Bruce Pleat via Nut-upsuser <nut-upsuser at alioth-lists.debian.net>
writes:
> Over time and houses, I have accumulated several UPS of different brands
> and capabilities.
> I've been trying to figure out a way to test them in a somewhat
> standardized way. (Test ~ see how long they last and how quickly the
> decline on a given load so that I can determine how the batteries will
> perform in "real life", at least relative to each other.)
> I was wondering if I missed any obvious existing references on the topic,
> and/or if anybody has any thoughts on the matter?
Your logic seems sound.
The real question is what load do you care about.
When doing this, use an outlet strip as the input and turn it off, don't
unplug it, so the UPS still has ground. Use a good one with UL etc
ratings, rated for 1500 W. It's it's a 1500VA UPS, think harder and ask
your electrician how to do this safely.
While the discharge test is running, stay in the room. Better yet, do
it outside, and also the recharge. But not if raining :-) Seriously,
think about the safety issues.
> To date, my thought was, wait for temps to stay below 30/86 (hahaha), run
> an Edison bulb off one outlet (bought a 300W for this purpose), and monitor
> via NUT.
Easy! It was 8 outside when I woke up. But indeed, depends...
> For each UPS:
> Charge fully
> Take readings (via NUT of course)
> Plug in bulb, monitor readings
"charge fully" is tricky; I'd say plug it in and leave it powered
on for
a week.
> Run to 0%
so you mean
don't configure nut to do FSD/power-off when battery becomes critical.
monitor only
check configuration of the UPS to be sure it's in "run as long as you
can" mode
just let it run until the UPS itself powers off
> Go to the next UPS
> Repeat the set
> (If >5% difference between runs on any, run a 3rd set; if 2nd and 3rd
> align, throw away data from 1st)
I suppose you can repeat but you really need to let it sit plugged in a
very long time to get recharged. I really mean a week. I'd say after
2 tests on each UPS, step back and if they aren't close, post here and
let's talk about it. This is bad for the batteries; some amount of
validation is necessary.
> Then repeat down to just 50% instead of 0%
Why? What you really care about is runtime, and '50% is just some
measure of what the UPS thinks is 50%, not truly meaning same time
before/after.
Publish graphs of %/time-remaining/voltage during each discharge. Go
nuts and make a blog post of it.
> Then test to see if the lightbulb is still consuming energy at the same
> rate.
Sure, but probably that's ok. Keep logs of output voltage too.
> Please chime in on a better (and less energy-wasting) process if you have?
No, you really have to extract energy to see if you can extract energy.
It's not really that much.
> My original planning notes:
> - UPS include 550VA to 1500VA/900W, some others; APC, CyberPower, Amazon
> basics, other brands. Record info on all...
> - Check all for any acid/leak due to age/storage. Do outside of house, just
> in case...
good!
> - test which allow muting of beeping, schedule accordingly (family, calls,
> sanity). Quick test...
> - Normalize thermals for at least 48 hours before testing
> - Test that all can be monitored in NUT; preferably all USB, all recognized
> as such in NUT UPS by USB driver, to avoid any variability in drivers or
> other. Configure/Test...
> - Use a fixed-rate load to avoid any variability; tech equipment itself
> might not be best, maybe a curling iron or iron or light bulb? Be aware of
> heat. Brightest bulb I can find is 300W, will that drain all my UPS
> sufficiently for this test? Is this a valid substitute for tech gear or is
> the consumption different enough? Research...
Get a power mere and measure your actual loads. Look at the VA reported
by NUT for your actual loads. For me, it's 61 VA and 134 VA on two
units, each rated for 660 VA. I use a 60W bulb for load testing.
If your 1500 VA unit feeds 300W, and your 550 VA unit feeds 60W,
consider having a "big UPS" and a "small UPS" test.
> - Run high-power extension cord outside, bulb should run outside. Make sure
> cord and fixture support lengthy durations at this power. Does outside
> temperature matter significantly? Research...
Bulb and outside probably not.
> - Linux or Windows NUT? Linux: N150 or Raspberry or my heavyweight Laptop?
> Local, VM, LXC, Container? Likely not relevant. Ask NUT User group...
> - Focus on 10%+ variances, not the tiny variances.
> - not scientific, just ballparking, but don't want to rely on bad
batteries.
Sure, just don't get upset at 75min runtime and then 60min as a bad
test. Could be batteries harmed by test.
As for scientific, there's nothing like figuring out what the UPS will
see when it really gets used and doing that. Then you have tested your
equipment, as opposed to varying lots of things and figuring out
patterns.
Another thing you can do is test batteries separately, but that's not
the same thing.
See the end of
https://s1.lexort.com/topics/ham-battery-howto/
for tests of new Raion 12V 9Ah batteries.