APC UPS goes straight to battery.

[hititnquitit]

I've got a roughly 17yo APC Back-UPS RS 1500VA that out of the blue started beeping with nothing connected to it but a strip of led lights and a couple of chargers for a flashlight and some tools. None of which were being used. I turned it off then back on hoping it would start charging the battery but no love. It went straight to battery and stayed there until the battery was virtually dead, beeping away. So I grabbed my laptop and plugged it in to see what was going on but it wont even allow me to run a self test. Now if I turn it off, the battery will charge back up normally but as soon as I turn the unit back on it goes right back to battery( even with nothing plugged into it). The only thing I could think of was that maybe a relay has gone bad but I'm grasping at straws tbh. Prior to this I replaced the batteries about a year ago and it's been running fine. Anyone have an idea what may be wrong with my old gray mare?

 

[Zepher]

I have an RS-1200 that does the same thing.
APC software reports that the input voltage is like 90 volts so it goes straight to the batteries.
I bought new batteries and it does the same thing so I retired it and bought a used Cyberpower 1500 so I could use the new batteries in something.

I am guessing a component failed on the regulator or something.

Do you have the APC software on a PC so that you can see if your input voltage is also showing 90volts or so?

 

[hititnquitit]

I have an RS-1200 that does the same thing.
APC software reports that the input voltage is like 90 volts so it goes straight to the batteries.
I bought new batteries and it does the same thing so I retired it and bought a used Cyberpower 1500 so I could use the new batteries in something.

I am guessing a component failed on the regulator or something.

Do you have the APC software on a PC so that you can see if your input voltage is also showing 90volts or so?

It said it was 108 if I remember correctly. So it sounds like the same problem you had. I thought maybe the outlet was the cause so i tried a couple others with the same result. Damn, I just checked and all of the units that use the same batteries are discontinued, no surprise there.
I'd like to try and get it repaired but I have no idea what kind of company could fix it.

 

[Zepher]

It said it was 108 if I remember correctly. So it sounds like the same problem you had. I thought maybe the outlet was the cause so i tried a couple others with the same result. Damn, I just checked and all of the units that use the same batteries are discontinued, no surprise there.
I'd like to try and get it repaired but I have no idea what kind of company could fix it.

Not really sure it's worth paying to fix it, probably better to put the money towards a newer one.

 

[hititnquitit]

Not really sure it's worth paying to fix it, probably better to put the money towards a newer one.

Yeah you're probably right. Normally I would try to fix it myself but the two things I won't monkey with are ups and psus.
I didn't need anywhere near near a 1500va 900w unit, maybe half that for my bench. So downgrading will be pretty cheap. Its just a shame letting the batteries go to waste. They are only about a year old. I'll hang onto them incase I get ambitious and figure out a way to make them secondaries or something.
Thanks for the help!

 

[Zepher]

Yeah you're probably right. Normally I would try to fix it myself but the two things I won't monkey with are ups and psus.
I didn't need anywhere near near a 1500va 900w unit, maybe half that for my bench. So downgrading will be pretty cheap. Its just a shame letting the batteries go to waste. They are only about a year old. I'll hang onto them incase I get ambitious and figure out a way to make them secondaries or something.
Thanks for the help!

save the batteries and buy a UPS that uses the same ones and use them as spares, or look for a used UPS locally with worn out batteries and use the ones you have.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

If the UPS is reading low AC voltage, I'd suspect bad switching relays for the mains power. The contacts in the relay(s) are probably pitted or burnt, causing excessive voltage drop.

It wouldn't be hard to change the relays, but it would be hard to disassemble the unit to get to them.

 

[DanNeely]

save the batteries and buy a UPS that uses the same ones and use them as spares, or look for a used UPS locally with worn out batteries and use the ones you have.

APC's big consumer UPSes just use 2 of the same battery as the smaller ones; you can split the two apart and have 2 spares for a smaller one.

 

[bigdogchris]

Just wanted to get an opinion on a similar issue. I have a APC ES 350 that's probably 15 years old. It's indicating the battery has failed even though the battery is only around 9 months old. I put a multimeter on the battery leads and turned on the unit. The voltage never drops below 11.8 during the power on test but still starts beeping. Considering the age of the battery and that the load test shows it's still good, but beeps anyways, would you agree the UPS is bad or is my testing methodology flawed?

 

[g0dM@n]

I have a 15 or so year old APC 1500 that's now saying it's running on battery when I haven't lost power. Software says 94volts. Damn. I guess this thing finally died on me (not battery, the UPS itself).

