Should I check my UPS batteries?

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
I've had my Belkin UPS that came free with my wifi router for about 4 years now. I've never opened it so idk what shape the batteries are in but there's no warning lights or anything like that. Should I still take off the rear cover and look inside?
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
If it doesn't pass load tests then it's due for a replacement.
How do I load test it?

All I know is just 2 days ago we had a power outage and the UPS kept my wifi and phone lines up for about an hour until power came back on
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
There you go. UPS doesn't provide phone line voltage though unless you're using some kind of ATA VoIP adapter.
My U-Verse is a VOIP system I think. My router is the Arris NVG510 and when they put it in they replaced my phone jack on the wall with a new one that had 2 ports on it and going into my router is one wire that says data and one that says voice. When the phone rings or someone uses the phone a light blinks on the router, and once I had the router unplugged and my phones didn't have any dial tone. The router somehow controls my phones now.
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
If you hold down the test button it should run a self test, take itself off main power and put a load on the battery. If it fails that then replace it. Otherwise it's good.
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
If you hold down the test button it should run a self test, take itself off main power and put a load on the battery. If it fails that then replace it. Otherwise it's good.
What do you mean by put a load on the battery? The only cables on this UPS are the 120v plug going into it, and a little 12v barrel connector that plugs into my router. This is literally just a battery backup for my router.

Do you mean like remove the battery and put a resistor on the terminals to put a resistive load?
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
What do you mean by put a load on the battery? The only cables on this UPS are the 120v plug going into it, and a little 12v barrel connector that plugs into my router. This is literally just a battery backup for my router.

Do you mean like remove the battery and put a resistor on the terminals to put a resistive load?

No he means unplug the ups so that basically is a power outage. Make sure you have something plugged in and using power. See how long you have until power stops. Whats the model number of the ups?
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
What do you mean by put a load on the battery? The only cables on this UPS are the 120v plug going into it, and a little 12v barrel connector that plugs into my router. This is literally just a battery backup for my router.

Do you mean like remove the battery and put a resistor on the terminals to put a resistive load?
Did I say any of that? I said push the test button on the UPS. That should have it disconnect from the wall and run a test load on the battery.

Please read my posts when I tell you something.
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
Did I say any of that? I said push the test button on the UPS. That should have it disconnect from the wall and run a test load on the battery.

Please read my posts when I tell you something.
Ight, I'll do the load test thing tomorrow and see what happens. On top of that, should I take out the battery and examine it? What should I look for?
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
You don't need to take the battery out, but if you do, just look for bulging.
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
You aren't going to physically see anything wrong with it unless there's something catastrophic like leaking acid (making your runtime zero) or a bit of bulging.

The unit is rated for like 4h with 36W load. If you're only getting 1/4 of that then it's pretty far along in the life cycle for the batteries.

If an hour of UPS is all you need then I wouldn't bother replacing it until it fails farther.
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
You aren't going to physically see anything wrong with it unless there's something catastrophic like leaking acid (making your runtime zero) or a bit of bulging.

The unit is rated for like 4h with 36W load. If you're only getting 1/4 of that then it's pretty far along in the life cycle for the batteries.

If an hour of UPS is all you need then I wouldn't bother replacing it until it fails farther.
Yeah as long as it passes the load test I'll leave it be. Most power outages in my area are like 30 minutes and the longest outage ever in our 10+ years living here was like 2-1/2 hours, so it should survive an outage just fine. I was just concerned at first because this battery has aged quite a bit obviously. They carry the size battery my UPS uses down at "Horror Freight" so if I do end up replacing it it'll cost $5 lol
 
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