On Battery Event Log Question for Smart-UPS 1500 XLM

[Anonymous user]

Hello,

I have a Smart-UPS 1500 XLM with an  AP9631 NMC FW v5.1.1. We received numerous alerts for this device due to a power issue at the site. The Last Battery Transfer indicates that the UPS went on battery due to unacceptable utility voltage rate of change. There is a lot going on in the logs, most of the entries showing that the 3 outlet groups were being turned on and off. This doesn't look to be normal behavior. Can someone take a look at the attached log file and see if you can make something of it?

Also, at the same site we had another UPS that went on battery. We received an alert for low battery and it eventually drained completely. Right before the ups shut down the outputs, we saw an event stating that a low battery condition no longer exists. I've seen this before on other UPSs during our testing. Is this normal behavior? It doesn't seem correct to me. Here are the logs for this UPS.

12/11/2014	05:18:02	UPS: The power for the outlet group 3, Outlet Group, is now turned off due to UPS turn off.
12/11/2014	05:18:02	UPS: The power for the outlet group 2, Outlet Group, is now turned off due to UPS turn off.
12/11/2014	05:18:02	UPS: The power for the outlet group 1, Outlet Group, is now turned off due to UPS turn off.
12/11/2014	05:18:01	UPS: The output power is turned off.
12/11/2014	05:18:01	UPS: A low battery condition no longer exists.
12/11/2014	04:58:41	UPS: The battery power is too low to continue to support the load; the UPS will shut down if input power does not return to normal soon.
12/11/2014	04:58:30	UPS: On battery power in response to an input power problem.

[BillP]

Hi Ryan,

I am confused a little bit on the timestamps in this log file attachment?

What I see in the log you posted in your question looks normal to me. How much runtime on battery does this UPS typically have? somewhere around 20 minutes?

What I see on the blurb you posted is at 4:58, the UPS goes to battery power, it seems to be in a low battery condition at that time (so it sounds like the low battery duration is at a higher value than the default 2 minutes), and then 20 minutes later it (entire UPS and its outlet groups) turns off because it ran out of battery power. The low battery condition now longer exists I think is normal right before it turns off because it is going to turn off right after (or rebooted to finish its cycle if the AC power returned). You'd also see that event if the UPS came back online I think too and AC power returned.

Let me know where I am not making sense but the series of events looks normal to me and you could double check my theory on the Low Battery Duration setting being raised.

[Anonymous user]

Angela,

Thank you for the clarification on the 2nd question. As for the first question; sorry, I forgot to mention that the time and date were a bit off in the attached log file. The log dates should be for this morning, but the times were correct. The attached log is for a separate UPS, but experienced the same power outage as the other UPS. I am confused as to why the other UPS (with logs attached) acted differently. The logs were flooded with events for the outlet groups and turning on and off and for the environmental sensors being connected/disconnected.

Sorry if I am confusing you with two questions, probably should have split these into two different posts. Let me know if you need more clarification.

[BillP]

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for clarifying. Yes, that one does not look right. Do you have the serial number on that UPS itself? Do you know, was the attached equipment actually turning on and off or were these messages erroneous? In my gut, I think something is wrong with the actual UPS and the frequent on/off of the relay and the UPS going to battery is causing communication problems with the Network Management Card to the UPS/Universal I/O ports - some type of electrical interference.

Though, v5.1.1 is very old firmware and I would at least want to try v5.1.7, though I don't really think it will change anything. I just was thinking if it was me, that is what I'd try and see if the logging changes at all or any faults are able to be reported in the UPS. If you want to try that, let me know, and I'll get you v5.1.7 to try.

[Anonymous user]

Here is the info on the UPS:

Model:	Smart-UPS 1500 XLM
Serial Number:	QS0834230108
Firmware Revision:	716.3.D
Manufacture Date:	08/22/08

We lost connectivity to the equipment, but I am unsure if it was actually turning on and off. The UPS is located at one of our airports, so I do not have physical access to it. Is there any reliable way of determining if it is a UPS issue or an NMC issue?

As far as the firmware goes, could we upgrade it to v6.2.0? Or are there issues with upgrading that far?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Thanks!

Yes, you can go to 6.2.0 but I don't like to force people to it if they don't like it because of the major changes and having to explain the major changes to just validate checking something like this in the log. From your other post, I understand you're familiar with it so I would try that.

If anything for what I saw in the log, I'll blame the UPS but we'll see! As far as reliable method, I know that I haven't seen this issue with the Network Management Card with any types of UPS models and I'll do my best to determine where the issue is - NMC firmware or UPS.