Uninterruptible Power Supply Units and the Importance of Battery Replacement

TUSTIN, Calif., Feb. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Franek Laboratory Protection Systems (LPS) are critical in protecting laboratory instruments from electrical problems, as they simultaneously provide clean, quality, uninterruptible power. While you notice a power outage or flicker of the lights, there is a long list of hidden problems that can affect your power such as inducted electrical noise, spikes, sags, surges, harmonics, brown outs and weather related problems. Failure to protect your instrument can cause performance issues and damage.

As the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) units' size and power increase, the number of batteries in each unit increases.The battery runtime is a function of the electrical load and original design criteria in the UPS unit. Many functions of the instrument have high instant power demand like a laser when it fires. This demand is too fast to come from electricity at the wall. Your batteries are constantly being exercised to meet these demands.  As the batteries age and lose charge capacity they have less reserve to meet these demands.

High power lead-acid batteries are commonly used for UPS applications, but they are not without limitations. These batteries wear out and the original runtime declines steadily with age. By the end of the battery life, an original runtime of ten minutes can be reduced to seconds. If batteries reach this stage a momentary power outage may cause the UPS to shut-down and go dark, and it will not respond to attempts to restart.

Another common problem with not replacing UPS batteries is the chance for corrosion. The UPS battery charger is not capable of detecting the age of the battery and as a result may think the batteries just need charging and will begin charging continuously.  This causes the batteries to over heat, swell up, and crack open seeping acid gel.

It is very important to plan for battery replacement on a calendar schedule. On smaller Franek UPS units (50-100lbs) batteries should be replaced every three years for optimum performance, or every four years as an absolute. Larger Franek UPS units (300-400lbs) should have batteries replaced every four years for optimum performance, or every 5 years as an absolute.

To request a quote for a replacement set of sealed, no maintenance batteries for your Franek LPS/UPS visit www.franek.com or call 1-800-326-6480 today.

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SOURCE Franek Laboratory Protection Systems