UPS for unconditioned area

[Ira]

I want to put a small (650VA max) UPS in my shop. The shop is unconditioned (no heat or A/C or humidity control) and uninsulated. I live in SE Texas where temps can exceed 100*F (maybe up to 103*F for a few hours a day) for part of the day. Most of the COTS UPS's are rated at the standard 104*F max operating temperature. Low temps in the shop can approach freezing, but very seldom do so.

Anyone know what the realistic effects of high temps (near or at the operating spec max) are on these UPS's? I've read that battery life can be reduced quite a bit, but is it reduced to a few months rather than a few years? Are 30*F (or more) temperature swings in a 24-hour period a problem?

How about some creative ideas keeping the UPS cooler than the ambient temperature? I don't have a refrigerator in the shop.

Thanks,
Ira

 

[electron]

650VA shouldn't be that expensive, so I wouldn't worry too much about life of the batteries. As for cooling it, since you are in a sunny location, I would consider using solar power to power some fans and move air around.

 

[tmbrown97]

I'm in Northern California (temps up to 115) - and have offices in Arizona (even hotter)... I've put UPS's in un-conditioned space when I've had to - and even HP and Cisco switches... never noticed any failure premature enough to notice. It's not ideal and the effects are proven - but not worth losing sleep over.

Dan had a great idea with using solar to stir up some air.

 

[gatchel]

As long as the temperature swings don't cause condensation I wouldn't worry about it either.

 

[Del91574]

I remember reading somewhere that SLA batteries actually become more efficient as temperature increases, to a point. I believe one of the battery manufacturers had a conversion table based on temperature vs. output for calculating standby times for an alarm system.