Are CyberPower Products Terrible or Just The Batteries That Come in Them?

CtrlAltSpoods on 18/03/2024 - 14:10

I have a CyberPower 600VA UPS and it has died within 12 months.

I use it as a backup for my NBN NTD which has the smallest power draw. (~8W I believe) However, I was woken up the other night to the thing screaming from my garage with a constant alarm, not like the regular beeping, but the buzzer was a constant blaring sound with no intermittence.

Unplugged it and plugged back in, same thing.

Before I go out and try buying a new battery, has anyone had any experience with these? Are they just terrible products as a whole, or is it just the batteries they ship with?

If it's the latter does anyone have any recommendations on a good replacement?

I haven't had a single issue with my 2 x Powershield Defender 1200's for my server and Router/Switch/Cameras…

Cheers,
Spoods

Electrical & Electronics CyberPower Uninterruptible Power Supply

Comments

  • bdl on 18/03/2024 - 14:23

    Have had no problem with mine, just as good as the Eaton ones I usually get.

    You don't know how long the unit you have has been in storage so it may have had a dud battery when you purchased it, try a new one and see how you go. I usually get CSB batteries from eBay.

    If you wanted to test whether your UPS is fried, swap one of your batteries from your Powershield to test

    • CtrlAltSpoods on 18/03/2024 - 14:42

      I've just discovered that since this happened last weekend, the thing no longer powers on at all, even when plugged in to outlet.

      It was still beeping when I originally discovered it, and did after re-plugging it too. Gut feeling is telling me the whole thing is dead.

      • bdl on 18/03/2024 - 19:41

        What does it do when battery completely disconnected (but plugged into mains)? I would defo try using one of your existing batteries to test to see if the UPS powers up.

        From memory when my Cyberpower BR700ELCD had a dying batteries it beeped continually (and power cycled, I think (?)) - but after a battery swap it's been fine. The only issue I had with this low end model vs Eatons is that nut didn't like it much, but that was due to an older version of nut being installed on dietpi. Since switching to up to date Debian (and the latest nut version), it's been fine.

  • JimmyF on 18/03/2024 - 14:23

    I use it as a backup for my NBN NTD

    If this is all you are using it for, then look into a DC UPS setup instead. It is what the old FTTP gear used to come with.

    Far better run time, as it is all saying DC, rather than doing DC to AC back to DC again.

    • CtrlAltSpoods on 18/03/2024 - 15:37

      I never thought about this, do you know if it is still possible for NBN to supply backup batteries? I am seeing no option to purchase one on their website and the connector on the NTD is not a usual circular plug.

    • CtrlAltSpoods on 18/03/2024 - 15:01
      +1

      I've submitted one now, hopefully they honour it. I didn't think they would if it happened to be a battery issue.

      • Sleeqb7 on 19/03/2024 - 09:43

        Their product is 90% battery, typically the warranty is to cover battery failures more often than the rest of the hardware.

  • c64 on 18/03/2024 - 14:39

    does the thing cycle the battery a lot?

    • CtrlAltSpoods on 18/03/2024 - 14:43

      No, I think throughout it's life we saw maybe 2 outages, one was a brown-out and the other might've lasted 2 hours or so, battery has never been fully depleted.

      • c64 on 18/03/2024 - 18:34

        it might also be power overload?

        i bought no-name batteries from ebay a couple of years ago for my UPSs, had several outages and they're still going fine

        • CtrlAltSpoods on 19/03/2024 - 14:44

          I contacted CyberPower after a recommendation and they ran me through their troubleshooting, after a few different things tried they've determined the whole unit is faulty and are going to arrange me a new one and for this one to be picked up.

          Fingers crossed the new one will not have the same issue. It shouldn't have been power overload it only had the NTD running from it, which is barely any load at all.

  • Cluster on 18/03/2024 - 16:55

    I've found CyberPower products last for a few years before the battery is too weak for the UPS to be useful. One year is too short, but if you're using one after 3 years I would be testing it to make sure it still works as required.

  • ValueBob on 18/03/2024 - 17:12

    From experience, if the UPS "screams" like panic crazy = dead UPS.
    It is not a bad or weak battery (usually a graceful beep).

    • kraigg on 19/03/2024 - 11:08

      My CyberPower BR850 was making fast beeping sounds last year, like a quick panicky beeps. The battery had swollen up and warped the unit. Even with a new battery replacement, it was still beeping. It was time to recycle it. It served me well for close to 7 years.

  • Switchblade88 on 18/03/2024 - 19:44
    +1

    I've found Eatons to be slightly more reliable than CyberPower, but they are a bit more expensive. I think the CyberPower ones don't regulate the float voltage as well and thus the slightly higher (?) voltage is what kills the lead-acid batteries a bit quicker - but batteries will die in both eventually.

    7-9Ah SLA batteries are cheap so it doesn't really matter, treat them as a consumable item to be changed every couple of years regardless.

    • skillet on 19/03/2024 - 13:31

      It's 2024 now lead acid batteries has been around for more than a century. All the magic recipe for charging and maintain charge has been discovered. It's a sin not to implement a proper float charge. Millions of cars can do it why not a UPS.

      I suspect you have a battery defect or the UPS charging defect. Normally these SLA will last at least 3 years in a warm environment doing it's standby job.

      • Switchblade88 on 19/03/2024 - 15:37

        It's a sin not to implement a proper float charge
        Millions of cars can do it why not a UPS

        Cars use an alternator, deliberately designed with an upper voltage limit. Every car I've owned needed a battery replaced within 3 years anyway, since they are a consumable regardless.

        This is how cutting corners works: It's cheaper to rig the transformer secondary straight to the battery via a diode and skip any proper voltage control, and that inevitably means that a higher AC feed has a resulting higher float voltage - which kills the battery.

  • Look Up on 18/03/2024 - 20:19
    -4

    Are CyberPower Products Terrible or Just The Batteries That Come in Them?

    Both

    "Value conscious" OzBer's don't like it when the neg hammer appears:

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/14876142/redir
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/13785027/redir

    Like power supplies, there are no shortcuts with UPS's and they're even more sensitive considering you're using them 24/7 to protect other valuable hardware

    Take the CyberPower to the e-waste recycler and get a real UPS

    If Eaton or APC are too pricey, PowerShield are fine because at least they have a strong local engineering team

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