UPS Battery Replacement - Minuteman Pro700LCD

Replacing the battery on a Minuteman Pro700LCD

While the user manual covers this they leave out some important information. Old batteries tend to swell up when they go bad. Often they're swollen to the point where the UPS needs to be disassembled in order to get the old batteries out.

DISCLAIMER
Disassembling the UPS, as shown here, will void your warranty. This information is provided as-is. If you decide to follow any of these procedures, you agree to accept all responsability. Components, like capacitors, can contain high voltage, even after the power is disconnected.

1) Turn the unit off. You can do this by holding down the power button till the UPS shuts itself down.

2) Unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

3) Unplug all of the cords from the back of the UPS.

4) Flip the UPS unside down. Remove the two screws from the front panel. Slide the panel up, then pull outward to remove the panel.

5) Remove the two screws from the metal bracket. Slide the bracket up, then remove the bracket.

[Removing screws from front metal bracket]

6) Disconnect the negative power cable on the left, and the positive power cable on the right.

7) Slide the battery out, if you can. If the battery comes out, you can skip to step 16. On mine, the battery wouldn't budge, so I ended up having to disassemble the UPS in order to get it out.

8) Optional: The front panel cable can be disconnected, if you're willing to take the risk. It's kind of hard to see with the battery in the way. This picture was taken after the battery was removed. They used a drop of glue on the left and right sides of the connector. You can try cutting through the glue with an x-acto knife. When I took mine apart I used a pliers on the connector and forced it apart. I was lucky I didn't break the connector in the process.

9) Remove the screw from the front bottom of the case. (This picture was taken after the battery was removed.)

10) Remove the four screws from the back of the case, then remove the back cover.

11) Slide the case apart, then seperate the two halves.

12) Remove the battery. Below is a picture of what the inside of the UPS looks like.

13) Put the right cover back on. Lock it in place by sliding it to the left.

14) Put the back cover back on, using the 4 screws that you removed earlier.

15) Reinstall the screw in the front bottom of the case. (the one you removed in step 9)

16) Purchase a new battery pack. Minuteman sells them here, but they're kind of expensive. I chose to make my own. These 7 amp hour sealed batteries are fairly common. I've seen them at a number of sporting goods stores. I purchased mine from Mills Fleet Farm. They were located over by the fish finders. Normally they're $20 each, but I found them on sale for $15. The picture below shows the old battery pack on the left and the new batteries on the right. They're the same size. The biggest difference is in the battery terminals. The old batteries used F2 (1/4") terminals. The new batteries use F1 terminals, which are slightly narrower.

17) Assemble the battery pack. Use double-sided foam tape to hold the batteries together (I used Scotch "Permenant Mounting Tape"), then transfer the old jumper wire to the new batteries. When I first attached jumper wire, the connectors were loose. I used a needle-nose pliers to bend the connectors, on the jumper wire, just enough so that they fit tight.

18) Install the new battery pack, then hook up the positive and negative wires. Re-attach the cable for the front panel, if you removed it earlier.

19) Attach the metal bracket, using the screws that you removed back in step 5.

20) Place the front cover on the UPS, then slide it up to lock it in place.

21) Flip the UPS upside down. Re-attach the two screws that you removed back in step 4.

Last Update: 2-20-2017