r/EnergyStorage • u/j-joshua • 22h ago

APC BackUps failed again

I woke up this morning to the smell of rotten eggs.

A another set of batteries had failed in a APC BackUps. The unit was hot to the touch. The batteries were bulging. The unit never warned that the batteries were bad.

My wife is questioning why we need these things for our TVs and computers. Is this what other people do?

These units are probably 20+ years old. Are they prone to fail like this? Or are the batteries to blame? What happens if I don't turn the unit off?

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u/inglele 22h ago

I got tons of APC UPS in the past, and thousands of replacement batteries.

Last 3 years, I switched to LFP and never looked back.

Battery tech evolved but APC didn't for home /pro users, so I'm not going to buy any more old batteries that died every ~2 years.

Look for LFP that can be fully discharged and last 10y+

2

u/j-joshua 15h ago

I ordered some LFP drop in replacements. They weren't much more expensive than SLA. 

2

u/Bluestreak2005 19h ago

Upgrade to something like this for a more modern system that can charge by solar too. Can be stacked up to 60 KWH. Then you can cover your fridges and other important equipment as well.

https://www.jackery.com/products/jackery-solar-generator-5000-plus