advice on power backup system

[astroboy]

I have a backup power system that failed this morning when I turned off the power to do some work on my tank and I need some advice as to what failed.

 

The system is a marine battery hooked up to a Black & Decker trickle charger and connected to a UPS. I've removed the original battery in the UPS and have soldered wires from the battery terminals to the leads inside the UPS. The system has worked fine for a few years. 

 

This morning I turned off the power to the tank and in a few seconds the UPS started beeping and I smelled ozone and the pumps hooked up to the UPS weren't turning over.

 

The voltage on the battery, when everything was disconnected, was 12.9V as opposed to the 13.2 which I believe it should be. The water in one cell was a bit low, otherwise it looked OK. I've had it for about seven years so it certainly isn't new anymore. 

 

The trickle charger was outputting about .4V DC so I'm guessing that's a paperweight now. 

 

The ozone smell was coming from the UPS, so that's history.  

 

Evidently something failed and fried the UPS and trickle charger. 

 

My questions are:

1) Could that have been the battery? I suppose it's not impossible that the charge was run down to nothing and it acted as a short in some fashion which caused the UPS and trickle charger to fail. 

 

2) Is 12.9V an indication it's time for the battery to go? If I don't have to replace the battery I'd just as soon save the money...

 

3) Any advice on a good UPS, something with a bad battery I can get for cheap on ebay?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[tygger]

Do the pumps work when plugged in normally? Is there anything else hooked up to the UPS?

 

12.9v should indicate the battery is still good, especially for running some powerheads, but reading the voltage by itself doesn't tell the whole story. You could take the battery to Advance Auto, Auto Zone, etc. for a comprehensive test. If it comes back fine, I would suspect something is wrong with your UPS.