Multiple issues with Symmetra RM

[Anonymous user]

One of our customers has a Symmetra RM that is exhibiting multiple issues, the primary issues being that the RIM is reported as having failed and the battery unit is bad.

This morning when checked out the UPS it was off, and reporting that there were no batteries installed. I had to put the UPS into bypass mode to get the attached equipment online. I am assuming that overnight there was a power failure, and due to the reported lack of battery, the UPS did not start up automatically.

The unusual thing is that the battery pack was replaced a couple of weeks ago with a brand new unit. I spoke with the person who performed the replacement, and he advised me that after replacing the battery the UPS reported a fault with the power module, and possibly with one of the IMs. In the end he had to completely power off the UPS wait and power it back on again to get things up and running.

I've attached the event.txt from the UPS so one can see the full event history.

Something that sticks out from the event logs is that overnight on the 11th of January this year, the UPS reported the battery module being removed and inserted (this most certainly did not physically occur).

The replacement battery was installed on the morning of the 14th of January.

The following day, the UPS reports that the battery voltage is too low, and then shortly after clearing the alert; in the following hours a fault with the RIM is reported and clears multiple times. Then on the 20th, the battery once again is reported to be removed and installed repeatedly and/or have a fault.

My suspicion is there's an underlying fault with the backplane that all the modules plug into. Checking the reported voltage of the new battery unit this morning I saw that it was only 44V; I'm wondering whether this underlying fault is causing the installed battery to discharge to a point where the battery is damaged and can no longer be used? It's not impossible that there's a fault with the new battery module from factory, however combined with the other errors reported, I suspect another underlying cause.

This morning when the battery was not being detected, I removed and re-seated it, however this action was not recorded in the event log. The removal and re-seat of the battery was not recorded until I removed the RIM.

What options are there for service of this UPS? If the backplane is at fault, is it possible for this to be replaced? Is there any other advice or suggestions that is able to be provided?

[Anonymous user]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your reply and the extra information.

Pulling the battery out yesterday it did not appear warm to the touch. I shall have a look today at the pins.

There is one power module in the system.

I cannot answer your question about the original battery module, I was not the one who undertook the replacement, and I expect the battery has since been returned/disposed.

The time in the logs is currently an hour out due to daylight savings time.

I took out the RIM yesterday, and the operation of the UPS seemed more reliable. I mentioned in my original post that my removal and re-insertion of the battery was not being recorded until I removed the RIM.

At the end of the day, I was able to power down the connected systems and completely power down the UPS. I re-inserted the RIM and powered up the UPS. While the RIM was inserted, the display on the front of the UPS was very slow to update the default status information, it would draw part by part with a good 30 seconds or so in between each update until the display was complete. The action of pressing one of the buttons on the front control panel elicited no response until the status display had completed drawing. (To be perfectly accurate it may have queued the action, and proceeded to the menu after the display update was complete). I could also not put the system into bypass mode using the front panel, it first said there was an error, and then on subsequent attempts said the model of UPS did not support this feature.

I shutdown the UPS and removed the RIM, powered it up again, and this time the UPS front control panel operated normally and I was able to put the system into bypass mode.

Thanks

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Hi Rob,

Thank you for that further information; my mind is certainly clearer about the operation of this particular model of UPS.

It was particularly useful to learn that the power modules, MIM, and RIM all communicate over the same channel and therefore a fault with one of those components may lead to erroneous reporting on others. This in conjunction with the fact that the UPS doesn't operate properly with the RIM installed adds weight to the scenario that it's the RIM causing the issues.

As an aside, even with the battery removed with the RIM still installed the system wouldn't go into bypass mode; also some of the detail status display was garbled. No such issue appeared when the RIM was removed.

Also of interest and something I forgot to mention yesterday is that the temperature warning on the battery appeared immediately each time the battery was inserted; the battery had been disconnected since the morning with the re-insertion attempt happening in the late afternoon.

No power module fault has appeared since rebooting the system.

I suspect, continuing with the theory that the RIM is the cause of the woes, that it was beginning to fail earlier than the first recorded RIM failure message and affecting messaging/communication on the channel.

Thank you also for the tip regarding the battery replacement under warranty.