APC Symmetra AP9215 - "Bypass contactor stuck in on-line position."

[TonyBerry]

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I've had this UPS running for many years without issue. I replace the batteries every few years, but otherwise it's been trouble-free. A year or two ago, I powered the unit down and moved it to a new location. When I recently powered it back up, it displayed the following...

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I removed 3 of the 4 power modules and the redundant intelligence module and rebooting everything. Same thing. It I turn the load breaker on (without any actual load) at the bottom front of the unit, it shows output of 252 volts and it measures with a Fluke at about that. Higher than most 90-250 volt tolerance ranges.

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If I turn the load breaker off, it shows 0 Vout, but actually has ~246 volts out. If I disconnect UPS power input, it protects the load and everything seems to work fine. Because I was in a bind, that's how it's running now.

While it was being tested, I attempted to remove the AC input tray (where I assume the contactor lives), but had significant issues getting the tray out. Eventually I gave up after removing several wires from the front terminal block and still not being able to slide the tray out. There are some wires way up in the cavity I can't see how to remove from the terminal block in the cavity above the AC input tray.

Where is the contactor located and what is the part number (OEM or otherwise) for the part?

Thanks for suggestions.

[BillP]

Hi Tony,

The bypass contactor is located in the slide tray which is the panel on the front that contains the Input Circuit Breaker and Maintenance Bypass Breaker. The input wiring block is a part of the slide tray and therefore the wiring needs to be removed if you are attempting to take out the slide tray. This needs to be done with the unit completely powered done and not batteries installed. Back in the day, if there was an issue with the contactor then the slide tray would be replaced. There were no part numbers on the individual components. Unfortunately, this unit was discontinued in 2004 and parts, such as the slide tray, ceased to be made in 2014. 

[TonyBerry · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the response David. Not very good news though.

Although the parts were not individually labeled, I would have figured that some enterprising young hardware hacker would have sourced a replacement at some point. I was hoping to learn from his experience. I guess these units aren't popular among the hardware hacking groups.

I have one 16K Symmetra for my house and a second one for my shop. I'll flip the external transfer switch for the functioning home unit and figure out how to get the tray out. I'll get the shop unit back online and examine the bad contactor for signs of labeling. I'm sure it is a "common" part. Maybe used in more current Symmetra systems.