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I have an old APC Back-UPS 200 I'm hoping to use for my PC. Connected to power it works fine. When unplugged it emits a "i'm on battery power" constantant tone. The 2 plugs on the back are not receiving any power though.

I opened it up and checked how much power was going in. About 11V for the 12V battery. The fuse was also fine when checked. There is a capacitor I can see from the side but it doesn't look bulging.

Is there anything else which might have failed that I can easily replace?

Thank you for your help.

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    The battery is almost certainly dead. They last about 3 years and almost never last over 5 years. Measuring the voltage when the battery isn't under load doesn't tell you much. Check the battery for bulging and shake it to see if it makes any noise.
    – David Schwartz
    Commented Mar 16, 2014 at 2:00
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    APC provides a free consumer version of Powerchute, which is usable to tell the battery status (though you will also need the cable to the UPS.) They design their UPS's to continue working even if the battery is totally dead, but of course, you won't get battery power at that point. See apc.com/products/family/?id=129 . If it's a decent UPS, you might want to buy a replacement battery; however, a 200 can probably be gotten new for $30 or less (and might still be inadequate for a typical desktop system today) IF you can still find one that small. Baseline today is usually 350.
    – Debra
    Commented Mar 16, 2014 at 9:12

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As David mentioned, the battery is almost certainly dead if this is an older UPS, and this is confirmed by an 11v measurement when you know the battery should be fully charged ( when it should be 13-13.8v ). More importantly, a 200 VA UPS is so weak as to be useless. Modern PCs have 350-500 watt power supplies ( more for extreme rigs ), so you need at least a 350-500 VA UPS, especially if you want to also have the monitor plugged in ( to a battery backed outlet ). I have had a 1000 VA unit ( extra capacity -> more runtime ) for 14 years and have had to replace the dual batteries every 2-3 years.

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  • Thank you for the help, I actually have another UPS but was thinking of using this one for a monitor so I have a little more time with the other UPS.
    – user308092
    Commented Mar 16, 2014 at 3:58
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The battery may not be able to output enough current to actually power anything significant. It might have had to go into shutdown immediately, which then drops the load on the battery and the voltage comes back up. So you can't even rule out the battery at this stage. You'd need either a known-good battery or a way to really test that one properly to be sure on the battery front.

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  • Thank you for the help. When I tested the plugs shouldn't I have received any voltage at all? Is there a way to test for any current?
    – user308092
    Commented Mar 16, 2014 at 3:55
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If 12v lead-acid battery is showing 11v voltage, it means it's certainly dead. Voltage is indeed a good indicator to find out whether the battery is fully charged or not, but to find out the real measurement you have to keep the battery without charging for 8 hours, otherwise the measurement isn't that accurate. So keep the battery aside for 8 hours, then take the multimeter and measure the voltage again. If it shows any value under 11v, it means you should purchase a new battery if you want to see a functioning UPS on battery mode.

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https://modernsurvivalblog.com/alternative-energy/battery-state-of-charge-chart/

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