How to disable constant beep before shutting down

[Anonymous user]

Hello everyone,

I have a BE550G and recently it has started a constant beeping for about 30s to a minute until the unit shuts down (after power outage of course). It's difficult for me to reach it but it seems the replace battery led is flashing red and green alternatively (or maybe it's the replace battery led and power led, not sure, like I said it's difficult for me to reach it where the unit is installed). The battery lasts as long as it always has (around 15 to 20 minutes) so the problem isn't the battery. I used the powerchute software to disable any notifications but that didn't have any effect whatsoever. I also sent a report using the software and no one answered. I'm at my wits end and I want to know how can I disable the constant beeping. How can I do it?

[BillP]

Hi,

When the UPS reaches low battery it will beep to warn you that the UPS is about to power down. That warning is not configurable. It cannot be controlled by PowerChute. The way to disable it is to not allow it to happen. Configure the UPS to power down before it reaches low battery. 

[Anonymous user]

On 2/2/2017 6:15 PM, Bill said:

When the UPS reaches low battery it will beep to warn you that the UPS is about to power down. That warning is not configurable.

But it didn't use to happen and even now it doesn't happen every time. It does happen most of the time though. Why is that?

On 2/2/2017 6:15 PM, Bill said:

Configure the UPS to power down before it reaches low battery. 

How do I do this?

[Anonymous user]

I suspect it may be possible for the battery to be weak enough that it's tripping off the critically low battery alarm, even though there still seems to be plenty of runtime remaining in your situation. I've not seen a unit behave in that way, so I don't know if it's plausible to think that such could happen. If the battery is more than three years old at this point, it certainly could be reaching the end of its useful life.

As the warning beeps ought to be consistent, it is also possible that your UPS is malfunctioning.

Under PowerChute Personal Edition you will find two options governing system shutdown. One of these keeps your computer turned on for as long as possible (and is labeled similarly) and the other turns your computer off with a specified time frame. I think this second option is labeled with something to the effect of "preserve battery life by shutting down my computer after x time".

With your BE550G there is no way to completely silence the alarm beeper, although PowerChute Personal Edition should offer you some control over it. (The three options to look for are "enable at all times", "disable at all times" and there's also an option to let you disable alarms between certain hours.) However, I have noticed that they don't always "stick" on some units.

As such, there are "other" ways of dealing with the problem. Some people, myself included, have taken to removing or plugging the beeper module with hot-melt glue. The latter will make it much quieter, while still providing some warning. Obviously, these approaches are not recommended or approved by APC/Schneider Electric, they have the very real potential to be dangerous, and they will invalidate any warranty or protection plan your UPS might be covered by. Don't even think of doing something like that unless you understand all the potential hazards.

(I am just an end user with no affiliation to either company.)

[Anonymous user]

On 2/3/2017 9:22 PM, William said:

I suspect it may be possible for the battery to be weak enough that it's tripping off the critically low battery alarm, even though there still seems to be plenty of runtime remaining in your situation.

It happens about 30s to a minute right before the unit shuts down, it's not the entire time the UPS is on battery.

On 2/3/2017 9:22 PM, William said:

Some people, myself included, have taken to removing or plugging the beeper module with hot-melt glue.

Are there any kind of tutorials online? Where is that beeper? I'm certainly considering this myself.

[Anonymous user]

That constant beep should sound a short time before battery exhaustion. The exact time it starts will vary somewhat.

I'm not personally aware of anything online that pertains specifically to the BE550G. Just to be very clear, removing or "softening" the beeper is a risky operation. At the very minimum, you would need to unplug the unit from the outlet, disconnect all your loads and remove the battery before you start. (Depressing the power button for several seconds after this would also be a VERY good idea.)

The beeper itself is inside the unit and looks like a small black can with a hole in the top.

Again I want to reiterate that this is not something to be done casually. It will void your warranty, will probably void APC's connected equipment insurance, and if ever there was a problem involving the unit, might also greatly complicate matters with any insurance policy you carry on your home or business. You and you alone are responsible for the results of your actions, good or bad.

If you aren't sure: don't. APC sells other UPS models with larger capacities that can have their beepers completely silenced from the front control panel if that is what you want. Those are the safest way to go.

[Anonymous user]

I'm aware of the dangers and thanks for the warnings. I do some electronics myself (and have academic background on it) so it's not like this would be entirely out of my wheelhouse. I just wanted to know if there were any guides on it since I haven't really taken apart their equipment.

[Anonymous user]

It's entirely possible that I'm being overly cautious, although I feel such may be in order with this being an APC operated forum and far too many members of society being unwilling to accept all the responsibility for their own actions and decisions.

The casings on these models usually come apart into top and bottom halves after you've removed the screws. Other than making sure the transformer doesn't escape (not that it'll get too far, but it could smash into something you'd rather it didn't) and needing to thread the battery cables back through the case, there isn't much to it. As best I can tell, the control buttons are captive and won't escape.

[Anonymous user]

On 2/4/2017 8:07 PM, William said:

It's entirely possible that I'm being overly cautious, although I feel such may be in order with this being an APC operated forum and far too many members of society being unwilling to accept all the responsibility for their own actions and decisions.

I understand. I probably won't alter the equipment but I wanted to be aware of any information available just in case I decided to go through with it eventually. Thanks for your pointers, I'll keep them in mind!

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

For what it's worth this is what I ended up doing to stop the UPS from beeping. The biggest power consumer I have connected to it is a NAS that I have now configured so that it starts shutting down a couple of minutes after it starts using the UPS power. It used to wait to the very last minute to start shutting down and it seems that was prompting the UPS to warn me.