UPS will work on power but not battery

Question

I have an old APC Back-UPS 200 I'm hoping to use for my PC. Connected to power it works fine. When unplugged it emits a "i'm on battery power" constantant tone. The 2 plugs on the back are not receiving any power though.

I opened it up and checked how much power was going in. About 11V for the 12V battery. The fuse was also fine when checked. There is a capacitor I can see from the side but it doesn't look bulging.

Is there anything else which might have failed that I can easily replace?

Thank you for your help.

Solution

As David mentioned, the battery is almost certainly dead if this is an older UPS, and this is confirmed by an 11v measurement when you know the battery should be fully charged ( when it should be 13-13.8v ). More importantly, a 200 VA UPS is so weak as to be useless. Modern PCs have 350-500 watt power supplies ( more for extreme rigs ), so you need at least a 350-500 VA UPS, especially if you want to also have the monitor plugged in ( to a battery backed outlet ). I have had a 1000 VA unit ( extra capacity -> more runtime ) for 14 years and have had to replace the dual batteries every 2-3 years.

Comments

[Debra]

APC provides a free consumer version of Powerchute, which is usable to tell the battery status (though you will also need the cable to the UPS.) They design their UPS's to continue working even if the battery is totally dead, but of course, you won't get battery power at that point. See apc.com/products/family/?id=129 . If it's a decent UPS, you might want to buy a replacement battery; however, a 200 can probably be gotten new for $30 or less (and might still be inadequate for a typical desktop system today) IF you can still find one that small. Baseline today is usually 350.

[user308092]

Thank you for the help. When I tested the plugs shouldn't I have received any voltage at all? Is there a way to test for any current?

[user308092]

Thank you for the help, I actually have another UPS but was thinking of using this one for a monitor so I have a little more time with the other UPS.