 

[Zepher]

I have a 15 or so year old APC 1500 that's now saying it's running on battery when I haven't lost power. Software says 94volts. Damn. I guess this thing finally died on me (not battery, the UPS itself).

My old APC 1200 did the same thing, I think it even showed the same voltage as yours. Mine doesn't have a screen on it so you need the software to see the stats.

 

[Starfalcon]

I had an old APC 1200 I got in 2000 die a couple years ago, I had replaced the batteries a few times in it. But suddenly the relay in it kept switching between battery and live without stopping. It even kept doing it after disconnecting the battery, so it ended up getting replaced with a new unit. I got almost 20 years or so out of it so I couldnt complain.

 

[g0dM@n]

LOL look at you guys jumping into the fun so fast.
Yeah, this is an APC Back-UPS XS 1500, I'd say something like 17 years old if I had to guess. I'm like, "Damn it!" She asks what... I said, "A new, decent one is gonna run roughly $200." She's tells me it's OK I got my money's worth for the amount of time I had it. She's right.

I'd change the batteries every 3-5 years in it. Think I put in new ones earlier in the year, but I may be able to pull them and put them into other UPSs. I have so many around the house.

Definitely gonna go with pure sinewave replacement. Even a 1350 would be fine. I may just wait for a sale. This UPS was for my main/office/gaming desktop. My servers and other equipment are on a separate one, so it's not urgent to replace this guy.

Zepher, yes no LCD screen on mine, but software was showing 94-95v. I even changed the settings to least sensitive and to allow voltage as low as 94v (the settings allows you to adjust). Didn't help to get it going. I was just trying to get a few more days/weeks out of the UPS until I got a replacement. No go. So I'm using a powerstrip for now to hold me over.

 

[Zepher]

LOL look at you guys jumping into the fun so fast.
Yeah, this is an APC Back-UPS XS 1500, I'd say something like 17 years old if I had to guess. I'm like, "Damn it!" She asks what... I said, "A new, decent one is gonna run roughly $200." She's tells me it's OK I got my money's worth for the amount of time I had it. She's right.

I'd change the batteries every 3-5 years in it. Think I put in new ones earlier in the year, but I may be able to pull them and put them into other UPSs. I have so many around the house.

Definitely gonna go with pure sinewave replacement. Even a 1350 would be fine. I may just wait for a sale. This UPS was for my main/office/gaming desktop. My servers and other equipment are on a separate one, so it's not urgent to replace this guy.

Zepher, yes no LCD screen on mine, but software was showing 94-95v. I even changed the settings to least sensitive and to allow voltage as low as 94v (the settings allows you to adjust). Didn't help to get it going. I was just trying to get a few more days/weeks out of the UPS until I got a replacement. No go. So I'm using a powerstrip for now to hold me over.

Ya, mine was 12-13 years old. It was actually a freebee from APC. A friend gave me an old out of warranty APC Back Ups Pro 1000 that failed. And when I opened it up it had really swollen batteries that were really hard to get out.
I can't remember what it was doing at the time, been so long, but I asked APC if there was something I could do to test it before buying new batteries for it.
Sent them pics of the unit and batteries and they replied back asking for my shipping address to send me a replacement.
A few days later I got a brand new RS1200 Back Ups.

found an old pic showing the low input voltage, it was acutally 88 volts

 

[Axman]

Does any of the spike protection even work on UPSes that old? I toss out all my surge protectors every few years, I just don't trust them after a time.

 

[Zepher]

Does any of the spike protection even work on UPSes that old? I toss out all my surge protectors every few years, I just don't trust them after a time.

dunno, but I am still using surge protectors/power strips from the late 90's.

 

[Starfalcon]

Ya, mine was 12-13 years old. It was actually a freebee from APC. A friend gave me an old out of warranty APC Back Ups Pro 1000 that failed. And when I opened it up it had really swollen batteries that were really hard to get out.
I can't remember what it was doing at the time, been so long, but I asked APC if there was something I could do to test it before buying new batteries for it.
Sent them pics of the unit and batteries and they replied back asking for my shipping address to send me a replacement.
A few days later I got a brand new RS1200 Back Ups.
View attachment 537025 View attachment 537024

found an old pic showing the low input voltage, it was acutally 88 volts
View attachment 537027

That one they sent you was the exact one I had.

 

[g0dM@n]

That 1200VA replacement in the pic looks identical to my 1500 that I'm ready to throw out. I'm gonna pull the batteries out and save those, though!
That's nice of APC to send you a brand new unit! Companies don't do that often these days.

And I too have some old surge protectors. Never thought of replacing them every few years. TBH I don't even know if they truly save you from a surge. I remember I had to replace the PCB on my father's old plasma years ago after a storm. Surge protector always doesn't do much to protect components... thought a power conditioner was to sustain clean power, and surge protectors to help from storms (doesn't seem to).

