Can I transport SmartUps 3000 without removing batteries & how to do I shut it down ?

[Anonymous user]

I am supposed to move a APC SmartUps 3000 from one location to another. I am no expert in this area, but I assume, that I can just unplug the UPS, shut it down, and then move it. (will be a car ride, approx 1 hour).

However, after having disconnected all cables, I have pressed the power button, that according to the manual should turn it off (as I understand it), but some LEDs are still on, and the fans are still going.

So the question is, is it safe to transport it, without doing anything "special", like removing batteries, and is it safe doing it with the fans on? If not, how do I get it to shut totally down ?

Is there anywhere I can see the power usage of the UPS itself  (apart from the usage it is providing to other units).

[BillP]

You are supposed to transport the UPS without the batteries connected for safety reasons. We ship all of ours with batteries disconnected per DOT. There is a quick battery disconnect on the rear of the UPS you can use/unplug or you can disconnect the internal battery. Once you do this, the UPS should go "braindead" which is not happening (with the fans spinning).

Let me know if further questions. Once you do one of these two things, the fans should stop spinning.

[BillP]

If they are the original batteries, we can tell the age by the serial number on the back of the UPS. Otherwise, you'd likely have to check the physical batteries and see if you see any serial numbers or date codes.

[Anonymous user]

I didn't figure out how to stop the fans and get the UPS to shut down "the right way", so I actually just unplugged the power cables. So it did not get any power, nor did it have any devices that were using power (The batteries were still connected).

After 20 hours, the batteries seemed to be empty, as I got an alarm, and a while later, the fans stopped and LEDs were off. I disconnected the batteries, and transported the UPS, connected the batteries again and the UPS is up and running again.

However, this got me wondering. Considering that the the UPS went from full to empty in about 20 hours without having any devices connected that were using power from the UPS, is it safe to assume that the batteries (or at least some of them) are having problems?

[BillP]

The UPS electronics/brain were likely discharging the UPS. Do you know how old the batteries were? For this UPS, I am not sure if that discharge time is "correct" for just the small load of the internal electronics but at first read, this does not sound abnormal.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

It's likely that the batteries are about 3-4 years, however, I'm not sure and can't figure it out.