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Adventures in UPS battery replacement
I have a CyberPower CP1350AVRLCD uninterruptible power supply. It worked flawlessly for about seven years, keeping my computer running just as you'd hope through several dozen power events in that time.
A couple of recent power events have resulted in the computer rebooting as if it weren't connected to a UPS. It shouldn't be that surprising that seven year old batteries are failing, and the batteries are supposed to be replaceable. Fortunately, I just happened to have some spare batteries for my UPS that I bought about a year ago.
Getting at those new batteries took a little longer than expected. They came in a UPS priority mail package/sack. I removed it, revealing another, identical UPS priority mail package/sack underneath. Removing that one revealed a third such sack. Only after removing the third one did I find actual cardboard boxes. It was kind of like opening a Christmas present, only to find another wrapped Christmas present inside. I'm not complaining, really; it was probably done to provide extra padding for shipping. But it was the sort of unexpected thing that leads to Internet forum posts.
So I tried to replace the batteries. Figuring out how the UPS comes apart enough to replace the batteries took quite a while. The problem is that the instructions were flatly wrong. It said that you only need to remove one screw, then pull the front off, then you can pull the batteries out. There are pieces of plastic taped to both sides of the batteries, and pulling on the plastic was supposed to get the batteries out.
The problem is that it didn't. I was able to pull the batteries out about a quarter of an inch, but that was it. I figured out how to remove eight more screws, which allowed me to remove the entire side of the UPS case. Two of those screws were hard to find, as they aren't exposed until the UPS is partially disassembled, and even then, they're so far into such small holes that I couldn't actually see the screws. Guessing that there might be a screw down there, putting a screwdriver in, and twisting worked. And then I discovered that I had used a flat head screwdriver to remove Phillips screws, but at least it worked.
Once I had removed the side of the case, the problem was apparent. One of the plastic sheets that was supposed to help with removing the batteries wasn't attached smoothly to the batteries. Rather, it was wadded up so as to be several times as thick as it should have been. That meant a lot of pressure pushing against the side of the UPS, which increased as I managed to pull the batteries partway out. And that, of course, meant that the batteries weren't coming out in the intended manner.
After I had gotten the old batteries out, disconnecting them and putting new batteries in was fairly straightforward. Reassembling the UPS involved shoving some internal cords around, but wasn't too bad. The entire operation took somewhat over an hour, but the computer is up and working again. If it keeps running through the next power event, I'll know that the operation was a success.
Now I've got some dead lead-acid batteries to get rid of. It's hazardous waste, so you're apparently not supposed to just throw them in the garbage. There are supposedly places that collect them for disposal, but as I bought the new batteries online, that didn't provide an easy trade-in on the spot. For now, they'll probably just sit in the boxes that the new batteries came in for a while.
A couple of recent power events have resulted in the computer rebooting as if it weren't connected to a UPS. It shouldn't be that surprising that seven year old batteries are failing, and the batteries are supposed to be replaceable. Fortunately, I just happened to have some spare batteries for my UPS that I bought about a year ago.
Getting at those new batteries took a little longer than expected. They came in a UPS priority mail package/sack. I removed it, revealing another, identical UPS priority mail package/sack underneath. Removing that one revealed a third such sack. Only after removing the third one did I find actual cardboard boxes. It was kind of like opening a Christmas present, only to find another wrapped Christmas present inside. I'm not complaining, really; it was probably done to provide extra padding for shipping. But it was the sort of unexpected thing that leads to Internet forum posts.
So I tried to replace the batteries. Figuring out how the UPS comes apart enough to replace the batteries took quite a while. The problem is that the instructions were flatly wrong. It said that you only need to remove one screw, then pull the front off, then you can pull the batteries out. There are pieces of plastic taped to both sides of the batteries, and pulling on the plastic was supposed to get the batteries out.
The problem is that it didn't. I was able to pull the batteries out about a quarter of an inch, but that was it. I figured out how to remove eight more screws, which allowed me to remove the entire side of the UPS case. Two of those screws were hard to find, as they aren't exposed until the UPS is partially disassembled, and even then, they're so far into such small holes that I couldn't actually see the screws. Guessing that there might be a screw down there, putting a screwdriver in, and twisting worked. And then I discovered that I had used a flat head screwdriver to remove Phillips screws, but at least it worked.
Once I had removed the side of the case, the problem was apparent. One of the plastic sheets that was supposed to help with removing the batteries wasn't attached smoothly to the batteries. Rather, it was wadded up so as to be several times as thick as it should have been. That meant a lot of pressure pushing against the side of the UPS, which increased as I managed to pull the batteries partway out. And that, of course, meant that the batteries weren't coming out in the intended manner.
After I had gotten the old batteries out, disconnecting them and putting new batteries in was fairly straightforward. Reassembling the UPS involved shoving some internal cords around, but wasn't too bad. The entire operation took somewhat over an hour, but the computer is up and working again. If it keeps running through the next power event, I'll know that the operation was a success.
Now I've got some dead lead-acid batteries to get rid of. It's hazardous waste, so you're apparently not supposed to just throw them in the garbage. There are supposedly places that collect them for disposal, but as I bought the new batteries online, that didn't provide an easy trade-in on the spot. For now, they'll probably just sit in the boxes that the new batteries came in for a while.
Comments
For the rest of it - yeah, welcome to the wonderful world of consumer electronics. It's made so that they can say it's replaceable on the box, but you'd rather just throw it away and buy a new one.