This UPS is well made and has done exactly what I wanted it to. It comes with a UPS monitoring daemon, supplied as a standard part of the UPS, which uses a USB or RS-232 connection between UPS and server to monitor the UPS performance. Power outages and UPS performance issues such as UPS battery failures are displayed on the UPS control panel and reported by the daemon adding them to the server's system logs. My UPS came with a pair of Yaesu NP7-12L batteries already installed. These are labelled as non-spillable and designed for standby use.
My original set of batteries have lasted 7.5 years. When they started to fail, warnings were logged and when they finally failed the UPS switched to mains-only operation by taking the batteries out of circuit and displaying the appropriate error code. The monitor daemon added a battery failure report to the system log. The batteries impending failure was reported as failing in time to prevent their cases from bulging or leaking, so the UPS was completely undamaged.
The only thing I'm unhappy about is the complete lack of instructions for replacing the batteries, though the error codes and messages loggged by the UPS daemon are described in the user manual: Riello is saying, in effect, "All users are stupid and will kill themselves if we let them open the UPS and swap the batteries, so we won't tell them anything about how to do it".
This is, IMNSHO, wrong. Issuing warnings is fair enough, but making it effectively impossible to replace the batteries without a visit from a service agent isn't, since its far from guaranteed that the UPS will be installed in an easily accessable office environment.
That said, the bigger Riellos have their batteries in separate modular units which can be daisy-chained to handle arbitrarily long power outages and, presumably, these ARE user-maintainable since there are only the low voltage DC batteries, some wiring and connectors in them.
You've now been warned, so if you try to do this yourself and it all goes wrong, its your fault and nobody else's.
To replace batteries in this model of UPS you must:
The case is held against the rear panel by two screws on the rear of the UPS. A correctly sized cross-point screwdriver removes them.
The sides of the case are attached to the chassis with three TORX T8 screws on each side. Once these are removed the case lifts straight off.
Once you've removed the case you'll also have to take out the alloy plate above the batteries, which holds them in place inside the case. The two batteries are connected in series. Before you take this plate out make notes that record:
None of the wires and terminals are labelled, but all are coloured appropriately. Make notes as you take the plate off: in particular, you'll find a black insulated wire connecting the two batteries in series: be sure to record which terminals it connects.
Disconnect the old batteries and remove them from the chassis.
To install new batteries, just do exactly the same as you did to remove the old ones, but this time do everything in precisely the reverse order while carefully checking that the you connected the right colour of wire to each terminal: get this wrong and, you can easily end up with a dead UPS and a big shower of sparks: the total battery voltage is only 27 volts or less, but SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) batteries can supply a lot of current and alloy plate and/or nice thick wires can get very hot very quickly if they short out a battery.
Click any picture to enlarge it.
| Front of the UPS | |
Back of the UPS showing the UPS monitor connection at top left, mains input bottom left, UPS outputs at right. The two screws securing the case are just under the monitor connection on the left and 1/3 down the right side. | |
| Battery compartment | |
Electronics compartment | |