APC Smart-UPS 3000 RM (SUA3000RMI2U) - Problem with battery?

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-28

Hi,
I would really appreciate your help to figure out what happened today to my UPS. Here's the story.

In the past days I received an e-mail alert regarding a faulty battery from my Smart-UPS 3000 RM; this, after the UPS has performed the auto-self test. To be precise the message was: "UPS: At least one faulty battery exists.".

So, I proceeded to order a new battery (that for this model is the APC Replacement Battery Cartridge #43).

Before perform the replacement, the "replace battery" LED was lit (fixed red); as soon I disconnected the faulty battery, the LED started flashing (red) and the unit started beeping, notifying that the battery was disconnected. Btw, so far, everything normal.

Once I installed and plugged the new battery, the UPS was supposed to detect, after a while, that a (new) good battery was now connected, stopping the beeping and turning off the "replace battery" LED. Conversely, while the beeping stopped, the "replace battery" LED stopped flashing, but was still lit (fixed) as before replacing the battery.

I waited for few minutes, then I thought to perform a manual self-test, so that the UPS would verify the new battery. The self-test was completed successfully and, finally, the UPS was back working as usual (no beeping, no warning LED lit).
Connecting on the web-based interface, I got this:

No Alarms Present
UPS is online.

and in the Logs, I got this:

 09.09.2015	17:12:11	UPS: Passed a self-test.
 09.09.2015	17:11:55	UPS: Started a self-test.
 09.09.2015	17:11:54	UPS: A faulty battery no longer exists.
 09.09.2015	17:09:37	UPS: The battery is now installed.
 09.09.2015	17:06:55	UPS: The battery is not installed properly.

Battery was charging; everything looked alright.. Good!

The day after, I checked again via web-interface and the battery was 100%, the average load was ~<10% (as usual); I performed one more manual self-test, that was completed again successfully.
So I restored the notification alert e-mail (that previously I had deselected for "self-test not completed" and "At least one faulty battery exists.", since the UPS was mailbombing my mailbox with alerts every 3 minutes or so).
The battery issue, then, seemed apparently solved.

So came the day when an AC power problem/failure was detected (this morning). And something went wrong; really wrong!
Basically the UPS detected some fluctuations in the AC power (actually, it was raining heavily outside) and decided to switch to battery; for no reasons a low battery status was immediately detected and the UPS decided to immediately shut down the output power for ~4secs. and then restore it. Causing everything connected (servers and NAS) to being suddenly shut down. Yay! >_<

Since one of the servers that has been turned off was the mail server, I've no e-mail alert from the UPS regarding what happened. However, looking in UPS Logs, I found these two messages:

09.13.2015	09:16:48	UPS: The output power is now turned on.
09.13.2015	09:16:44	UPS: The output power is turned off.The output power is turned off due to a low battery.

NOTE: the previous message was the self-test completed few days before.

And looking in the Status tab, I found this:

Last Battery Transfer:	Unacceptable utility voltage rate of change

Now, basically there was no reason why a low battery status should have been detected so fast, given that the battery installed was brand new, it was 100%, the load was <10% and the average runtime remaining time should have been more than 45mins (usually ~1hr).

To further clarify the scenario, there were other UPS and servers in that server-room and no one turned off: some neither detected any AC power problem/failure. So if any AC power problem occurred, it was more likely just a very short voltage drop or interruption. So I can't understand the UPS behavior and I'm quite worried now.. moreover because I've just restarted everything, and I can hear loud thunder and heavy rain outside...

I hope in any suggestion or help by you; thanks in advance for your time and support.

Bye,
Daniel.

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-28

Hi Terry, once again thank you very much for you help.

Basing on your last post, the data-code you're referring to is the S/N; so:

- For the Smart-UPS 3000 RM, the first part is: JS10
- For the new battery, the first part is: 7A15

So, year of manufacture for the UPS is 2010 and for the new battery is 2015.

You're right: the LOGs I posted today were referring to some very brief power outages. Btw, on yesterday morning, the UPS has turned off immediately the output power (after switching on battery, due to some AC power drops/problems) without even logging before any problem on AC power. Seems like that when it switched on battery, it has immediately detected a LOW battery status (that is basically impossible, moreover considering the average ~10% load attached) and then it has turned off everything (for 4 seconds), before switch back online to AC power. A quite weird behavior...
What might be the reason of this unreliable behavior? Maybe a manual calibration is needed 'cause I replaced the battery?

