SU2200RM3U will not turn on

[Anonymous user]

Hello!

I have two rackmount APC UPSes, model SU2200RM3U:

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=su2200rm3u&tab=models

These were in storage for three years with the batteries removed.

Recently, the UPSes were reinstalled, and I bought new packs for both.

One UPS is now up and running fine. The other has a brand new set of batteries in it, but it will not switch on. I'm baffled. It was working fine when it was removed. The battery set is known to be good (it works in the other UPS). The UPS has power (the green sensitivity telltale on the back is illuminated).

Having done some searching and reading on this forum, I tried to do a cold start of the UPS. I unplugged it from the mains, and pressed the power off button on the front. The front panel LED's flashed and there was a "click". I then pressed the test/on button. There was an immediate "click", and the six status LEDs and all of the battery level LEDS lit up for a split second, and there was a short beep, then a second click and the lights all went out. This was all in less than half a second. Basically, there's a "click-click" and the LED's flash in the period between the clicks

I can repeat this cycle seemingly indefinitely. Press the off button and get a click and a brief LED flash. Press the on button and get a click-click with an LED flash and a beep. But holding the on button will not cold start the UPS.

If I press the "Off" button and then reconnect the UPS to mains power, I hear the same click-click, followed by another click (I can't see the front of the UPS as I do this, so I don't know what the LEDs do during this time). While connected to mains, the front panel is totally unresponsive.

Can anybody suggest any possible solutions? I can't imagine why the UPS would fail while simply sitting on a shelf with no batteries in it.

Message was edited by MikeK to add the description of the behavior when reconnecting to mains power.

[Anonymous user]

I did do as I hinted at in my last message. When I went to sleep the other night, I shut the UPS off from the front panel. When I prepared to leave for work the following morning (8+ hours later), I pressed the on/test button, and the UPS started right up normally.

So, whatever was giving me trouble before seems to have subsided. I'm going to stick with it for now, since it seems to handle switching to/from battery just fine, and can be shut down and restarted. If it fails in the future, at least I've done the research to select a replacement. (That replacement would not be an APC UPS until/unless the serial communication protocols are opened up without crippling the UPS with the "legacy" board...)

I'm going to leave this thread marked as unanswered, because I still really don't know what caused the UPS to fail to start up and what to do in the future (besides attempting a cold start). If anybody can provide an answer, I'd be interested to read it!

Thanks.

Message was edited by: MikeK

[Anonymous user]

A brief update. I tried again to cold-start the UPS. This time, I get the initial click-click with beep and flash, as described, and then a few seconds later, I get another, long beep. But, the UPS does not power up.

[BillP]

Mike,

Cold start is done by unplugging the UPS from the outlet and while it is off you'll need to press and hold the I/Test/On button. While this is being held down the UPS will emit a short and a long beep, as soon as you hear the long beep release the button. This procedure if done correctly would let the UPS run on battery.

Have you tried swapping the batteries already? Also, if you plug the UPS back into the mains and you press and hold the I/Test/On button what do you hear? What does the UPS do? If it emits a short and a long beep, then it is not detecting the input power. Most probably the second UPS that you have there has gone bad already.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. I will give your cold start instructions a try tonight. I essentially did exactly what you described except that I may not have released the button quickly enough when it made the second, longer beep.

Regarding your other questions:

I have swapped batteries from the "good" UPS into the one that won't start, and the behavior is the same.

When connected to mains power, the front panel buttons have absolutely no effect.

Additional info: The UPS is warm to the touch, just like the "good" one, and was drawing about 50W from the wall with no loads connected to it this morning when I plugged it to my "Watts Up" meter. The front panel is slightly warm, again, exactly like the "good" one.

I will post an update after I try the cold start again tonight.

[Anonymous user]

Well, this is weird.

When I came home tonight, the "dead" UPS was drawing 17W (down from 50W this morning). I figured that it must have been using a bit more power this morning to trickle charge the batteries, since the UPS had been unplugged for a few days since my last attempt to cold start it.

Before unplugging it to try JonPro's instructions for the cold start, I just went ahead and punched the test/on button. It started up! On all previous attempts with the UPS plugged into the mains, the front panel buttons had absolutely no effect at all. But this time, perhaps sensing that it was about to be sent to the scrap heap, the UPS switched on normally, did its self test, and then went into a normal operating mode, showing the batteries fully charged.

I connected the loads to it that it is supposed to power, and pulled the plug from my "Watts Up" meter. The UPS switched to battery, the fan came on, and it kept the loads alive as it should. I plugged it into the wall, and it switched back to mains power. All normal behavior.

So, I have no idea why it wouldn't start before, and no idea why it decided that now was the time. But, it's up and running and appears to function, so...

I really should punch the "off" button on the front, and then see if it will start again. I'm a little afraid to do that. Maybe in the morning. 😉

[BillP]

It's good to hear that it came back on, I am hoping as well that it would turn back on once you turn it off again.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

I forgot to post the results of my test. I did turn the UPS off from the front panel, and then turned it back on again from the front panel about 30 seconds later. So, so far, so good.

Just to give myself peace of mind, I may go ahead and just shut it off in the morning and then turn it on again in the evening, to make sure that it will operate normally if it's not on for a prolonged period.