 

[Zepher]

That 1200VA replacement in the pic looks identical to my 1500 that I'm ready to throw out. I'm gonna pull the batteries out and save those, though!
That's nice of APC to send you a brand new unit! Companies don't do that often these days.

And I too have some old surge protectors. Never thought of replacing them every few years. TBH I don't even know if they truly save you from a surge. I remember I had to replace the PCB on my father's old plasma years ago after a storm. Surge protector always doesn't do much to protect components... thought a power conditioner was to sustain clean power, and surge protectors to help from storms (doesn't seem to).

They have very good customer service which is why I prefer to buy APC first. I did have to replace one of my 1500va units recently, it was 1.5 years old. One day I had a power outage and my server just shut off since the UPS just shut down. When the power came back on I turned the UPS back on it gave me an error, F something error I think. I powered it down, unplugged it, removed the battery pack, then put it back together and it seemed to work for a few more months with no issue, then it failed to keep the server running again during a power outage, so I contacted APC and they swapped it out for me. Sent me a replacement and a pre-paid label to ship the defective one back.

 

[g0dM@n]

They have very good customer service which is why I prefer to buy APC first. I did have to replace one of my 1500va units recently, it was 1.5 years old. One day I had a power outage and my server just shut off since the UPS just shut down. When the power came back on I turned the UPS back on it gave me an error, F something error I think. I powered it down, unplugged it, removed the battery pack, then put it back together and it seemed to work for a few more months with no issue, then it failed to keep the server running again during a power outage, so I contacted APC and they swapped it out for me. Sent me a replacement and a pre-paid label to ship the defective one back.

Well, I was looking at a cyberpower 1350 or 1500 pure sine wave. Now you got me wondering if I should stick with APC on this one machine I had it hooked up to. I'm using two Cyberpower in other places in the home and those have been doing well. I'll keep my eyes peeled for both brands. I used to be able to run internet/wifi in my house for a long while after the power went out, but now that I'm using a 48-port gigabit switch, I don't get as much out of it. I should probably run that guy on another UPS... just hate having too many UPSs as it gets expensive to upkeep all batteries.

 

[Zepher]

Well, I was looking at a cyberpower 1350 or 1500 pure sine wave. Now you got me wondering if I should stick with APC on this one machine I had it hooked up to. I'm using two Cyberpower in other places in the home and those have been doing well. I'll keep my eyes peeled for both brands. I used to be able to run internet/wifi in my house for a long while after the power went out, but now that I'm using a 48-port gigabit switch, I don't get as much out of it. I should probably run that guy on another UPS... just hate having too many UPSs as it gets expensive to upkeep all batteries.

I've got a Cyberpower 1500 I bought from some guy on craigslist a few years ago, used the new batteries I bought for the 1200 that failed on it. I hear both brands are decent but never dealt with Cyberpower customer support so I can't comment on how they handle their customers.
I use the Cyberpower on my Epson projector and desk clock/thermostat and desk lamp.

 

[DanNeely]

Well, I was looking at a cyberpower 1350 or 1500 pure sine wave. Now you got me wondering if I should stick with APC on this one machine I had it hooked up to. I'm using two Cyberpower in other places in the home and those have been doing well. I'll keep my eyes peeled for both brands. I used to be able to run internet/wifi in my house for a long while after the power went out, but now that I'm using a 48-port gigabit switch, I don't get as much out of it. I should probably run that guy on another UPS... just hate having too many UPSs as it gets expensive to upkeep all batteries.

I have 2 older APC 1300 VA models; my newest one is a cyberpower 1500 VA model. Bought for equal parts because of reports of newer (at the time) active PFC PSUs having significantly degraded efficiency and output power levels on the stair step output voltage of cheaper UPSes while APC was pricing true sine wave as an enterprise feature, and partly because the new APC model was getting trashed in reviews for having an obnoxiously loud fan that IIRC ran not just when powering loads but for hours at a time during the charging cycle. It's out of warranty too now, I may pick up a new in warranty one when I finally replace my current desktop build.

 

[g0dM@n]

I'm gonna just keep my eyes peeled for something, but quite honestly in no rush. My main server, network equip, and NAS are all on a different set of UPSs.
Was thinking of getting a smaller one for this setup. I think 1500 is overkill. I just need something for brownouts and safe shutdown. I'd use my laptop if the power was truly out... way more power friendly.
I could charge my UPSs with a generator, and then use those to power up a laptop or something (so that it gets charged with cleaner power from the UPS).