SU2200UX failure

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

I am having an APC Smart UPS 2200UX which I purchased in 2010. It has been
going strong, till 2 days back. 2 days back, on a power failure, the inverter started
up with something like loud short circuit sound powering up the load. (I am used
to hearing the sound of the relay clicking, but this short circuit sound was new to
me, something like a fuse getting blown), while the RED LED which shows a
battery symbol with "X" in it flashing with with very fast beeps. The load id only a
computer and another laptop which consumes at the most 500W at best.

I switched OFF the UPS (thought it might be the heat and thought that was
probably an overload issue). I let it cool down for a couple of hours, disconnected
all the load, disconnected the mains and switched it ON again. There was the same
relay clicking sound along with the short circuit sound with the RED LED flashing
with continuous beeps together.

There was dust blocking all the air vents, so I decided to clean it up. Switched
everything OFF and used a vaccuum cleaner and a blower to remove all the dust.

After cleaning it up, with NO load, I tried turning the UPS ON from the battery and
this time there wasn't any short circuit sound and the inverter was running happily.
Tried running it from the mains and it went into charging mode. Tried switching OFF
the mains to test the Inverter switching in and out, which looked perfectly well.
Repeated this and things looked pretty well. I was unable to see any blown/burned
components within the UPS.

So, I reconnected the load and left it overnight. Early morning, there was a power
failure and the same short circuit sound occurred with the RED LED flashing.
After a while, the inverter switched OFF by itself. Once the mains power was
restored, it went into a battery charging state. With the mains disconnected I tried
running the UPS from the batteries, the same sound short circuit sound occurs with
the RED LED flashing and continuous beeps.

Anyone having some clue as to what the issue could be related ?

Thanks,
Manu

[Anonymous user]

HI Abraham,

The "Short Circuit" sound you describe/heard a couple of times is very likely the sound of the large transformer inside the UPS "energizing". This is typically what is heard when you "cold start" the ups - which would be the case if you power it on with drained/dead batteries, OR, if there was a power outage and the battery completely drained and then power is restored - in either case there is no electric field present within the transformer so a large current flows in and creates an audible "whump" sort of noise. Also, it is possible that if the UPS never had a battery calibration performed on it, and the battery is near end of life, that the UPS will not "see" the battery even when it is connected and the UPS will flash the replace battery LED and sometimes emit a rapid chirping sound. ( if you had a netowrk management card on the ups, it might report "No Batteries Installed" via email or web interface).

Some APC battery modules have a serial number sticker on them from which you could determine the battery age; the first two numeric digits of the serial number (following a letter or two) indicate the year of manufacture (EG "06"  means 2006). The next two digits represent the calendar week of that year ( Eg "04" would mean last week of January). If your battery is 3 to 5 years old it likely needs replaceing anyways.

Good Luck!

[BillP · Accepted solution]

a flashing replace battery LED (which is the battery icon with the X in it) generally means the UPS cannot see the battery attached and thinks its disconnected. this typically happens when you physically disconnect the battery on purpose or if the battery is older and cannot charge up anymore to an acceptable voltage so the UPS thinks its not there.

considering you heard some noises at the same time, maybe there is a problem with an internal component dealing with battery detection or connection OR the battery is really old. Then i wouldnt be able to explain the noise you heard if it was just a case of an older battery since there usually is no noises associated with that issue.

can you measure the voltage on the battery and also tell us the age? do you have any software monitoring this UPS or a network management card installed? how old is the UPS? can you give us the specific model (i have not seen SU2200UX - only SU2200UXI for example) and first few characters of the serial number? i.e. JS0302