Recalibration Question

[LuckyPhil_apc]

Hi all,

Two questions on recalibration.

If you have powerchute running on two UPS's (in one location with the same client on both UPS's) and you kick off a recalibration on one of the UPS's could this cause PowerChute to kick in and start a graceful shutdown?

Also in if there is only one UPS with PowerChute running and you start a recalibration when the battery is dishcharging would powerchute kick in.

In other words does powerchute understand the difference between a recalibration and a power failure?

Thanks Phil.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi Phil,

Yes, PowerChute knows. When you issue a calibration via software command, the UPS should only discharge down to between 10-20% capacity and not all the way to zero.

If you're doing a calibration on older batteries (which is probably not a good idea to start), then I'd watch out for the slim, remote chance that the batteries cannot support the load at all and the UPS turns off. The bi-weekly self test should catch something like this though and if you're monitoring the UPS, you'd probably see messages warning you of other battery related problems first. Typically what happens is the UPS will cancel the calibration or refuse it in these scenarios where it knows it cannot operate on battery using its logic. If you're doing a calibration with new batteries, then there should be no concern and the UPS will not start to signal a shutdown to your equipment.