BE550G/650G1 not working properly

[johni]

I bought 2 of these UPS's last week.  On one of them works exactly as expected.  On other one when electric power fails server immediately crashes before even getting a power down warning.  The one that works gives a power failure warning as expected.  Both servers give identical results from apcaccess **except** LOADPCT on failing UPS shows as 0.0.  Battery on failing UPS shows as fully charged and UPSMODE Stand Alone.   Looks like the backup power outlets are not connected to the UPS?    Any ideas where to look?

[Teken]

There are two sets of outlets surge only and surge & battery. Are you sure the server is connected to the correct outlet? If it is what does Power Chute Personal Edition indicate is the power (load wattage) draw when the server is connected? The 550 model can only sustain 330 watts for a short period of time.

Upload an image capture of the PCPE showing the power draw, voltage, and battery capacity when plugged into AC Mains.

Take another picture of the same with the AC Mains disconnected and time how long it takes for the UPS to shut down. 

Once both test are complete upload the active faults / error logs from PCPE (Power Chute Personal Edition).

Insure you verify the images are viewable on the APC Forum!

[johni]

Here is the full report from apcaccess for the affected UPS:

John@prod02 ~]$ apcaccess
APC : 001,034,0830
DATE : 2024-05-13 14:26:43 -0400
HOSTNAME : prod02
VERSION : 3.14.14 (31 May 2016) redhat
UPSNAME : prod02ups
CABLE : USB Cable
DRIVER : USB UPS Driver
UPSMODE : Stand Alone
STARTTIME: 2024-05-10 21:32:38 -0400
MODEL : Back-UPS ES 650G1
STATUS : ONLINE
LINEV : 121.0 Volts
LOADPCT : 0.0 Percent
BCHARGE : 100.0 Percent
TIMELEFT : 705.0 Minutes
MBATTCHG : 5 Percent
MINTIMEL : 3 Minutes
MAXTIME : 0 Seconds
SENSE : High
LOTRANS : 92.0 Volts
HITRANS : 139.0 Volts
ALARMDEL : 30 Seconds
BATTV : 13.6 Volts
LASTXFER : No transfers since turnon
NUMXFERS : 0
TONBATT : 0 Seconds
CUMONBATT: 0 Seconds
XOFFBATT : N/A
STATFLAG : 0x05000008
SERIALNO : 5B2352T14480
BATTDATE : 2023-12-27
NOMINV : 120 Volts
NOMBATTV : 12.0 Volts
FIRMWARE : 906.W1 .D USB FW:W1
END APC : 2024-05-13 14:27:18 -0400

Just for comparison here is the ssame report from the other UPS:

$ apcaccess
APC : 001,036,0962
DATE : 2024-05-13 14:29:07 -0400
HOSTNAME : prod04.coaxpublications.ca
VERSION : 3.14.14 (31 May 2016) redhat
UPSNAME : prod04.coaxpublications.ca
CABLE : USB Cable
DRIVER : USB UPS Driver
UPSMODE : Stand Alone
STARTTIME: 2024-04-22 19:02:14 -0400
MODEL : Back-UPS ES 650G1
STATUS : ONLINE
LINEV : 121.0 Volts
LOADPCT : 16.0 Percent
BCHARGE : 100.0 Percent
TIMELEFT : 48.1 Minutes
MBATTCHG : 5 Percent
MINTIMEL : 3 Minutes
MAXTIME : 0 Seconds
SENSE : High
LOTRANS : 92.0 Volts
HITRANS : 139.0 Volts
ALARMDEL : 30 Seconds
BATTV : 13.6 Volts
LASTXFER : Low line voltage
NUMXFERS : 3
XONBATT : 2024-05-10 21:21:47 -0400
TONBATT : 0 Seconds
CUMONBATT: 154 Seconds
XOFFBATT : 2024-05-10 21:24:10 -0400
LASTSTEST: 2024-05-06 04:17:11 -0400
STATFLAG : 0x05000008
SERIALNO : 5B2345T73601
BATTDATE : 2023-11-10
NOMINV : 120 Volts
NOMBATTV : 12.0 Volts
FIRMWARE : 906.W1 .D USB FW:W1
END APC : 2024-05-13 14:29:17 -0400

Both UPS's are plugged the same way and the prod04 device works perfectly.  The prod02 UPS fails immediately when it is unplugged.  There is no carry though at all.   The UPS stays on so far as beeping is concerned for hours but no emergency power is provided.  Both devices were purchased recently from the same supplier.   Since there is an internal battery they cannot be returned there; that is their refund policy.

As you can imagine I don't want to pull the power cord on the prod02 device since the server will immediately crash as I discovered before I wrote this problem report (1 legitimate power outage and 2 while trying to debug why that  happened).  The server power does not even stay up long enough to write the power out report.   (the prod04 UPS does write the report so I know what to look for).

[Teken]

Since you just purchased these two units you should submit a service request with APC Technical Support in your region.

