Your Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) devices are at the core of all your safety-critical and mission-critical command, control, cyber, computation, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications systems. During power outages, your UPS will provide near-instantaneous protection from input power interruptions to maintain operations long enough for primary utility power to return, for emergency generators to kick on, or for the system to be closed down in a controlled manner, thereby preserving data and protecting devices.
At the heart of every UPS is its battery. This is the most vulnerable element, accounting for over 50% of all UPS failures. The two most common UPS battery chemistries are valve-regulated lead acid (VRLA) and lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4). While lead acid batteries have historically been the battery of choice for UPS applications, the newer lithium iron phosphate batteries offer twice the power density and five times the cycle life. Also, they are about a third of the weight of lead-acid batteries, which helps lower your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
The expected lifetime of your UPS batteries can depend on many factors, including the following:
• Battery chemistry (lead acid or lithium iron phosphate).
• For batteries in active UPS systems: Environmental conditions (altitude, temperature, humidity…), and the number of discharge/charge cycles.
• For batteries in storage: Environmental conditions (altitude, temperature, humidity…), and have the batteries been maintained at the correct charge level (which varies by chemistry)?
Maintaining batteries correctly increases battery lifetime, UPS reliability and reduces the chance of unplanned downtimes that can translate into millions of dollars of lost revenue. However, even when well maintained, batteries inevitably experience a decrease in capacity from the day they are manufactured. This loss of capacity affects both batteries in active UPS systems, which are affected by factors like discharge-charge cycles, and batteries in storage, which are subject to self-discharge. Also, all batteries will lose capacity with age and exposure to hostile environments.
To address these issues, IntelliPower offers an innovative, cost-saving program in which we offer replacement batteries at a significant discount.
This program has multiple facets depending on each customer’s unique requirements. Customers holding a reserve of batteries in storage can send external battery modules (in which the battery packs are presented in their own chassis) or hot-swappable drawers to IntelliPower. Technicians at IntelliPower will swap out the batteries, rework the wiring, and exhaustively test the assembly before returning it “as new” to the customer.
How the Program Works
All you have to do is complete the online inquiry form below. One of our representatives will contact you to discuss your situation and determine the appropriate course of action, which may involve you sending your existing batteries to us for refurbishment and replacement or us sending battery replacement kits to you.
The result is ongoing UPS reliability and no costly consequences associated with unplanned downtimes.
