Calibration stopped powering servers

[Anonymous user]

Hi

We use a Smart-UPS 1500 2u rackmount model. A couple of days ago the replace battery indicator lit up so I ordered replacement batteries and installed them this morning.

I ran a battery calibration via Powerchute through a remote desktop connection after the installation and the network immediately went down. When I checked the UPS the On Battery LED was lit and the UPS was emitting 3 beeps once every 10 - 15 seconds. I had to switch the UPS off then on again before it started to function normally and supply power to the servers.

I thought that running a calibration was a safe procedure and that connected devices would continue to be powered. Could there be a problem with the UPS?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[BillP]

I prefer to use the Agent interface which is a web page rather than the little (ugly) purple console window. Can you verify what version of PowerChute you're using?

To access this, which is likely easier to read, you can go to the IP address of the computer the agent is attached that is in Smart Signaling mode. So, do you have an interface expander or anything with this UPS? Once you find out which computer is attached to the Smart Signaling port of the UPS, go to https://:6547 or http://:3052 should work too. Alternatively, if you're local to that server, you can replace the IP address with the loopback address (127.0.0.1).

If this is not making sense, let me know how this is set up as far as what is powered by the UPS and from where and where to any USB or serial cables are connected.

If you're able to access this interface, this should allow you to log in with the provided user name and password and view some better format event and data logs.

Insufficient runtime usually refers to low runtime or runtime value that is within two minutes of the low battery duration (which is 2 minutes) or to close to particular delays you may have set for OS shutdown. Low battery duration is the amount of runtime remaining when the UPS deems a low battery state and starts signaling everything to turn off. When your runtime is 3 or 4 minutes, it starts warning you about insufficient runtime.  Depending on the version of PowerChute, you can adjust these settings within the shutdown settings (which could be located in one of two places in the web inteface once you log in).

[Anonymous user]

Thanks!

I used the agent webpage and as you said it is much better. The Powerchute version is 9.0.1 Build 606.

I checked the shutdown settings and the delay before starting the shutdown sequence was close to the limit of the runtime remaining. I usually allow 4 or 5mins to shutdown which starts 8mins before the battery power fails. I have reconfigured it so hopefully the alerts should stop.

Just to clarify, should I now be able to run a calibration without the power being disconnected (assuming the UPS is functioning correctly)? I will run the next calibration out of office hours anyway.

Cheers!

[BillP]

Hi,

Assuming the battery is 100% charged you should not have any issue running a calibration. If you are concerned about the server dropping you can perform a manual runtime calibration. To do this you would power down the server/s attach a lamp or 2 to get the UPS showing 2 lit load LEDs and the unplug the UPS from the AC source. To calibrate accurately the load needs to be a minimum of 30% and the load should not fluctuate more than +/- 5%.  The UPS will drain all the way down. Once the UPS powers off plug it back in and allow it to recharge then reattach the server/s.

Just out of curiosity what is the available runtime and what is the load % on the unit now?

[Anonymous user]

Thanks a lot for that.

Status:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/6021/nvmo.jpg

[Anonymous user]

Hi

We use a Smart-UPS 1500 2u rackmount model. A couple of days ago the replace battery indicator lit up so I ordered replacement batteries and installed them this morning.

I ran a battery calibration via Powerchute through a remote desktop connection after the installation and the network immediately went down. When I checked the UPS the On Battery LED was lit and the UPS was emitting 3 beeps once every 10 - 15 seconds. I had to switch the UPS off then on again before it started to function normally and supply power to the servers.

I thought that running a calibration was a safe procedure and that connected devices would continue to be powered. Could there be a problem with the UPS?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[BillP]

Did the UPS indicate the battery was fully charged when you installed the new batteries? My first thought is that they were not charged up (but maybe reported 100%) and with discharged batteries, there is a slim chance this could happen. The beeping pattern could've indicated low battery but that is usually a constant beeping.

Even so, the UPS is supposed to reject a calibration if the UPS doesn't meet certain requirements like 100% charged, UPS is online, etc.

Regardless, do you have any interesting event log or data log snippets you could paste or provide screenshots of from the PowerChute software during this time? This would help in determining what did happen.

[Anonymous user]

Hi, Angela

Thanks a lot for responding.

Here's the full story:

After I replaced the batteries the two bottom LED's were lit to indicate battery strength. After a couple of hours I used remote desktop to run a self-test which passed and then ran a calibration a few minutes after that.

The battery replacement events are shown here:
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5051/9oj5.jpg

The self-test events are shown here:
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5531/xgp9.jpg

After the calibration was initiated (which is not shown in the logs) the servers stopped responding.

I checked the UPS and the on-battery LED was lit. When I looked at the servers they were restarting. Our servers need to be restarted in a particular order so I powered them down and restarted as required. This is why there is a gap between monitoring stopped and started on the second screen shot.

While the UPS was supplying power from the batteries I had tried pressing and holding the self-test button but the UPS went straight back to on-battery mode. The only way I could restore normal power was to turn the UPS off after the servers had powered down and then switch it back on again.

The only other configuration is for the shutdown sequence. This kicks in when 10mins of battery time is left (it takes 5mins to shut down the servers). The servers should then power back up as soon as mains power is restored.

Our office is located in a rural area so we often experience brown-outs and power failures. The power failures usually last for just a couple of minutes and the UPS normally copes with this.

I have run calibrations in the past (we've had this UPS for several years) but have not exeperienced this issue before. Looking through the documentation I see I should have waited at least 5 or 6 hours before running a calibration instead of 2. Could this be why I experienced problems?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Did the data log show there was no output voltage too at this time? Did battery voltage drop off quickly?

And I can't say it is definitely why you saw issues but I would wait at least several hours or even a day before doing a calibration after replacing the battery to let it charge up even if it appears 100% charged, just to be safe. This can also help avoid any loss of capacity for outages after you replace the battery.

The only time I've really seen this is when the battery is failing or not fully charged and a load is put on it and it just cannot support it but generally it causes the entire UPS to turn off or go into a low battery state before completely turning off. Perhaps it didn't because the servers turned off? Hard to say because the logs are not as detailed as I would like.

The UPS could've been in its reboot cycle which is why it did not come back properly until you manually rebooted it.

I can only speculate based on experience and what you've noted but its my best guess.