SURT10000 XL showing "Discharged battery"

[Anonymous user]

Hi

I am getting something very similar to this.  We changed the original batteries for new ones and the new ones will not charge.  The web console reports discharged battery.

I have tried fully discharging the UPS, then turning it on for a few hours with no load and neither of these actions appear to have made any difference to the calibration.

The model is Smart-UPS RT 10000 XL.  If this forum can help me fix it I will be very grateful!

[BillP]

Just to clarify, what is the reported runtime of the UPS? And according to the data log or status screen, what is the battery charge percentage?

I just want to make sure we're talking about the same issue because "not charging" and "discharged battery" don't necessarily mean the same thing.

[Anonymous user]

The battery charge percentage is currently 0%.  I have been told there is a fault in the charging module requiring a new UPS.  Can this occur from a simple battery change?

[BillP]

It shouldn't but could you let me look at your event/data logs from your Network Management Card ("web console")? I can give you a second opinion maybe. Perhaps there is an indication of another problem there I can see in the logs.

Instructions on downloading logs are here -> How can I download Event, Data, Configuration, and Debug files from my Network Management Card? | FA...

What also would be helpful is the first six characters of the UPS serial number. Something like IS0913

[Anonymous user]

Log files are attached.

First six digits of the serial number are ISO925.

Thanks for your help

Paul

[Anonymous user]

Hi Angela

We replaced the batteries last Friday (21 February).

In answer to your questions:

2 - That time would have been when the batteries were connected.  I can disconnect the batteries but (having tried this earlier whilst troubleshooting with one of your colleagues) it will stop the UPS working even in bypass mode.  I will have to see if I can find a voltmeter.

3 - Typical load is around 20%

4 - The batteries were replaced on the Friday then, sometime over the weekend, the circuit breaker connecting the UPS to the mains power supply tripped (I don't know if this indicates when the inverter failed)

5 - The UPS is outputting power but there is no load as I have disconnected everything

I was under the impression there is no 'repair' and we would just have to buy a new UPS (which is a bit disappointing and expensive after just three years usage).

[BillP]

Hi Paul,

It depends on the region - some regions offer repair and others just replace. In the US/Canada, APC personally does not repair, just replaces, but we do have a certified UPS repair partner called CoastTec who is able to do repairs. I am not sure if the UK offers something similar or if CoastTec only can service US/Canada customers.

Another option is a UPS trade in (AKA Trade UPS) if we don't figure anything else out but I understand what you're saying as far as age and the fact that this happened.

Also, let me review the case again here with the logs and the new information you've given me.

(Also, I branched our discussion to a new thread since this is a bit different than the original thread)

[BillP]

Ok, thank you Paul.

I do see a few problems here. When did you replace the batteries on this UPS? Yesterday? Today? I see an event today indicating at some point the batteries reported 21% charge.

I have more comments below.

1.) The UPS appears to have a problem with the inverter per the constant messages in the log:

26.02.2014 15:39:55 UPS: An inverter fault no longer exists. 0x0166

26.02.2014 15:39:53 UPS: An inverter fault exists. 0x0165

The first instance of this is on the 25th and this typically is not a good sign.

2.) I need to know what was done at what time so we can align the events closely to what is in the log to determine what's going on.

I see the following in the data log

Date            Time     Vmin Vmax Vout Iout %Wout Freq %Cap Vbat TupsC %VAout TIambC,

25.02.2014 10:32:42 0.0 247.6 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.00 94.0 204.1 20.7 0.0 20.0

This is the time in the data log that I see where the battery capacity starts to drop.

I am wondering if when you put new batteries in, there was a fault with the UPS that is preventing the charger from working and charging the new batteries and now the new batteries have completely discharged and could be damaged. Until we sort this out, I'd recommend you disconnect these batteries from the system so that they are not damaged beyond being recoverable with a good charger. Do you have a voltmeter to measure them now manually (each string)?

3.) What is your typical load on this UPS? Servers, etc? It looks about 20% normally before all of this happened?

4.) What happened leading up to the last day or so? Were there any significant events like a power failure, short circuit on a power supply, etc?

5.) Is the UPS outputting power right now? It appears so but there is no load attached?

Let's start there and see what we can figure out. Basically I am seeing this constant inverter fault and I do agree the batteries are just discharging into the UPS which is not good and we need to remove them while we work on the UPS. I am wondering if we can figure out why/when this inverter fault started and then it might relate to why the batteries aren't charging but I do perhaps believe this ultimately may need repair or replacement...

[Anonymous user]

Just to add further information to this (and perhaps APC should sit up and take notice).

It turns out that the problem is related to a faulty battery pack (at least one).  I have replaced the four battery packs in my SURT10000XLI with four known good ones and the UPS is now happily charging them up with no errors.

I have now had two people from APC tell me that my 3 year old UPS is faulty and I need to spend several thousand pounds on another!  I wonder how many other people this has happened to?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi PaulC

We can only go by the data we're given and do the best we can to make suggestions and recommendations based on that. I know I also consulted the global escalation lead on this product.

Did the inverter faults also clear once you replaced the battery packs? I have never personally seen inverter faults contribute to a battery pack problem or vice versa in my 7+ years here..

I know it upsets me personally to find out a suggestion I have made or recommended turns out to be completely wrong but please understand it was not on purpose to make you buy something new when you don't need it. I pride myself in working in technical support and not sales. I rather fix things when we can. So I apologize if we were not able to accurately diagnose this based on the symptoms and hope you'll accept my personal, sincere apology on it.