Low Battery Messages when they Seem to be OK

[BillP]

Low Battery Messages when they Seem to be OK

[BillP]

Coincidentally, I am experiencing a similar issue with my SMX1500rm2u.  The load is quite low, around 3.5 amps, battery is at 100 percent, the UPS passes self-test without an issue and, still, when I login to the NMC2 I have a boat-load of those messages.

My UPS indicates that the next scheduled battery change is due in a few weeks yet there is no real indication of imminent battery failure.  I may try a calibration test to run the batteries down to near failure and see if that resolves anything.  Other than that, I am looking for a replacement battery because they are probably near their EOL.

I'll watch this thread with interest.

[BillP]

I was able to prevent the messages from happening by simply resetting the "battery installation date" via the NMC web interface in the "configuration/ups" drop down.  Apparently, if the battery replace-by date has passed even though the batteries are still good, the messages will be produced.

That being said, I did order a new RBC115 from a local vendor just to be on the safe side.

If someone from APC could confirm that this sort of message is also used for alerting the user that a battery is due to be replaced would be beneficial.  Thank you.

[voidstar_apc · Accepted solution]

Just a thought but if it happened after a power outage, perhaps the alert started when the battery became discharged and never properly cleared. If that's the case, restarting the NMC would clear up the alert. It shouldn't do that, but if you find rebooting the NMC clears the problem, let us know.

[BillP]

Hi Voidstar,

In my case, resetting the battery install date forward to today's date eliminated the low battery messages.  I confirmed that this is apparently a "nanny-gram" sort of message as I set the battery install date to a point more than five (5) years ago and the low battery messages started up again but only when the load on the UPS was around 45%.

That being said, I am not sure how the Sean, the OP, is doing with his issue.  I hope he lets us know.

[voidstar_apc]

Some of the newer UPSes have battery lifetime warning alarms that attempt to estimate the lifespan of the battery based on usage and temperature. Changing the install date would make those go away and also reset the UPS's runtime estimation parameters. The battery discharged alarm mentioned in the original post (OP) is only supposed to depend on runtime, which the OP's UPS seemed to have plenty of.

[BillP]

Voidstar, that worked fantastically. The old error must have stuck in the NMC and wouldn't let go. 

A reboot of the NMC fixed the problem for me.

Thanks!

Sean