How to Prevent an APC MATRIX 5000 Acid Spill

A battery acid leak or spill in the data center is not a good thing. The APC Matrix 5000 SmartCell XR UPS is prone to leaks.

These units essentially use automotive type batteries in the XR enclosure that are sealed and placed on their side. If one of these batteries fails, they often overheat and will leak acid from the sealed caps. In fact, I’ve seen a few that blew the caps off and created a serious acid spill.

The best way to prevent a serious acid spill is to check these units at least once a day for excess heat. A quick check can be done by simply running your hand across the front of each unit to detect any rise in temperature. The temperature rise is quite obvious from “normal” room temperature. It is important to disconnect a battery that is overheating as soon as possible to avoid an acid spill. The bad battery LED indicator on the front of these drives is pretty much useless as they miss most battery problems so don’t trust it.

If you detect heat, do the following:

1. Unplug the input and output cables from the back of the unit to disconnect it from the main electronic unit and thus remove the load.

2. Do not open the front cover until the temperature of the unit returns to room temperature.

3. Replace all 4 batteries – Replacement Battery Kit – APC Part # RBC14 which costs about $ 500.

If one of your battery units has started to leak, follow the same procedure, except be sure to wear eye and hand protection when removing the old batteries.

If you open the front cover of a unit with a suspected bad battery, you can identify which of the four batteries is faulty by its bulging sides and / or leaking connector-side covers.

So if you spot a battery acid smell in your data center, check out those old XR battery units!