uninterruptible power supply help

Phil2008

Phil2008

Phil2008

Soldato
Joined
17 Dec 2004
Posts
8,760
I have had my belkin ups for about 8 years now and your not suppose to change the batteries, but I do anyhow. Having changed the batteries about 4-5times now, its still a tad nerve racking taking the metal case off and on, because theres a board almost touching the top of the metal case. So if the case touches the board, it will short and burn the board, as there is always power running through the ups until you disconnect the batteries.

So I was thinking of gluing something to the top of the case, so if the case touches the board it wont short and fry the board. So guys whats the best stuff to use to solve this problem. Thanks

Heres a pic that I found of the ups with the case removed and you can see how close the board is from the top of the case.. The removable case is the same as the old pc cases use to be, top and sides are all in one

2w5uk8y.jpg
 
That's sure cheap China production...
Kinda wonder if it has passed actual safety testing.

If you have some old broken PSU around those (should) have plastic insulation sheet under PCB.


In that picture looks power semiconductors have been running real hot with PCB seriously darkened from above those so design isn't that good looking for longevity.
That heat trying to rise upwards and hitting PCB heats also capacitors.
 
You can use 1 or 2 layers of kapton tape on the metal parts and you could just remove the battery connection before replacing it so there is no power going to the board.

Using a hard insulating material could further impede the already poor heat dissipation of the unit.
 
Armageus said:
Some sort of insulating plastic sheet? (Have seen a lot of PCBs have it on the back anyway in various devices)

Maybe something like:
https://uk.rs-online.com/mobile/p/electrical-chemical-insulating-films/7757797/

Does the ups not have a removable link on the back, to isolate (all our APCs at work do, and fairly sure our newer Eaton's do)?
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link and no it doesn't have a removable link, like I said the batteries are non replaceable. but because of this the batteries are quite cheap to replace, 2 batteries cost £45 and lasts roughly 3yrs.

EsaT said:
That's sure cheap China production...
Kinda wonder if it has passed actual safety testing.

If you have some old broken PSU around those (should) have plastic insulation sheet under PCB.


In that picture looks power semiconductors have been running real hot with PCB seriously darkened from above those so design isn't that good looking for longevity.
That heat trying to rise upwards and hitting PCB heats also capacitors.
Click to expand...

That isnt a picture of my ups, but due to its age, mine probably looks worse as its like 8+yrs old now. but its been brilliant and never let me down even when i caught 1 of the batteries terminals on the metal casing when I were replacing them. I have it plugged in a surge protector now though,, as Im guessing that part of the ups has worn out now.
 
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Phil2008 said:
batteries cost £45 and lasts roughly 3yrs.
Click to expand...
How much black outs you have there?
Unless always letting batteries go empty/to low charge or there are lots of black outs they should last longer than that.
Especially this would be awfully much battery swapping for normal use in which UPS is mostly used for short few minute black outs:
Phil2008 said:
I have had my belkin ups for about 8 years now... changed the batteries about 4-5times now
Click to expand...

Though there might be also other components worn out.
If it's basically meant to be replaced instead of swapping batteries it's pretty good bet that capacitors aren't good.
 
EsaT said:
How much black outs you have there?
Unless always letting batteries go empty/to low charge or there are lots of black outs they should last longer than that.
Especially this would be awfully much battery swapping for normal use in which UPS is mostly used for short few minute black outs:
Click to expand...

The specs of the batteries says 3-5yrs, but they last roughly about 3-4yrs, and dont really get much use anymore now.

The reason I got a ups in the first place was because our trip switch was dodgey and our power was always going off and we thought it was warn out wiring and would have costed big money to get it fix, so I bought a ups to keep my pc from going off all the time

But since we have had our mains power fixed, the Ups still prevent my stuff going off when a light bulb blows, that sometimes causes our mains power to trip or when something gets wet.

So the UPS doesn't get much use anymore, but it still comes in handy and when we have storms when Im not around to unplug my stuff.

EsaT said:
Though there might be also other components worn out.
If it's basically meant to be replaced instead of swapping batteries it's pretty good bet that capacitors aren't good.
Click to expand...

Well Im guessing the surge protection dont work anymore, so I have it plugged in to a surge protector now. But other then that it seems to still be working well and it hasn't let me down so far when the mains power been dodgey. But yeah I probably could do with a new one, but I want the same or better then I have now and they are £150+. Plus if I buy a APC one I will need to by 2pin to 3pin uk socket converters.
 
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I run the pc and monitor just plugged straight into the ups and then I have two 4 strips running of it for my 2 printers, router, hdd backup box, speakers and my floating globe.. all that uses about 400watts if all on together can you believe, and got about 200watts to spare, but I never have everything on together

So having 3pin uk socket are important for me... you can buy these but they are expensive tho.......

24glyfr.jpg
 
So you would just chop the plugs of your existing 4 strips, and wire them both with the connectors I linked above - cheap and easy
 
When you put it like that, yeah. Im making it sound harder then it is. My ups id due another battery change this year, so I might look into getting a new ups instead of putting out more money into this one. But thats what I did last time, but couldn't afford a new ups at the time.
 
Phil2008 said:
I run the pc and monitor just plugged straight into the ups and then I have two 4 strips running of it for my 2 printers, router, hdd backup box, speakers and my floating globe.. all that uses about 400watts if all on together can you believe, and got about 200watts to spare, but I never have everything on together

So having 3pin uk socket are important for me... you can buy these but they are expensive tho.......

24glyfr.jpg
Click to expand...

Those things are under £2 each.

If your printers are laser printers then take them off the UPS ASAP. No wonder you've gone through so many batteries.
 
Its a all in 1 inkjet and a 3d printer. If the Ups gets overloaded, more then 650watts, it trips off. Its a bit of a pain, as my family members has plugged hoovers, saws into it, not knowing, and it just kills the power to everything instantly.

Anyway if I dont change the ups this time around and just replace the batts again, I think I'll buy some of that plastic stuff for the case (thanks to Armageus for the link).. Im amazed its lasted so well, I bought it when I had my E8400 cpu and that was about 2008, so its roughly 8-10yrs old.... Not bad hey and its still going strong, wonder if it will see through another 3yrs.

Im amazed over the years I haven't needed to buy a more powerful UPS as its seen off a few pc's. I even had 2 pc's connected to it at one point aswel and we had a powercut, but it kept both pc's chugging away nicely until the power was restored 5-10mins later.
 
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You shouldn't have needed to replace the batteries that often, you should have got 5 years between changes. Got a 1500 VA Smart UPS changed the batteries a couple of times, but it's working out a bit much, plus being on 24/7 it uses fair bit of electricity.
 
Being Belkin it doesn't surprise me - I'd bet on the capacitors going by the time it hits 10 years anyhow but even with the heavy usage of a UPS you shouldn't be changing batteries that often :( mine do at least 5 years - and though I probably should change them more often some can probably hit 10 before there is serious capacity fade (EDIT: Or complete failure).
 
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Ummm I think its every 3 yrs roughly, but yrs seem to go so fast nowadays, so it could be longer.. I can remember the first batt change, I left untill the ups just turned off when the power failed and that was 3yrs, but it had the original batteries in it.
 
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Seeing some of the abuse it has taken maybe not so surprising - I keep mine comfortably specced with overhead - infact probably a bit overspecced - the current estimated protection time for the two I've got in use right now is 2 hours 3 minutes and 20 seconds for one and 1 hour 20 minutes for the other heh.
 
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