UPS w/ Sodium Ion Batteries

[Mynghan]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place.

I've been thinking of getting a UPS for the cameras but I'm worried with the risk of fire, mentioned in some threads here and other forums. While searching, I came across some that say sodium ion batteries are safer but I also saw some that say that it has low battery lifespan. Anyone have any advice for a safe / reliable UPS ?

Thanks!
Gilbert

 

[samplenhold]

I use APC brand. Have been for over 15 years. Never had one catch on fire.

Currently use three of these


and four smaller ones at PCs and TVs.

 

[Mynghan]

Thanks!

 

[Starglow]

I agree.....you can't go wrong with APC. My company has hundreds if not thousands of them in various models running 24/7/365 and they've never caused any fires.

 

[Ssayer]

I've got a few different brands here and have never lost/tossed one yet. I put a sticky note on each with the date of purchase or last battery replacement. Every 3 (plus procrastination) years I start runnng a drain, fill, and check for battery capacity test (most rc folks that are really into the hobby have that equipment) and when necessary, put a new battery in. If it passes, I'll put a new sticky note on it to test it in 6 months, rinse, repeat.

 

[Starglow]

I've got a few different brands here and have never lost/tossed one yet. I put a sticky note on each with the date of purchase or last battery replacement. Every 3 (plus procrastination) years I start runnng a drain, fill, and check for battery capacity test (most rc folks that are really into the hobby have that equipment) and when necessary, put a new battery in. If it passes, I'll put a new sticky note on it to test it in 6 months, rinse, repeat.

The average lifespan for batteries in the APC UPS units is 2-3 years on the smaller portable units and 3-5 years on the larger rack mount units. If your building has "dirty power" or a lot of power fluctuations then the UPS will intermittently and repeatedly switch to battery mode which will kill the battery faster, but the larger units have sensitivity level adjustments to compensate for this if necessary.

 

[TonyR]

I use APC brand. Have been for over 15 years. Never had one catch on fire.

Currently use three of these
View attachment 174406

and four smaller ones at PCs and TVs.

Same here. Nothing but APC since '92.
Tried a Cyberpower in 2010 for giggles, power surge went through it like straight wire and fried a 2 year old Sony 65" TV, 2 PC's on APC unit untouched.

I know people swear by Cyberpower, that's great and I wish you all the best, but I'll stick with APC, thank you.

 

[CanCuba]

I have a APC UPS (originally with a 850Wh battery) hooked up to a 12v 150ah gel battery array. No issues and I figure I can run just my cameras for close to 2 days. The built-in battery would have powered maybe an hour and a half. Only issue is the UPS can't charge the battery array and after a longer power outage, I have to charge the batteries with a car battery charger. Bit of a pain and I lose the protection the backup provides during that time.

There is a plan to upgrade the actual UPS to something with a 24v battery in the future and buy another battery array.

 

[actran]

@CanCuba Do you have some details to know that the gel battery will work well with the APC electronics and charging logic?

 

[samplenhold]

Only issue is the UPS can't charge the battery array and after a longer power outage, I have to charge the batteries with a car battery charger. Bit of a pain and I lose the protection the backup provides during that time.

So you remove the original battery? How is the array connected to the UPS? Can't you hook up the original battery when you are charging the array?

 

[CanCuba]

So you remove the original battery? How is the array connected to the UPS? Can't you hook up the original battery when you are charging the array?

The battery array is just hooked up to the UPS with the factory connectors. We attached connectors to the wires from the array and just plug it in.

I could put the original battery in but haven't done that yet. To be honest, I hadn't even thought of it.

 

[CanCuba]

@CanCuba Do you have some details to know that the gel battery will work well with the APC electronics and charging logic?

I would need a heavier duty UPS to charge the array. The UPS has only one board that integrates everything.

You can find small backup boards on Amazon for around $10 that allow a charger to be hooked up the but those boards aren't fast enough to be considered uninterruptable. The delay is listed at 20ms and a standard UPS is 6ms.

 

[lenz_freaker]

Same here. Nothing but APC since '92.
Tried a Cyberpower in 2010 for giggles, power surge went through it like straight wire and fried a 2 year old Sony 65" TV, 2 PC's on APC unit untouched.

I know people swear by Cyberpower, that's great and I wish you all the best, but I'll stick with APC, thank you.

This has been my experience too. I noticed more people seem to like the cyberpowers these days but man they were junk in the past. I did recently pick up a slim model i found that hides behind a wall mount tv so im giving another one a shot just because of special use case. I dont have a lot of faith .... hope im wrong

Ive never seen or heard of fire but have had to pry swollen batteries out of units when customers dont watch them or alert you on an issue and let the battery dead in the unit for who knows how long. No fun on the rack mounts.

I would suggest to stick with reputable brand or original battery replacements vs buying the cheapest "Much Fun Battery" from amazon.

 

[StevenFromTexas]

I've been using at least one UPS since November 1999. Switched from APC to Cyberpower in 2008 and currently have two CyberPower Systems PR1500LCD Smart App Sinewave UPS 1500VA/1050W units in operation. The batteries make it to three years and then go bad fast at my house no matter which brand I've used.

 

[looney2ns]

I had both Cyberpower UPS's I tried, went bad with sparks, and melted case's. One was in warranty, the other was not. Their tech support and warranty claim was worthless.
I'll stick APC thank you very much.

 

[StevenFromTexas]

This is turning into a Ford vs. Chevy debate.

 

[Mast3r0fN0n3]

I've used both extensively, for over a decade now. I no longer have cybers as all went quickly. I still have apc's from over 10 years ago. Can't explain why except similar to looney2ns above. One cyber was definitely do to a bad capacitor, and yes it burned. Wish apc didn't change the way the connection software worked but it is what it is.

 

[looney2ns]

This is turning into a Ford vs. Chevy debate.

There is no Ford vs Chevy debate. Ford won that one years ago.

 

[bp2008]

You might consider something like an EcoFlow River 2. It is about the same price as a high-end desktop UPS from APC/Cyberpower/Eaton/etc at about $200 USD, but it has way more battery capacity: 256 watt hours using Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. The trick is, it is not actually designed to be a UPS, so the transfer time is a little long at 30 milliseconds, it doesn't have very many power outlets, and the output power limit is low compared to a typical $200 UPS. But man, that much battery capacity is hard to come by and they only scale up from there as you spend more.

 

[Mynghan]

Thanks for all the recommendations !