[Nut-upsuser] Eaton 5PX 3rd party batteries

[Jim Klimov]

Sounds like great advice, thanks!

  Would you care to post it to the NUT wiki or in-source FAQ document (or
can I)?
  Probably the meaningfulness of specific company names is too
geographically and temporally limited, however the technical part is
universally applicable.

Jim


On Wed, Nov 13, 2024 at 6:08 AM Harlan Stenn via Nut-upsuser <
nut-upsuser at alioth-lists.debian.net> wrote:

> On 11/12/2024 10:58 AM, Dan Langille via Nut-upsuser wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > nut recently told me that the batteries need replacing in my Eaton
> 5PX2200RT (ups) and 5PXEBM48RT (external battery pack). According to my
> notes, it has been just over 4 years since I installed them. Looking at
> on-line sales, these seem to use batteries in a pre-packaged plastic shell.
> I don't recall if that's what's in my units or not.
> >
> > Do you have any experience with replacing / filling such shells with 3rd
> party batteries?
>
> I have never had to replace batteries in an Eaton anything.
>
> I hope the following is both correct and useful.
>
> I have replaced a fair number (probably around a hundred) batteries in
> other UPSes and devices (like a Fuji X-Ray machine that takes 16
> 12VDC at 22AH batteries).  That's over 200VDC at a Significant current (the
> batteries claim 12V, but they are charged to over 13V).
>
> I like batteries from RaionGroup.com or batterywholesale.com.
>
> There are some other companies out there that I will never buy from again.
>
> I try to get high-rate batteries, and they are harder to find.  As I
> recall, one should avoid "deep discharge" batteries for UPSes.  A deep
> discharge battery is great for constant load stuff (like wheelchairs,
> golf carts, etc) but UPSes need "shorter" bursts of lots of power.
>
> I read the spec sheets and order the heaviest batteries I can find.
> More lead means heavier batteries, and longer life.
>
> I check each battery's initial voltage.  I have a note that says I
> expect at least 12.9V, but I haven't had a chance to verify this lately.
>
> I check the spec'd net weight of the batteries with the actual weight of
> each arriving battery.
>
> Every battery I have received from the above 2 vendors has had a gross
> weight clearly above the spec'd net weight of the battery.  Yay.
>
> Every battery I have received from at least one other vendor has had a
> gross weight of at least 10% UNDER the spec'd net weight.  I have
> immediately called for an RMA of these, with varying degrees of success
> in their return.
>
> Oh, at least one vendor has offered both "regular" and "high rate"
> batteries, I ordered the more expensive "high rate" batteries, and what
> was delivered was "regular" batteries.  When I asked about this, they
> said something like "we don't get the high rate batteries anymore" and
> they had no answer for why they still showed and charged me for the
> high-rate batteries when they knew they didn't actually have them.  The
> RMA process here was ... bad.
>
> Anyway, when I have a set of replacement new batteries, I then:
>
> - put each battery on a charger for several hours
> - rotating thru the entire set at least twice
> - then I take my bench supply with a (self-made) octopus cable
>    with individually-fused "hot" wires, and starting at .1V over the
>    average voltage, start adding batteries in parallel, waiting for the
>    current draw to reduce to a trickle.  Once all of the batteries are
>    connected in parallel and drawing a trickle, I start bumping the
>    voltage by .1V until I get to either 13.5VDC (or the published
>    trickle charge voltage) and I let this sit there for a day.
>
> When all the batteries are "balanced" in the parallel string, I then
> install them into the battery tray(s) or directly into the unit.
>
> Sometimes I will take the "old" batteries and run them thru the above
> process to see if they will "recondition".  Sometimes we will use these
> for lighting or other non-UPS tasks.
>
> H
>
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