Periodic voltage drops from Matrix 5000?

[BillP]

We've got a Matrix 5000 powering two equipment rooms using the 120v legs off the 240v 30a plug on the rear of the unit.

Lately we've been seeing what appear to be voltage drops. Initially it manifested as a strange clicking sound emitting from a server, which was originally believed to be a failure limited to that machine. Further inspection, though, had us realize that lights on all the power strips in at least one of the rooms are blinking as well when this occurs.

I say "when it occurs" because it's very intermittent. Some times it seems to not occur for a few days, and just yesterday it occurred numerous times. Basically what happens when this occurs is that we can see the lights blink on the power strips and we can hear the power supplies in the servers "click" (presumably due to low voltage) about once a second. Sometimes it will only happen once, and sometimes it will happen 5-7 times or more, but it's always about once a second (spacing between voltage drops seems to be very regular once it starts). Equipment continues to run during this period, though is doesn't sound too happy about it...

So, anyway, we're trying to figure out if we're looking at a UPS problem or a circuit problem somewhere. As of right now no one has been working on the equipment in the other room powered by the UPS, so we're not certain (but operating under the assumption) if it is affected too.

The UPS seems happy enough. No complaints about the batteries or anything else.

Basically what I'd like to know is if anyone has seen a problem like this with a Matrix (or any other UPS), or if we should be looking at other possible issues with the circuit.

Thanks.

[BillP]

As a followup, there didn't seem to be any power issues when bypassing the UPS. In this case, I mean literally bypassing it, rather than putting the IU into bypass mode.

So, I went ahead and separated the EU/IU and cleaned up the contacts and did some general cleanup work (as recommended elsewhere on the forums) and put the whole thing back together.

Everything was fine for about 3 months or so, but, as of today, the unit is acting the same as it was before.

The next thing I'll try is to leave the IU in bypass and see if there are ever any power fluctuation issues. That should help isolate whether it's a EU or IU problem.

As for monitoring the unit, what can I use to get the most thorough reports about the unit? If I purchase a monitoring card (right now the unit doesn't have one), will that give me information about exact times when transfers occur, etc?

Anyone else seeing any similar issues and/or have any new insights?

Thanks.

Edit: Also, when I cleaned the unit, I went ahead and switched to using the 120v outlet on the rear of the unit instead of splitting the 240v. The problem obviously wasn't the breaker on the 240v outlet.

Message was edited by: APCtrix

[BillP]

can you give me the first few digits from your EU serial number (i believe that is where the SmartSlot for accessories is located). also, can you check on the front display to see if you see a firmware revision some place?

i ask because i don't think every matrix is compatible with every single management card.

assuming its newer, the AP9630/31 should work or an older AP9617/18/19 if you wanted to go used.

[BillP]

i dont know much about the relay question but I am not so sure a UPS this old will support a management card. I believe firmwares Y and X (you have X) don't work with the modern management cards and you need Z or higher. as you noted, the slot appears different and it is not the "SmartSlot" we have today.

[BillP]

The first few of the serial is 8001.

Firmware version is 5XI

Manufacture date is sometime in 1995.

Here's an interesting bit...I pulled a communication card out of an old Matrix 3000, with the hopes of putting it into the Matrix 5000. So I pulled the cover off and...there's no contacts in the slot in the Matrix 5000. Nothing at all, as far as I can tell. It's an empty hole.

Any thoughts?

Edit: UPS just glitched for a good, long time. First time I've gotten to witness it. It's probably a relay sticking in the IU. There was this periodic click coming from the UPS, and it was stuck on "On Battery" even though I'm pretty dang sure the line was okay. My guess is that sometimes it's flipping over to battery to filter out spikes, and sometimes the relay sticks. I gave the IU a thwack and it went back to line power and quit making the clicking noise.

How many relays are in the IU? Anyone taken one of these beasts apart before?

Message was edited by: APCtrix

[BillP]

Unfortunately we've not been monitoring the UPS besides from the front panel. Also unfortunately is that since the UPS isn't in the same room as the equipment, it's difficult to correlate the fluctuations with any particular activity of the UPS. I'll look into hooking up to the serial to monitor it.

None of the equipment is doing anything terribly important right now, so for now we've just bypassed the UPS. We'll let it run this way for a few days and see if the issues stop. That should let us know whether to point our fingers at the UPS unit or not, anyway.

Also seems worth trying different outputs on the UPS. Could be a bad breaker.

I'll look into it further. Thanks for the input. I've also done some reading up, and apparently it's not uncommon for there to be minor oxidation issues between the IU and EU, so we'll look into polishing those contacts up as well.

[jhardt_apc]

Clarkson - I apologize for being off-topic (I tried to send you a PM and the system rejected it for "unknown reasons"). Anyway, I was wondering if I could encourage you (or someone else from APC) to take a look at the thread titled:

"bh500net APC Back-UPS HS 500 username and password problem"

It looks like the thread may have been forgotten as it hasn't been visited by anyone from APC for months. There are multiple customers who have posted there and been waiting for weeks for a response.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

clarkson told me about the BH500NET thread and subsequently the problem with the private messaging. for immediate support, i suggest contacting our esupport. i have no idea on resetting the BH500NET passwords personally but I asked that one of our members who does to address that thread ASAP (and also note that contacting our support team (via email or phone) is an option as well)