Matrix 5000 w/2 new smartcells, always says "Discharged Battery: The battery power is too low to support the load"

[BillP]

I have just installed two new Smartcells my MATRIX 5000 UPS.

Everything was fine until i ran a runtime calibration.

Now i constantly have the alert (red "X") saying:

Discharged Battery

The battery power is too low to support the load; if power fails, the UPS will be shut down immediately.

I cant make this go away.

The batteries are charging fine from the runtime calibration test, nothing seems wrong.

What did I do?

[BillP]

I'll reply based on the conditions at the time I posted the question...

How long ago did the calibration end?

2 hours

What is the current battery capacity?

77%

What is the current battery voltage?

55 volts

What is the current estimated runtime?

ZERO

What is the load % displayed on the UPS?

43%

What is the low battery warning set to?

There is no setting for this that I can see, however this ups is configured exactly the same as the other Matrix next to it that doesn't have new batteries or this problem.

As of this morning, with 9% load, ( I removed the production equipment from it last night) it sits with no error at 100% and an 18 minute run-time.

However 18 minutes has got to be wrong and to me still indicates a problem.

[Anonymous user]

Is the Matrix correctly reporting Number of Smartcells ?  Otherwise, you could try a manual calibration of the UPS. Manual cal is done by putting a 25 % load on it, pull the plug and let it run til battery exhaustion/shutdown, and then let it recharge completely.

[BillP]

Yes, it knows there are 2 smartcells.  So no error there.

If it persists, I will do the manual calibration for sure.  thanks!

[BillP · Accepted solution]

It turns out that after a night of charging, and with production load applied at 46%, I ran a calibration and the discharged battery alert is now gone!

However, 12 hours later I now get...

06/01/2013     11:46:52     UPS: A faulty battery no longer exists.

06/01/2013     11:46:37     UPS: At least one faulty battery exists.

06/01/2013     11:23:41     UPS: A faulty battery no longer exists.

06/01/2013     11:23:25     UPS: At least one faulty battery exists.

06/01/2013     11:20:52     UPS: A faulty battery no longer exists.

06/01/2013     11:20:36     UPS: At least one faulty battery exists.

06/01/2013     11:17:31     UPS: A faulty battery no longer exists.

06/01/2013     11:17:16     UPS: At least one faulty battery exists.

06/01/2013     11:12:09     UPS: A faulty battery no longer exists.

06/01/2013     11:11:53     UPS: At least one faulty battery exists.

06/01/2013     11:07:45     UPS: A faulty battery no longer exists.

06/01/2013     11:07:29     UPS: At least one faulty battery exists.

Argh!!!!!!!

I will mark this answered and post this new error as another question (link below)....

Matrix 5000 faulty battery alert comes and goes constantly in new smartcell.

[Anonymous user]

Do either of the two smart cells have their red fault LED  turned on ?

what management card are u using and what firmware rev is it at ? I am wondering if the management card is

is giving false alerts ....

[BillP]

No red lights - i would have re-run the reset procedure if I saw that.

Here is the other data...

[Anonymous user]

No problem with the web card firmware at least; that's the latest and greatest rev.    You could try disconnecting one of the smartcell batteries at a time and see if the problem goes away ...or maybe you already tried that ?

[BillP]

I am out of town for a week, and i silenced the email alerts for the time being, since i know it's actually not broken.

I will try this ASAP upon my return next week.

More to come...

[BillP]

When i promised "More to come..." apparently I dropped the ball there.

I hate unfinished threads, so here is the conclusion (years later)

The Smartcell communication cables (the "phone handset" sized ones) has at least one that was bad.

I have since rebuilt these units AGAIN and all is good.

Don't underestimate that those comm cables can go bad!!! (What a headache)