APC Symmetra Batteries: C10 vs V66

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In each of our 2 data centers, we have Symmetra 20kVA UPS units. I've seen UPS units before but these are nothing like the black Smart-UPS units under every office worker's desk. These Symmetra units are HUGE.




As part of our annual UPS refresh, we replace UPS units that are 3 years old or older. This refresh includes a bank of the Symmetra batteries. The product for 4 of these batteries is SYBT4. We order 1x SYBT4 for each of our Symmetras annually. Our Symmetra 20k UPS units hold 16 batteries each. The batteries can come in 1 of 2 types; C10 or V66. C10 or V66 are important to note because they can’t be mixed in the same pair.


The batteries are identified as levels for the rows and letters A, B, C or D for the columns. For example, a whole level (or row) could be either C10 or V66 batteries. Even a single pair (A&B or C&D) could be either C10 or V66. However, trying to put a C10 and a V66 in the same pair (A&B or C&D) will make them fail.

Even though Google and I have no idea what the difference is between the C10 units and the V66 units, I’m fine with that. I "get it" even if I don't fully understand why. What I don’t understand is how when we ordered the 2x SYBT4, we got 7x V66 batteries and 1x C10 battery. It wasn’t until replacing them yesterday, then going back out to the unit to troubleshoot why our monitoring was reporting the batteries as bad and a call to APC support that I learned this.

UPDATE: After contacting our reseller regarding the battery issue, he confirmed with an engineer at APC that when the SYBT4 product is ordered, they're supposed to pull like batteries (aka, 4x V66 or 4x C10). We received a single C10 by mistake on APC's part. We're being shipped another V66 battery soon. I just want to make sure I'm not the only one on the internet that knows this. 

Comments

  1. Unknown12/03/2013 7:03 PM

    C10 and V66 - Different manufacturers. Sanyo vs Panasonic I believe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. intrepid35912/23/2013 11:11 AM

    The difference between the two is that one of them has 2 resistors on the internal board, and the other one has 3 resistors. From what I'm told by our service team, you can convert one ot the other.

    ReplyDelete

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