News Article As the winter season approaches, it's an ideal time to contemplate the maintenance of your Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and, more specifically, the replacement of UPS batteries. UPS systems are a crucial component of safeguarding your...
Case Study #123 | Crisis averted: UPS battery install Mitsubishi UPS 2033D 30kVA
Case Study
Case Study #123 | Crisis averted: UPS battery install Mitsubishi UPS 2033D 30kVA
| Product | Mitsubishi UPS 2033D 30kVA |
| Application | Manufacturing Data Center |
| Synopsis | New client hired Nationwide Power to inspect and maintain their Mitsubishi UPS 2033D-30kVA, which provides critical power for an existing data center. |
| Preliminary Actions | Upon inspection, our Critical Power Professional (CPP™) found a battery cable inside the battery cabinet, where the cable’s lug eyelet had melted due to improper torquing /fastening to the battery insert by the previous service company.
If left in its current condition, the cable could have melted during an outage causing a domino-effect including breaking the string’s integrity, dumping the load, and possible risk of fire. It could have also caused a ground fault which would have not only dumped the load, but also damaged the UPS. |
| Resolution | Our CPP™ team is equipped with some basic universal repair parts, and in this case a spare battery cable saved the day and was promptly replaced. By being prepared, our CPP™ left the battery string in a condition that no longer presented a safety threat and left the UPS in proper working condition.
Ongoing and regular UPS battery inspections are recommended by a qualified Critical Power Professional™. |
| Root Cause | The damaged battery cable appears to be the result of negligence from the previous service provider. This should have been identified and repaired in previous inspections and is a basic element of any quality maintenance inspection. |
| Additional Reading | UPS Battery Preventive Maintenance and Service |
Nationwide Power provides 24/7/365 technical support to ensure that everything operates and transitions successfully before, during, and after any power outage.
Request a quote Call | 800-868-2780 E-Mail
We are your critical power infrastructure partner!
Latest News
The Winter Advantage: Why Replacing UPS Batteries During Winter Is a Smart Move
Nationwide Power Honored as a Top Workplace for the Second Consecutive Year
News Article Corks are popping, and the excitement is overflowing at Nationwide Power as we celebrate a remarkable achievement. For the second year in a row, our organization has been named a Top Workplace, solidifying our position as a leader in creating a culture of...
Case Study #156 | Importance of Following Age Based Recommendations
Case StudyIn this Nationwide Power™ (NP™) case study, we highlight the importance of following your service provider’s age-based components. The most common age-based components are batteries (every 3-5 years), fans (every 5 years), capacitors (every 5-7 years), and...
Newsletter Signup
Solutions
Case Study #118 | Symmetra PX Good and Bad Batteries
Case Study
Case Study #118 | Symmetra PX Good and Bad Batteries
| Product | APC Symmetra PX |
| Application | Datacenter |
| Synopsis | Client found the alarms / condition of unit as: UPS in bypass. |
| Preliminary Actions | Upon arrival, found UPS in Bypass Mode. |
| Resolution | Recommending replacement of all batteries in order to provide proper ride-through on battery during transfer from Utility to Generator power. |
| Root Cause | The mixing and matching of old batteries with new batteries, leaving weak batteries within the system, degrading both the system’s ability for proper transfer from one source to another, and the performance of the newer batteries. Varying resistance values between ‘good’ batteries and ‘bad’ batteries are detrimental to the overall performance of the UPS’ battery strings(s). Due to this inherent charging and discharging change in characteristics, as batteries near their end of life (typically 4-5 years for an average VRLA battery), it is always preferred to replace batteries by entire strings at a time as opposed to as they fail one at a time. More so, if only replacing batteries as they fail, more often than not this will not be made apparent until the batteries are called upon…resulting in possible loss of load during needed transfers and/or outage support. |
Nationwide Power provides 24/7/365 technical support to ensure that everything operates and transitions successfully before, during, and after any power outage.
Request a quote Call | 800-868-2780 E-Mail
We are your critical power infrastructure partner!
Latest News
The Winter Advantage: Why Replacing UPS Batteries During Winter Is a Smart Move
News Article As the winter season approaches, it's an ideal time to contemplate the maintenance of your Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and, more specifically, the replacement of UPS batteries. UPS systems are a crucial component of safeguarding your...
Nationwide Power Honored as a Top Workplace for the Second Consecutive Year
News Article Corks are popping, and the excitement is overflowing at Nationwide Power as we celebrate a remarkable achievement. For the second year in a row, our organization has been named a Top Workplace, solidifying our position as a leader in creating a culture of...
Case Study #156 | Importance of Following Age Based Recommendations
Case StudyIn this Nationwide Power™ (NP™) case study, we highlight the importance of following your service provider’s age-based components. The most common age-based components are batteries (every 3-5 years), fans (every 5 years), capacitors (every 5-7 years), and...
