That's what I have been advocating, haven't I?
You missed my other steps, which actually save the battery. You will save electricity no doubt, but sacrifice your battery instead.
Nope. It was on the day of a real power outage.
We seem to have different opinion on this matter. Even the APC guy, who replaced my UPS in its first month, told me to cycle (charged > fully drain > recharge) at least once in a month to keep batteries healthy.
Opinions don't matter, only facts do. You can't use a PC UPS to "continue working"; you use it to save your work and shutdown safely
ASAP.
Lead acid battery chemistry is well documented for you to peruse, but here's a quick summary:
Lead Acid:
Pros:
- Cheap
- High current output: can push 30+ amps @ 24V easily to produce 500W @ 240V at 80% efficiency
- Mature tech: even a knock off will perform well
Cons:
- Low cyclic life: <=500 cycles @ 50% depth of discharge
- Can't fast charge. Reduces battery life
- Can't overcharge. Reduces battery life
- Battery is permanently damaged iffully drained and not recharged immediately
Lithium ion:
Pros:
- Higher cyclic life 1000+ even at 100% DoD
- Can be fast charged
Cons:
- More expensive
- Li-ion is a fire hazard when exposed to heat. Li-Fe is more stable, but even more expensive
- Lower current output. Can't push 30+ amps @ 24V easily to produce 500W @ 240V at 80% efficiency
So you see, there's no cheaper alternative to Lead acid currently.
If effeciency is all that you care about, a laptop is what you need - their CPUs are more efficient and they don't need a UPS. Win-win.
Until LiFe batteries become more affordable, we won't get an upgrade. We are simply limited by the technology of our time.
Edit: Forgot to mention I killed my UPS batteries a while ago by using PC until the UPS cut off. I really needed to use the PC, and knew what it would cost. They were 2+ years at that point, and wouldn't recharge even with a standalone charger