Old 5000RM "Battery Discharged" Notifications...

[GDI]

We have an old 5000RM. Batteries are less than a year old.

For the past several weeks, at almost the exact same time each night (within seconds), we get 3-5 "Battery Discharged" notifications and then they stop until the next day. We've run a calibration and the run time seems normal. There is nothing on the UPS that does anything that requires any additional power at the same time each night.

In trying to track down the issue, we plugged in a Probe 100+ power monitor after the UPS. Basically, it's a power logger that plugs into a computer USB and logs any power fluctuations. Here's the weird part: we plugged in the monitor and received no alerts for 4-5 days. Power stayed steady at 120v. We thought the issue resolved itself so we removed the monitor and the alerts came back that night at the same time and reoccured for 2-3 days. We decide to plug the power monitor back in and the alerts stopped again now for 4 days.

So we are a bit baffled. We know this is a very old unit. But don't know why the alerts would stop with the power monitor plugged in but return as soon as remove it.

Any ideas?

[Teken]

Any power quality monitor should be connected to the same electrical outlet. Was this the case in this particular instance as it’s not clear by your description?!?

If you have the event and data logs for this system please upload the same here for review.

[GDI]

The monitor is plugged into the UPS. With the monitor plugged into the UPS, we do not receive battery discharge events. When it is NOT plugged into the UPS, we receive battery discharge events every night at the same time.

See the attached log for a sample.

[Teken]

What is connected to the output of the system now?

What happens when you plug in something else like a resistive load such as a light bulb vs a reactive load?

Please upload the data logs for this UPS. You can also upload the logs from the power monitor to for comparisons.

[GDI]

Right now, a few network switches and a few computers are connected to the UPS. We haven't tried any other loads as of yet (ie. resistive loads).

Sorry, I must not know what you mean by "data logs". All I can find are event logs, which I uploaded a snippet earlier. This is an old Web/SNMP interface.

[Teken]

The Data Logs if present would show input / output voltage, frequency, battery voltage / capacity, amp / current, load, temperature etc.

If APC Power Chute is installed on the two computers you may be able to screen capture the same. 👍

The obvious next step is to remove one appliance to see the results. I would also confirm what other loads are connected to this branch circuit.

If this isn’t a dedicated circuit I would confirm it’s not shared with something like a copier, fan, microwave, shredder, coffeemaker, dehumidifier, etc.

If it is on a dedicated circuit the data from the power quality monitor should indicate surge / sags, frequency, THD, etc.

The power quality monitor needs to be connected to the same outlet not the UPS. Given it’s probably a 120 VAC standard plug it won’t connect to the wall outlet. 🤦‍♂️

[GDI]

Thank you for the info. Yeah, this old Web/SNMP interface doesn't really provide much info. I may see if I can swap it out for a AP9631 or something.

You are also correct, the quality monitor is 120 VAC but the 5000RM is 208V, so I can't plug it into the same outlet as the UPS. Seeing as we don't get alerts with the quality monitor plugged into the UPS, we may just leave it as it is. I know it's not a "fix" but this 5000RM is so old it may not be worth investigating. It really should be replaced.

Either way, I appreciate the advice!

[Teken]

If you can swap out the NMC that would be very helpful! 👍

Please ensure you set the logs to the maximum retention and if your site has a NMS / Syslog server ensure all metrics are sent to the same.

As they will offer historic and longer retention of the faults / metrics.