[CentOS] apcupsd, APC UPSs, and batteries, resolved

[John R Pierce]

m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:
> Well, here's the tale: we got a "replacement kit" for some APC SmartUPS
> 3000 - rackmount UPSs. The "kit", costing about half of what APC is
> asking, is just the batteries, and you pull the tray out, open it up, and
> swap out the batteries. Except, I did this on one... and the replace
> battery light never went out. Not using apcupsd's apctest, not pushing the
> button. The five lights on the right that show power level went down to
> about one or two, and took an hour or two to come back up. apctest just
> said replace battery was the status

most UPS's suggest a 24 hour charge before checking.

just a comment, but the *first* thing I do when I have a battery fault 
is break out my volt meter and measure the voltage of the whole string 
and the voltage of the invidivual batteries.

'12V' batteries are about 13.6V when fully charged, and if they are only 
12v, they are at least 80% discharged.    however, when they first come 
off a charger, they have a 'surface charge' a half volt or so higher, so 
you need to let them 'rest' for awhile (4 hours?) before reading hte 
voltage if you want an accurate result.     '6V' batteries, half these 
numbers.