OK, so, I have an APC UPS Pro 1000 (aka 1kva). So, the battery has just died on it, and I am thinking I will just connect up a deep cycle marine battery. However, I am wondering a few things.
Does the onboard computer have a memory of how much voltage is in the battery, or does it actually take direct readings? So, in other words, if I hook up a battery to the UPS, will I get the full battery power, or will I be limited to the same capacity of the current battery?
Also, any recs on the casing? The one I have now won't fit a large deep cycle marine battery...
I was also considering hooking up 2 or more batteries in a parallel circuitry. Does anyone foresee any concerns with this?
Any and all tips and recs appreciated.
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Jacob - EiC & Director of Technology Mac Pro Quad 2.66 - 4GB RAM 160 GB SATA RAID 1 - 650 GB Storage Quad 19" Widescreen LCDs Accessorized to the Hilt
Registered: 06/07/04
Posts: 1266
Loc: Stoughton, WI USA
I think those suckers take readings of the voltage, though if it's higher or lower than the stock battery it may freak out and not properly condition power / recharge if there is a failure. Not really a memory issue, but how the hardware is on the board.
It's worth a shot if you have a spare laying around. Worst thing that can happen is that it fails... well that or explode. I suppose exploding would be the worst.
If it doesn't work, call a battery store and check how much a new cell at that range would cost.
As I understand it, 'smart' batteries cannot measure the charge currently contained within themselves (there is something awful about that sentence, but I think its OK).
The charge is measured as it enters and leaves the battery. When you recalibrate a battery by charging it full, discharging fully, then charging fully again this resets the 'charge-o-meter' to 100%. Thats how Apple laptop batteries work at any rate. If yours is as smart, it should be able to recalibrate itself to a new battery. I confess I don't know much about the variations of currents and voltages used to recharge batteries and their associated tolerances. I would guess that a nasty miscalculation of this is the sort of thing that could make a battery explode. 3rd party batteries with higher capacities seem to work fine with Apple PMUs, SMCs etc. As far as I know, the electronics are identical to Apple batteries but the actual cells are upgraded.
Not really sure about this, I def am not looking to have an exploding battery... I don't think thats going to be the case, but at any rate, I wanna be sure that this will work.
Anyone with any experience on this?
_________________________
"Fix it 'til it Breaks."
Jacob - EiC & Director of Technology Mac Pro Quad 2.66 - 4GB RAM 160 GB SATA RAID 1 - 650 GB Storage Quad 19" Widescreen LCDs Accessorized to the Hilt
20A is a reasonable and safe amount of power for pretty much any appliance(s) you might need. In the UK, you don't often see fuses over 13A in appliances, I think they go to 30A in domestic fuseboxes.
Registered: 11/16/07
Posts: 1816
Loc: Florida, USA
For 12volts most fuses are 7.5, 10, 20 and 30 amps. If you use something that needs a crap load of amps or wattage then 40 or 50 amp fuses are needed. For examples my carputer power supply uses a 10amp fuse and I also modded my gaming PC's power supply to use 10 amps for 12 volts and 7.5 amps for 5 volts for the DC outputs. My car amp uses a 40amp fuse for the main power but the amp has a 15 amp fuse. So if theres a power surge the 15 will blow first and if it effects my main power the 40amp will blow.
Your UPS is nothing more then a power inverter with a battery. It turns 12 volts DC into 120 volts AC. When it's plugged into the wall it's going into two way. Straight power to the device and also into a battery charger keeping the battery charged.
The UPS should have a voltage regulator so you shouldn't really even need a fuse but I would add one just for as a safety. Last thing you need is to test it or wait for a power outage and too many amps end up into the PC or even into the battery.