APC 2200XL Battery Lights

[GregH_apc]

Hello,

I have an APC SmartUPS 2200XL UPS which is out of warranty. The UPS appears to work fine, however the TOP most LED on the battery capacity meter does not stay lit. It will go on for a minute or two, then go off for a minute or two, and then back on, etc. The batteries are brand new, and were testing in an APC 2200 and did not exhibit any issues. I am concerned that the meter may be out of calibration and thus it may affect full battery life on the unit. Does anyone have any hints on how to resolve this issue? The only thing I tried was to follow what I thought was the reset procedure for these UPS's where I put roughly a 30% load on the unit, unplugged it, let it drain till the UPS shut itself off. After the UPS was in dead battery state for a few minutes, plugged it back in and let it charge (I did not turn the UPS off or anything else, just plugged it back in). This did not affect or appear to reset anything. If this is what I need to do to reset this meter, did I do it correctly? Any information would be great. if there is something else I need to do, I'd appreciate any information someone could provide.

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

Call Tech Support Monday morning.

Request a calibration Key.

[GregH_apc]

Received the calibration key. Followed instructions. The UPS makes like 10 short beeps and a longer one. All lights blink once after the long beep. UPS returns to normal state. The red LED on calibration key does NOT illuminate. According to the instructions, this sounds like it was a successful calibration. However it did not resolve the problem. Top most LED on the battery meter roughly every minute turns on and off. On for a minute, off for a minute, on for a minute, off for a minute. If I were to guess, the top most LED is probably turning on when the unit is trickle charging and when the charge is done, the LED may be turning off.

It is only the top most LED, the other battery LED's are solid on as would be expected. All other LED's are in a normal state.

Does anyone else have any ideas? I'm not sure how the battery meter works on this UPS, if it is voltage based or computed, but it appears the calibration of the meter itself is incorrect. These are new batteries and they should be up to full spec regarding voltage. UPS works fine otherwise. My only concern is getting full runtime out of it.

I also currently have no power chute software installed or connected and my smart slot is empty.

[BillP]

network management card is better than powerchute business edition in my opinion. it has everything business edition does and a little bit more. i'd go with the AP9617 over the serial cable. also i think the AP9617 even comes with the serial cable..

[Cap1_apc]

Do you have the serial cable that came with the unit (940-0024)?

I'd suggest hooking up to a PC and running Powerchute Business.

This will give us a battery percentage reading....perhaps the LED is just the issue.

That top LED represents the top 20% of the battery capacity, so if PowerChute is showing something else, perhaps the LED might just be burnt.

[GregH_apc · Accepted solution]

I do not have the cable anymore, but I can certainly buy one. However, I am considering purchasing an AP9617 for remote monitoring of the Smart UPS. Does the AP9617 allow you to monitor your battery monitor? Does it give you all of those statistics? What about calibration, are there any calibration options within it?