Hayter

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 2025-04-15 13:55, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

On 2025-04-15 13:30, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

...

However, it is usually a good enough indicator for obvious cases of
dying batteries that collapse after a few tens of seconds or boil-up
under heavy load.

That's the case, the battery went down fast. The UPS software had the
time to send me an alert email, but the event did not get written to
disk logs. The battery would make 2 years in service next august.

I would have expected a much better lifetime than that, Does the
charging system follow the battery manufacturer's guidelines?
Continuous trickle charge can ruin a battery that isn't designed for it,
some batteries thrive on an occasional discharge and re-charge.

That's a good question without an answer. It is a black box. I don't
know what it does. Ok, it is a commercial UPS. I have found that some commercial UPS take care of their batteries better than others.

Another possibility is that the battery is lower quality, being no-name.

This UPS is a Salicru "UPS Soho+". The other one I have is an "Ellipse
1000", from Eaton, and this one is good.

Battery technology is extremely complex. There are so many ways of
killing a battery; 'good practice' consists of juggling them to give the
best compromise.

Trickle charge in a traditional lead acid wet battery just "evaporates"
the water in the electrolyte (ok, it produces some hydrogen). You just
have to replenish the water periodically. But on these "new" gel types,
the battery dies.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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In article <d2k1dlxcgk.ln2@Telcontar.valinor>, robin_listas@es.invalid
says...

Hi,

I bought yesterday a battery for my UPS at a shop that specializes in batteries. I had my old battery there, so to get the same type, and I
asked the chap if he had a voltage meter. Something like that, he said.
He brought out a special meter with huge clamps, attached it, and said
the batter had 13.6 volts. Then he tested "load" and said said the
battery gave out only 20 out of 100. I don't know what he was actually measuring, some time of current over a resistor measurement, I suppose.
It is adjusted for the size of battery.

Do you know what meter could be that thing?

--
Cheers, Carlos.

If that was a 12.5 volt battery (6 cell) his meter should not show 13.6
volts if it was correct . However the testers will put a heavy load on
the battery and it should not drop but maybe 2 to 4 volts depending on
the tester and the load it puts on the battery.. The less the better.
If it drops more than that the battery is on its way to going bad.
Simple volt meters tell almost nothing about a battery. They often have
the rated voltage without a load. They must be put under a load. The
more the voltage drops for the same type of battery the worse it is.

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