After their review they will either replace the battery or unit under warranty. Please insure you do this as they can assist in the battery replacement or RMA of the entire unit if required.

Regardless, based on the great information you provided here the problem UPS has a battery installation date of 12-27-2023 which is fairly new.

Now to determine if it’s the battery, unit, or more than likely it’s the battery. 

One of several things APC Support would ask you to do are the following which I asked before. Which is a (Lights Out) load test to determine what, how, when etc.

I would suggest you disconnect the server for now and power it off the AC Mains directly for now during the following tests.

Load Test: Grab whatever you have that can present at least 30% load. Document what PCPE indicates as the attached load say 150 watts. Next unplug the unit from AC Mains and document what the PCPE says is the current wattage. 

If the unit shuts down immediately document this. If it doesn’t, track how long it takes for it to shut down. The unit should obviously begin to cry and do all the expected beeps and flashes.

Disconnecting the AC Mains the LED on the unit should reflect that state - verify it does. The beeper should also begin to sound when AC mains is removed - verify it does.

Battery Calibration: This can be initiated using PCPE or doing so manually. In the above steps I asked you to do is very similar to what the PCPE would do for a battery calibration.

Essentially you would have at least 30% attached load. Press the battery calibration in the PCPE software. The system will begin to drain the battery to a defined level and then stop. Once complete the system will recharge the battery and have a better idea of the operational runtime when AC Mains is disconnected.

Brain Dead: This procedure will reset and clear random faults in the unit. Disconnect all attached loads. Remove AC Mains from the wall outlet. Disconnect the internal battery cartridge. Press and hold the power button until you hear a click / beep.

You may hear nothing at all . . . ☝️

Reconnect everything and power up the unit. Insure the USB cable is connected so PCBE can track the system completed it’s POST (Self Tests).

If the battery is bad it will have failed the battery calibration / load tests. If the unit was in some unknown state the Brain Dead procedure may help in clearing this state. 

Please submit a APC Service Request for a battery replacement under warranty or a RMA for the entire unit. If you complete the tests outlined above it will speed up the process time for you and APC.

Let us know what you observe during these tests and the final outcome with the warranty process! 👍

[johni]

OK, I tried everything you suggested with the following results:

1.  with known load (a lamp with 100 W incandescent bulb bulb) apcaccess shows LDPCT 0.00 percent. 

2.  Pulled line cord and lamp went out.  LDPCT shows LDPCT 0.00, beeps, green LED on and red failure LED NOT on. 

3. stopped apcupsd and started apctest.  Totally useless as throws an error in line 319 in apctest.c "Fatal error; unable to open UPS device.

4.  Did brain dead routine: just kept right on beeping every 30 sec for 2 minutes so I let go of the button and replugged the UPS.  This time it was able to open the UPS OK.  Selected '2', perform self-test:  result: "I don't know how to run a self test on your UPS or your UPS does not support self test". Then I tried a battery recalibration: "I don't know how to run a battery calibration on your UPS...." apctest seems to be brain-dead!  Of all the tests it has, only 11 (Test alarm), 1 (test k* UPS power which responds with "apcupsd: usb.c:987 UPS appears to support BackUPS style hibernate", seem to work.  All the others get "I Don't know...." responses. (sorry the * is "ill" but I'm not allowed to use that word according to the message sender!)

restarted apcupsd:

One other point:  while I was writing this note the (unplugged/no load) UPS stopped beeping and reported "communications lost with UPS"  I pushed and held  the power button and it started beeping again and reported "Communications restored with UPS prod02" followed by "Power failure on UPS prod02. Running on batteries.".  The lamp did not come back on at this point.

So, obviously I have a defective UPS.  Can you provide an e-mail address for the Canadian APC service centre?  The web site has only chat available and that is greyed out and not accessible even though it is currently within their service hours (it is 13:23 EDT at the moment).    I don't have any voice Internet equipment here (ie no zoom calls or similar). 

Sorry to bother you again but I'm really stuck here.    Thanks for your time.

[Teken]

I’ve appended the resource link for you here: https://www.apc.com/ca/en/support/

The contact number is: 1-800-800-4272.

Brain Dead: As a reminder the battery and AC Mains must be disconnected. Once the loads are removed from the outputs. Press and hold the power button until you hear a click / beep.

You may not hear anything at all too. ☝️

Lastly, it’s important to use the APC Power Chute Personal Edition software instead of any third party one. As this will insure compatibility, connectivity, and logging.

If PCPE was installed and connected we could see the active faults / error logs from the system. Along with what the system *Thinks* are the current settings and operational state.

A battery calibration may not be available on this unit along with a manual self test. If both are missing this means those features are NOT available for use. Regardless, once the UPS is powered up the first time it will complete a Self Test every 14 days. A battery calibration is / was outlined by me earlier by doing so manually.

Submit a service request and let us know how everything turns out! 👍