APC Smart-UPS VT 40kVA – Auto Start feature not working

[bbaksi]

Hello everyone,

We have three APC Smart-UPS VT 40kVA units running in parallel. All units have identical configurations.

Up until recently, the UPSs were powering on automatically after utility power was restored and the batteries had slightly recharged. However, now the Auto Start feature is disabled (set to Off), and when we try to enable it (On), it automatically switches back to Off.

Does anyone know what could be causing this behavior or where we should look to resolve the issue?

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
Max

[KarimEissa]

Hello,

The system is set to not auto start by default

You can set the load to turn on automatically after an outage from the PowerView display.

1. Go to Setup menu
2: Select System
3: Select Auto Start
4. Change value to On

This may take one reboot of the UPS to take affect, and you will need to turn on the load manually then. After that first reboot it should automatically turn on in the future.

If Auto-Start is turned on and UPS fails to auto-start the issue most likely resides in the Setting for “return bat capacity”. If this is set to anything beside 0%, the UPS will wait till batteries reach that charge before it will turn output on.

IE: set to 90%, UPS will keep output turned off until charge reaches 90%

check this setting. If it is anything but 0%, please return is to 0%

Regards,

Karim

[bbaksi]

Thank you for your reply, Karim.

As I mentioned earlier, the Auto-Start function automatically reverts back to Off a few seconds after we set it to On .

The interesting part is that if we disconnect the UPS units from each other (break the parallel configuration), each unit works fine and keeps the Auto-Start enabled. However, as soon as they are connected in parallel, the setting switches back to Off again.

We need them to work in parallel, so this workaround isn't suitable for us.

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
Max

[bbaksi]

Thank you for your reply, Karim.

As I mentioned earlier, the Auto-Start function automatically reverts back to Off a few seconds after we set it to On .

The interesting part is that if we disconnect the UPS units from each other (break the parallel configuration), each unit works fine and keeps the Auto-Start enabled. However, as soon as they are connected in parallel, the setting switches back to Off again.

We need them to work in parallel, so this workaround isn't suitable for us.

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
Max

[Teken]

Based on this new feedback connect two random units and report back the results.

If the same behaviour is seen in the first test. Connect a different pair and report back the results and behaviour.

If one pair operates as expected and normally than your focus is on the trouble unit.

As a sanity check if the option is available I would default the unit(s) to an OEM state and report back their current status.

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