Thanks to all of you who're reading; suggestions are really welcome! ^_^

See Answer In Context

Terry_Kennedy_apc · ‎2021-06-28

How old is the UPS? You can find this info on the barcode sticker (usually on the back, in the form zzyyxx12345678 where yy indicates the year of manufacture). When an older UPS indicates a battery problem, it could be the battery and/or the UPS itself that has a problem.

If the replacement was a genuine APC battery, it should also have one of those serial numbers and I would expect it to indicate the battery pack was assembled this year.

If it was one of the 3rd party "re-use your existing cables" batteries, it is possible that there is a poor connection on one or more of the battery terminals (these are normally 1/4" Faston F2 connectors). A poor connection will appear to work for charging and self-tests, but when the UPS actually goes to draw lots of power from the batteries during a power failure, the connection won't allow enough power to pass and the UPS shuts down.

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-28

Hi,
first of all, thank you for your reply.

I'll check later the stickers you're referring to; meanwhile I would clarify that (obviously) I've replaced the faulty battery with an original (brand-new) genuine APC product (APC Replacement Battery Cartridge #43) ordered by an authorized APC reseller. So I'm quite sure they've delivered to me a good battery.

Moreover, the storm here lasted all night with flooding in the nearby areas.. kinda mess here.
So, some AC power problem occured this early morning and these are the last LOGs I found on my APC:

 09.14.2015    08:15:40    UPS: No longer on battery power.
 09.14.2015    08:15:38    UPS: On battery power in response to an input power problem.
 09.14.2015    08:13:33    UPS: No longer on battery power.
 09.14.2015    08:13:31    UPS: On battery power in response to an input power problem.
 09.14.2015    08:11:53    UPS: No longer on battery power.
 09.14.2015    08:11:51    UPS: On battery power in response to an input power problem.
 09.14.2015    08:01:16    UPS: No longer on battery power.
 09.14.2015    08:01:15    UPS: On battery power in response to an input power problem.

All time are CET (GMT+2:00)

So, the UPS switched to battery 4 times in 15min. this morning, this time without turning off the output power (converselly to what happened yesterday).

Dunno what to think now...

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-28

Hi,
I tried to find the stickers you're referring to (on the front and rear of the UPS), but I didn't find anything with the format zzyyxx12345678, but just the spart-part labels and P/N and S/N sticker.

Can't tell about the battery, because is installed. Btw, I still have the faulty battery and I check it but there is only the sticker with the Model/PN and S/N.

All I can say to you, is that we bought the this APC Smart-UPS 3000 RM in July 2011.

The battery now installed, is brand-new.

Terry_Kennedy_apc · ‎2021-06-28

Here is a sample model / serial sticker. In this case, the yy code for year is 02:

The reason I asked bout the battery date code is that sometimes these units sit in warehouses for long enough that the battery capacity is permanently reduced.

The event logs you posted most recently indicate outages of only a few seconds, so even a battery in poor condition should be able to keep up.

I would suggest a scheduled "pull the plug test" to see how long the unit will actually provide power, but let's see what the APC folks say when they see your post.

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-28

Hi Terry, once again thank you very much for you help.

Basing on your last post, the data-code you're referring to is the S/N; so:

- For the Smart-UPS 3000 RM, the first part is: JS10
- For the new battery, the first part is: 7A15

So, year of manufacture for the UPS is 2010 and for the new battery is 2015.

You're right: the LOGs I posted today were referring to some very brief power outages. Btw, on yesterday morning, the UPS has turned off immediately the output power (after switching on battery, due to some AC power drops/problems) without even logging before any problem on AC power. Seems like that when it switched on battery, it has immediately detected a LOW battery status (that is basically impossible, moreover considering the average ~10% load attached) and then it has turned off everything (for 4 seconds), before switch back online to AC power. A quite weird behavior...
What might be the reason of this unreliable behavior? Maybe a manual calibration is needed 'cause I replaced the battery?

Thanks to all of you who're reading; suggestions are really welcome! ^_^