Newsletter Signup
Solutions
Case Study #108 | “Maintenance-Free” Batteries
Case Study
Case Study #108 | “Maintenance-Free” Batteries
| Product | “Maintenance-Free” VRLA Batteries |
| Application | Business Electrical Room |
| Synopsis | Customer had called for a trouble-shoot and possible shut-down of the UPS |
| Preliminary Actions | The Nationwide Power engineer was on-site to trouble-shoot a UPS unit that was in alarm, and to remove leaking/cracked batteries. |
| Resolution | The UPS was being used to power emergency lighting for 3 buildings and had been running in alarm with batteries shorting to ground for a long time. Upon arrival, the engineer found the UPS with an active rectifier alarm and concluded that the UPS needed new AC and DC capacitors, new fans, and a full battery replacement. The DC link would not return to nominal voltage with batteries being disconnected and the logic was showing other rectifier alarms, signifying potential rectifier issues or logic problems. There were also multiple battery contactor alarms active. The UPS was put into internal maintenance bypass with logic turned off until it can be replaced or repaired. The system may need to be completely replaced. |
| Root Cause | “Maintenance-Free” does not mean that the whole Uninterruptible Power Supply does not need to be maintained. To have maintenance-free batteries simply means that you do not have to add water (as with flooded cell batteries). Some might contend that you do not have to re-torque connections either, however most VRLA battery manufacturer maintenance instructions state they should be re-torqued annually. Regular inspections where voltages and ohmic readings are taken would have electrically identified the battery as trending bad prior to the battery visually indicating the swelling, cracking, and leakage. |
Nationwide Power provides 24/7/365 technical support to ensure that everything operates and transitions successfully before, during, and after any power outage.
Request a quote Call | 800-868-2780 E-Mail
We are your critical power infrastructure partner!
Latest News
The Winter Advantage: Why Replacing UPS Batteries During Winter Is a Smart Move
News Article As the winter season approaches, it's an ideal time to contemplate the maintenance of your Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and, more specifically, the replacement of UPS batteries. UPS systems are a crucial component of safeguarding your...
Nationwide Power Honored as a Top Workplace for the Second Consecutive Year
News Article Corks are popping, and the excitement is overflowing at Nationwide Power as we celebrate a remarkable achievement. For the second year in a row, our organization has been named a Top Workplace, solidifying our position as a leader in creating a culture of...
Case Study #156 | Importance of Following Age Based Recommendations
Case StudyIn this Nationwide Power™ (NP™) case study, we highlight the importance of following your service provider’s age-based components. The most common age-based components are batteries (every 3-5 years), fans (every 5 years), capacitors (every 5-7 years), and...
Newsletter Signup
Solutions
Case Study #106 | Thermal Runaway
Case Study
Case Study #106 | Thermal Runaway
| Product | VRLA Batteries |
| Application | Medical Facility Data Center |
| Synopsis | Some maintenance-free, rechargeable sealed Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) UPS batteries can experience Thermal Runaway conditions. Higher ambient temperatures, high charge/re-charge current, age, overuse, shorted (bad) internal cells, loose connections and poor design can be factors. Thermal condition of a battery is also dependent on its environment. If the battery’s temperature is higher than the ambient temperature, it will normally lose heat through conduction, convection and radiation. However, if the ambient temperature is higher, the battery will gain heat from its surroundings causing the thermal management system to work harder to keep the resulting heat under control. A single cell may work very well at room temperature on its own, but when it is surrounded by other batteries or modules generating heat, this will cause the temperature to rise, which will lead to thermal runaway and possible a very destructive situation: |
| Resolution | Replace the batteries and have regular preventive maintenance performed by a reputable UPS maintenance company. |
| Root Cause | This was an older UPS that did not have regular preventive maintenance performed. Proper cooling, airflow, and maintenance will reduce exposure of thermal runaway conditions. |
Nationwide Power provides 24/7/365 technical support to ensure that everything operates and transitions successfully before, during, and after any power outage.
Request a quote Call | 800-868-2780 E-Mail
We are your critical power infrastructure partner!
Latest News
The Winter Advantage: Why Replacing UPS Batteries During Winter Is a Smart Move
News Article As the winter season approaches, it's an ideal time to contemplate the maintenance of your Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and, more specifically, the replacement of UPS batteries. UPS systems are a crucial component of safeguarding your...
Nationwide Power Honored as a Top Workplace for the Second Consecutive Year
News Article Corks are popping, and the excitement is overflowing at Nationwide Power as we celebrate a remarkable achievement. For the second year in a row, our organization has been named a Top Workplace, solidifying our position as a leader in creating a culture of...
Case Study #156 | Importance of Following Age Based Recommendations
Case StudyIn this Nationwide Power™ (NP™) case study, we highlight the importance of following your service provider’s age-based components. The most common age-based components are batteries (every 3-5 years), fans (every 5 years), capacitors (every 5-7 years), and...
Newsletter Signup
