APC SmartUPS 1500VA - two UPSes with differently behaving fans.

[BillP]

Hi,

I have 2 older models of APC SmartUPS 1500VA (DLA1500I). This is the apcupsd info about them:

Older one:

APC      : 001,043,1053

DATE     : 2013-03-20 21:38:21 +0100

HOSTNAME : szafran

VERSION  : 3.14.10 (13 September 2011) debian

UPSNAME  : szafran

CABLE    : USB Cable

DRIVER   : USB UPS Driver

UPSMODE  : Stand Alone

STARTTIME: 1970-01-01 01:00:48 +0100

MODEL    : Smart-UPS 1500

STATUS   : ONLINE

LINEV    : 226.0 Volts

LOADPCT  :   4.5 Percent Load Capacity

BCHARGE  : 100.0 Percent

TIMELEFT : 167.0 Minutes

MBATTCHG : 5 Percent

MINTIMEL : 3 Minutes

MAXTIME  : 0 Seconds

OUTPUTV  : 226.0 Volts

SENSE    : High

DWAKE    : -01 Seconds

DSHUTD   : 090 Seconds

LOTRANS  : 208.0 Volts

HITRANS  : 253.0 Volts

RETPCT   : 015.0 Percent

ITEMP    : 32.4 C Internal

ALARMDEL : No alarm

BATTV    : 27.4 Volts

LINEFREQ : 50.0 Hz

LASTXFER : No transfers since turnon

NUMXFERS : 0

TONBATT  : 0 seconds

CUMONBATT: 0 seconds

XOFFBATT : N/A

SELFTEST : NO

STESTI   : 14 days

STATFLAG : 0x07000008 Status Flag

MANDATE  : 2008-01-25

SERIALNO : AS0804122403

BATTDATE : 2013-03-01

NOMOUTV  : 230 Volts

NOMBATTV :  24.0 Volts

FIRMWARE : 653.13.I USB FW:7.3

END APC  : 2013-03-20 21:38:24 +0100

Newer one:

APC      : 001,043,1049

DATE     : 2013-03-20 21:38:05 +0100

HOSTNAME : NAS

VERSION  : 3.14.10 (13 September 2011) debian

UPSNAME  : APC1500

CABLE    : USB Cable

DRIVER   : USB UPS Driver

UPSMODE  : Stand Alone

STARTTIME: 2013-03-19 23:49:34 +0100

MODEL    : Smart-UPS 1500

STATUS   : ONLINE

LINEV    : 226.0 Volts

LOADPCT  :  16.2 Percent Load Capacity

BCHARGE  : 094.0 Percent

TIMELEFT : 685.0 Minutes

MBATTCHG : 0 Percent

MINTIMEL : 0 Minutes

MAXTIME  : 0 Seconds

OUTPUTV  : 226.0 Volts

SENSE    : High

DWAKE    : -01 Seconds

DSHUTD   : 090 Seconds

LOTRANS  : 208.0 Volts

HITRANS  : 253.0 Volts

RETPCT   : 015.0 Percent

ITEMP    : 25.6 C Internal

ALARMDEL : No alarm

BATTV    : 26.9 Volts

LINEFREQ : 50.0 Hz

LASTXFER : No transfers since turnon

NUMXFERS : 0

TONBATT  : 0 seconds

CUMONBATT: 0 seconds

XOFFBATT : N/A

SELFTEST : NO

STESTI   : 14 days

STATFLAG : 0x07000008 Status Flag

MANDATE  : 2009-09-16

SERIALNO : AS0938111689

BATTDATE : 2013-03-15

NOMOUTV  : 230 Volts

NOMBATTV :  24.0 Volts

FIRMWARE : 653.18.I USB FW:7.4

END APC  : 2013-03-20 21:38:07 +0100

In both of these the fans run at modes. The main difference is that in the older one the fan is either off or on at high rpm, in the newer one the fan is either on at low rpm or on at high rpm.

Why there is such a big difference between those two units regarding the fan control ? Is this normal ?

Is there some kind of FW update (or maybe some option I can setup in the programming mode via RS232) for the older unit to make it's fan always on but using low/high rpm as is the newer unit ?

Best regards

Szafran

[BillP · Accepted solution]

I believe this was changed by design. Unfortunately, these model UPSs are not firmware upgradable in the field..there won't be much you'll be able to do yourself but I can at least say the change was made to keep the fan on low all the time in an effort to keep the UPS cooler overall in all operation modes.

[BillP]

I just have to make something on my own to get the older one cooled.