Nice little surprise in UPS or Battery Backup for eWaste recyclers

Picked up some stuff from a government auction recently. 9 HP DX5150 towers. Paid $2.22 a piece. Figured that was a sweet deal. All but one was complete.

Also picked up a lot that had a HP server cabinet and an APC 3000 XL battery backup. That beast is heavy. 80 lbs in batteries all by itself.

I plan to pop the batteries out, wire jumper cables to the leads and use it in my truck. Unless there's a reason this wouldn't work?

Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

Picked up some stuff from a government auction recently. 9 HP DX5150 towers. Paid $2.22 a piece. Figured that was a sweet deal. All but one was complete.

Also picked up a lot that had a HP server cabinet and an APC 3000 XL battery backup. That beast is heavy. 80 lbs in batteries all by itself.

I plan to pop the batteries out, wire jumper cables to the leads and use it in my truck. Unless there's a reason this wouldn't work?

You can test it but I think you are going to be disapointed because it isn't going to work. While the inverters use 12v you are going to find that the batteries are in pairs wired +-+-. This doubles the voltage. Most higher voltage backups are really running on 24v which is why there is always 2 or 4 batteries. Only the very small inverters use 12v and use only 1 battery. This problem is easily fixed with a second battery. Instead of running the leads to your truck battery, you simply run the leads to a battery, then the battery to the truck battery. This actually will decrease the wear on your truck battery and is the best way to wire it even if it only needed 1 battery.

Originally Posted by Phantoms001

You can test it but I think you are going to be disapointed because it isn't going to work. While the inverters use 12v you are going to find that the batteries are in pairs wired +-+-. This doubles the voltage. Most higher voltage backups are really running on 24v which is why there is always 2 or 4 batteries. Only the very small inverters use 12v and use only 1 battery. This problem is easily fixed with a second battery. Instead of running the leads to your truck battery, you simply run the leads to a battery, then the battery to the truck battery. This actually will decrease the wear on your truck battery and is the best way to wire it even if it only needed 1 battery.

You are correct. Don't know why I didn't notice it sooner. It's wired in series, so whatever these batteries are, it's double. No useful information on the battery. Looking up the specs for this model hasn't helped either.

These batteries seem to still be good. My original thought was by doing away with them, I'd have just the inverter portion and carry between trucks as needed.

May end up leaving it alone and carry as is.

Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

You are correct. Don't know why I didn't notice it sooner. It's wired in series, so whatever these batteries are, it's double. No useful information on the battery. Looking up the specs for this model hasn't helped either.

These batteries seem to still be good. My original thought was by doing away with them, I'd have just the inverter portion and carry between trucks as needed.

May end up leaving it alone and carry as is.

You are solving your own problem. If you had good batteries why not use them??? My knee jerk reaction would be to wire the batteries (the ones you already have) to the truck battery (via a switch) and use the truck to charge the batteries directly. You could simply wire in a quick disconnect at the batteries in the backup, run the wire to a regular toggle switch, then to your truck battery.

This would allow you to connect or disconnect your backup any time you wanted (it wouldn't be permantely wired to your truck), you could turn off the connection between your car battery and the backup so it doesn't drain the battery when you aren't running the truck (toggle switch), and when the truck is running it would keep the batteries fully charged (with the alternator, just turn the switch on).

That would be the first path I would consider.

Of course you need to get it out of the heavy a** metal case.

Originally Posted by Phantoms001

You are solving your own problem. If you had good batteries why not use them??? My knee jerk reaction would be to wire the batteries (the ones you already have) to the truck battery (via a switch) and use the truck to charge the batteries directly. You could simply wire in a quick disconnect at the batteries in the backup, run the wire to a regular toggle switch, then to your truck battery.

This would allow you to connect or disconnect your backup any time you wanted (it wouldn't be permantely wired to your truck), you could turn off the connection between your car battery and the backup so it doesn't drain the battery when you aren't running the truck (toggle switch), and when the truck is running it would keep the batteries fully charged (with the alternator, just turn the switch on).

That would be the first path I would consider.

Of course you need to get it out of the heavy a** metal case.

That's another idea to consider. Reason for bypassing or at least removing the batteries is because total weight is about 125 lbs. Was trying to get the weight down to be easier to transfer between trucks. But it's not that big of a deal. I can install it semi permanently in the main truck and make do elsewhere.

Not sure I follow exactly how to do the wiring. If this setup is in fact 24 volts, would I just put a toggle between the 2 batteries so it reverts back to 12 volts when I flip the other switch to charge from the truck battery? Otherwise I'd be back feeding 24 into 12? I wish I understood electrical beyond the basics.