UPS PM Standards

The UPS doesnot need much maintenance but you can inspect it regularly.The battery need not to be changed unless you have a problem.The battery maintenance biannually is too long.You can do it once in three months.

Regards.

GA for correct answer.

I like to add:

If the UPS is purchased batteries installed & conditions of Warrantee agreed then Supplier & Purchaser have to accept the conditions.

In Pakistan we have provision of purchasing on our own and Warrantee of Battery manufacturer is valid, & that is its value decreases with life of battery.

Where the batteries are concerned I absolutely agree with redfred.

Batteries, Capacitors and Fans are consumables and unless the UPS is a leased unit where the supplier is responsible for the "UPS Function" or the maintenance contract is comprehensive and\or specifically covers them (this is unlikely), the cost to replace the batteries is a Cost of Ownership expense.

For the over all maintenance regime, this will depend on the business criticality of the systems supported by the UPS.

For the sites I have UPSs on, I implement the following program: -

Two (2) Online maintenance visits six (6) months apart.
These are usually December and June. This service is a visual inspection, a thermal scan and Battery check with a five (5) minute battery discharge test.
This a "General Health Check"

Two (2) Offline maintenance visits six (6) months apart.
These are usually March and September. This service is all the above, plus the unit(s) are taken offline and an impedance test done on the batteries, the inside is vacuumed and the technicians can check the capacitors and have a general look see as the unit is fully de-energized.

This is because the UPSs are supporting financial institutions or life support or preservation functions.

Ultimately the client will have to decide how important the UPS is to them and how much they are prepared to pay.

The contract will then have to be adjusted to change and they will have to pay for that privilege.

For any UPS battery I use the following rule of thumb: -

If the battery is designed to last for X year, I replace all of the batteries at 75-80% of X years.

On the second or third battery replacement, replace the UPS(s) with current technology. It has payed its way by this stage.

Regards,
Sapper.

What is the size of this system, each cell?

Large batteries are made to a standard and must be maintained and charged properly to have a warranty, and for that warranty to be valid.

Batteries are a consumable, and will have a limited warranty, however, the huge batteries to maintain large mainframes are often made with very high quality batteries(compared to car batteries) that will have some sort of warranty/rebuild procedure.

I would not normally think routine maintenance, terminal cleaning, voltage checking, would be contracted to include free batteries, after all most batteries are dead and gone in 4-5 years. There will also be the repair of the high power inverters, if they fail, again, that would not be part of routine maintenance.

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&source=hp&q=ups+%2Bbattery+%2Bwarranty&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=ups+%2Bbattery+%2Bwarranty&fp=768bb7f9acd45c0b

It is probably tight to the battery warranty. If the warranty is 24 months, you have no reason to leave old batteries. If the warranty is 36 months, you can discuss battery replacement with the owner so that you do all the rest of your PM now and in a year you will just change the batteries. If the warranty is 48 months or more, it is throwing money away to change them every two years.