RBC109 UPS Replacement Battery for APC By American Battery

I've bought 2 of these. The first made it 5 years, the 2nd made it less than 2 years, which is not acceptable. A UPS battery should last at least 2-3 years under normal use, especially in an environmentally controlled location. I paid a premium for this because I thought the quality would be higher and it was not.

I installed the battery pack in an APC UPS, allowed to fully charge, then ran a test by pulling the wall plug with about 25% load. It lasted about 1/3 the expected runtime. I recharged, and retested with a 33% load to recalibrate the UPS to it during drain (twice), and it lasted about 1/3 the expected runtime. Again fully charged, I removed the pack from the UPS, and tested the two batteries separately at 13.0 and 13.4 volts. Suspecting the UPS charge circuit might be going bad, I charged them each on a 12v charger to 13.4 volts, and repeated the test in the UPS and they lasted 6 minutes at 275 watt load. APC website estimates it should be 21 minutes at 275w. This is disappointing because the last battery pack in this unit was the same model from American Battery and worked great for 5 years. Amazon does not permit returns on this item, so I'm stuck with this battery. UPDATE: Contacted Seller directly, they exchanged the battery, new one holds charge longer. Adding back a star.

I have an APC BACKUPS-XS1500 LCD uninterruptable power supply that has reliably worked for me for almost 10 years and with this purchase is now on its 3rd battery. I replaced the original APC OEM battery with a Werker brand battery that worked well for 4 and a half years. Since Werker doesn’t seem to make these batteries anymore, I went for this American Battery brand. One reason, I don’t purchase APC branded batteries is because I realized when I originally took out the APC battery that APC puts their white brand name label over the actual manufacturer’s label. In essence, APC doesn’t make their own batteries and puts their name on some other brands batteries. The original APC battery I had was from a manufacturer named Vision but I have learned that APC uses a variety of other manufacturer’s batteries for their products, slap their labels on them and charges a premium. So, it is not necessary to buy an APC labeled battery for your UPS. Whether you go for this brand or another, find a name brand that you are comfortable with that fits the specifications of your battery because it will most likely be the same quality as APC’s at a better price. Just check the label under the APC battery and you can see who the true manufacturer is and the specifications of the specific battery foe your UPS. My UPS uses a dual battery setup and you can either purchase two 12 Volt batteries and put them together or get this version which has the two batteries linked together already. Price wise, this battery is about 20 bucks cheaper than the identical APC battery and reasonably priced versus buying two individual batteries and linking them. The sticker indicates that the battery is assembled in the USA, which most likely means from foreign components. There was no label under the AB label, so I can’t say that for sure but that is usually what that means. The battery is identical to my previous batteries, has the cells already properly linked together and fits into my battery backup with no issues. It was nearly already fully charged and passed a self-test through the APC software right away. This does have a good two-year warranty, which is better than most manufacturers of batteries. The one thing I wish it did have was a date of manufacture, which this battery lacks, just so I know how fresh the battery is. If I have any warranty issues, I will update my review. The manufacture will recycle the battery but it has to be shipped at your expense. Considering they are going to refurbish and resell it, that is a bit of a disappointment that they don’t have a paid return shipping label. Instead, I will recycle my old battery locally for free. I will reserve final judgement for the battery once I see the useable lifespan of the battery. Normally, these should last three to five years, so if I get that time on this battery before my UPS gives out completely, I will be satisfied. If not, I will update my review accordingly but so far this battery is working as it should. (originally 4 stars) Update May 2020: This battery made it about 2 years and 8 months. These should last in the 3 to 5 yr range, so it is a bit disappointing that it didn't even make a full 3 yrs before it failed. Therefore I am lowering my rating to 3 stars instead of my original 4. In addition, like others have pointed out, the American Battery sticker covers over the actual origin, China, and brand of battery, Voltus. I wonder is AB realizes covering the Made In China label with their sticker is illegal and deceptive. 3 stars

The batteries were shipped reasonably quickly and arrived in time. I installed them in my APC UPS and they fitted perfectly. They arrived with over 90% charge and fully charged very quickly. They are running now, passed self test of UPS and I don't expect problems. The UPS already reports much longer run time than I had with the original APC batteries. So why not 5 stars? Well, quite frankly one of the reasons I bought these batteries was because of the videos posted on the amazon site by "American Battery", claiming they are assembled in their plant in Boston. Contrary to the expectation based on the video, the batteries I got are made by a company called Voltus in China. The original maker and specs can be seen after peeling the "American Battery" sticker. So I'd qualify this as "pants on fire" false advertisement. I guess "American Battery" could claim that putting together two batteries, joining terminals with a cable, putting on a sticker, and placing them in a cardboard box is "assembling". But I could claim to be the Holy Roman Emperor myself, and that wouldn't be true either.

November 2015: The battery is a high quality replacement for the APC RBC 109 battery used in the bx1500 battery backup unit. It arrived well packaged by American Battery with absolutely no damage at all. When I plugged it in it was recognized by my APC unit which began charging it. With such a high quality replacement battery available it just doesn't make sense to overpay for an APC branded battery. I will continue to use this brand as long as my APC requires a new one. Edit: It's now January 20, 2019 and my APC unit started beeping so I took it offline because the battery icon is empty and blinking. I open up the unit and to my surprise there's buildup on the battery contacts. I disconnect the cables and pull the battery all the way out to inspect and its cracked on the side where it had swelled and burst on a corner and along one end as shown in the pictures. Fortunately Amazon has some original APCRBC109's in stock which were just ordered to replace this one. When the original battery failed all the unit did was beep without breaching the shell. I don't want battery acid in the unit like this one deposited so I won't use it again.