How to restore a UPS battery

How to restore a UPS battery

If your uninterruptible power supply for your computer after several years has ceased to support the load after a power outage, then most likely its battery has failed. This is the most common breakdown of uninterruptible power supplies. The repair is extremely simple: replace the battery and forget about the problem for a few more years.
These types of batteries are not cheap. I suggest trying to restore the battery in a very simple way.

Theory


Why does the battery lose capacity and not hold a charge? One of the reasons for the failure of batteries of this type is the drying out of the cans. Therefore, we will just need to add a little distilled water to each compartment.

Battery recovery


I don’t want to give you false hope, but the method is not one hundred percent effective, since perhaps the battery has lost capacity not due to drying out. Although any recovery is not 100% guaranteed. Therefore, we will only give the battery a chance, which is definitely worth using, since it will not require significant effort from you, and if the restoration brings results, it will save you good money.

Diagnostics


We disassemble the uninterruptible power supply and remove the battery from it. We measure the voltage with a multimeter. If it is below 10 V, then the chances of restoring the battery are negligible, but they still exist.
For a dry battery, the voltage usually fluctuates around 13 V, and when a load is connected, it drops almost immediately.
In my case, everything is bad - 8 V ​​in total.
How to restore a UPS battery

Recovery process


These batteries are non-removable and are not intended for maintenance. Therefore, the compartments of the cans are sealed with a plastic lining, which must be pryed off with a sharp knife.
How to restore a UPS battery

With a little skill, if you walk the tip around the perimeter, the plate will come off.
How to restore a UPS battery

Underneath you can see six rubber caps for each compartment. These are kind of valves.
How to restore a UPS battery

They are simply removed by hand. We remove them all and put them aside.
How to restore a UPS battery

Next we need to find approximately 200 ml. distilled water. You can buy it at an auto store or very easily get it at home without special equipment - how to do it, read this article.
You will also need a syringe for 20 cc. And if there is no such thing, take any that is available.
Now everything is simple: add 15-20 ml to each compartment. distilled water. It’s difficult to say the exact amount, so we pour it into the compartment and look with a flashlight so that it’s almost to the top.
How to restore a UPS battery

We go around all the banks.
How to restore a UPS battery

If you wait a little, the water level will gradually decrease as the water is absorbed into the filler, which is located between the lead electrodes.
How to restore a UPS battery

Close the holes with rubber plugs. We connect the charger and try to charge it. Of course, the battery can be immediately installed in the UPS, but who will know whether it will be charged there or not.
How to restore a UPS battery

After an hour, turn it off and check the voltage. It has grown to almost 11 V. This means the battery is being restored.
How to restore a UPS battery

We place the torn plastic cover on glue applied to the same places where the factory one was previously.
How to restore a UPS battery

The battery is assembled.
How to restore a UPS battery

We continue charging for another 3 hours. And a second measurement shows that the battery is charging.
How to restore a UPS battery

This battery was about 5 years old. Of course, it didn’t immediately stop holding a charge, but sagged gradually. Now it has been brought back to life and has 80% of its original capacity. I think it will last a couple more years without problems, but who knows...
Here is the simplest method that will help bring an old battery back to life. Try it yourself, and you will always have time to throw out the battery.

Watch the video


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Comments (13)
  1. Sergey K
    #1 Sergey K Visitors 6 July 2018 18:03
    2
    In other sources I have seen advice to fill in electrolyte...
    People have not come to a consensus which is better - water or electrolyte
    1. Guest Alex
      #2 Guest Alex Guests 6 July 2018 20:42
      4
      just not an electrolyte
    2. Tikhon
      #3 Tikhon Guests 6 July 2018 21:40
      6
      The point is this. When the electrolyte dries, it expels water vapor, and acid crystals remain on the walls of the cans and on the battery plates.By adding distilled water, we thereby dissolve the acid crystals and obtain an electrolyte. What is true is that the author was in a hurry to seal the battery without checking the density of the electrolyte, which is not gutt. And it’s better, in my opinion, to make the battery serviceable after that, and remove the wires from the uninterruptible power supply and connect it to a separate battery. I understand that it’s not beautiful and all that, but the taste and color, as they say, are all different.
    3. Guest Vlad
      #4 Guest Vlad Guests 6 July 2018 22:35
      0
      I think that the electrolyte would be more correct since this is an AGM battery and not an acid one
    4. Guest Alexander
      #5 Guest Alexander Guests 18 July 2018 15:13
      5
      If you want, fill in the electrolyte, but the next step will be to deliver the battery to a landfill. Every instruction says to add water.
    5. Guest Grandfather
      #6 Guest Grandfather Guests April 1, 2019 10:55
      3
      There’s no need to add anything there anymore; these batteries are heading straight for scrap.
  2. Anamaria
    #7 Anamaria Guests 6 July 2018 20:15
    3
    This is a regular acid battery with glass wool inside. What electrolyte?!! Only water. And make sure that the positive plates do not collapse. This is clearly visible.
  3. Guest Alex
    #8 Guest Alex Guests 6 July 2018 20:40
    1
    Fill with electrolyte the consequences of intense destruction of the plates and failure of the battery
  4. Oleg-sg
    #9 Oleg-sg Guests July 8, 2018 01:40
    2
    It is safer to connect any car battery with wires. You will always find these 7-10 A*hours in them
  5. Guest Igor
    #10 Guest Igor Guests July 29, 2018 11:58
    1
    It's good to be smart. And I threw out my UPS when it stopped supporting the life of the computer when the power was turned off.
    But it didn’t last for me at all, not even for one second. Apparently everything was very bad there.
  6. Igor Gromyko
    #11 Igor Gromyko Guests August 2, 2018 09:34
    5
    After pouring water, we charge the electrolytic capacitor to about 100 and discharge it, observing the polarity (!) of the battery. Lightly shake the battery three or four times and then charge it according to the method of the author of the article.
  7. Promo
    #12 Promo Guests 12 September 2018 15:41
    5
    All this is nonsense! Tried it on many batteries. The result is the same - in the trash! The electrolyte in the battery is not liquid, but a gel (paste-like), so the battery can be placed in any position. And it dies not from the lack of electrolyte, as amateurs believe, but from the scattering of the plates. I checked it personally!
  8. Guest Yuri
    #13 Guest Yuri Guests March 30, 2019 03:40
    3
    Sometimes a new battery sits discharged for more than a month and does not take a charge, take a 300-watt light bulb and a diode, connect it all in series and plug it into the network, you can measure the voltage on the battery, if it wakes up somewhere around 90-100V, then most likely the battery will be restored, if 120- 130v then most likely the khan, after connecting to the network through a diode and a light bulb for 30-60 minutes, the voltage on the battery will drop to 11v, but then the charge will begin, why does this happen, and fig knows him, but in this way he restored a shitload of Akums when he worked as a cash register repairman