SU3000 - Which battery to replace?

[Anonymous user]

Hello. Apologies if this question has been answered many times before, but I'm not finding any reference to it when I search. We have an SU3000RMXL3U with, I believe, 5 internal batteries ( 1 in the unit itself and 2 each in each of the 2 battery packs). I was getting a low battery indicator on the main unit and so I replaced the one in the SU3000 itself. After doing this 4 of the 5 lights on the battery display were illuminated so I figured everything was OK. The feeling was short-lived, however, as 2 days later the indicator was back to a single flashing light. This led me to a series of questions that I can not seem to find the answer to:

1. Did I replace the right battery?
2. If not, how does one determine which battery needs replacing?
3. Is the new battery that was installed defective?
4. Is there some hardware and/or software reset that needs to be performed after installing a new battery?

Additional background information:

-The SU3000 services 4 Windows 2003 servers via the AP9207 Interface Expander.
-The Lo-Batt indicator on the AP9207 is not lighted.
-Neither the BATTPACK utility nor the PowerChute Business Edition software are able to communicate with the UPS, no matter which server I run them on.

Again, I apologize if this is pretty basic stuff that I should already know the answer to. I'm just not familiar enough with APC to know how to proceed.

[Techie_apc]

The SU3000RMXL3U UPS's Internal Replacement Battery Cartridge part number is RBC27. Did you replace the internal battery with genuine RBC battery?

If the unit needs replacement battery, then the Replace Battery LED(X) will come on in the front of the UPS. How old are the external batteries? Did you see the Replace Battery LED(X) in the front of the UPS before replacing the internal battery? Are you still seeing a single flashing light at the right side of the UPS?

Secondly, the below K-base document will explain how to test which battery is bad (internal or external?) if the replace battery light is on.
http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3078

[Anonymous user]

To answer your questions:

-Yes, the replacement was an RBC27.
-The external batteries are about 3 years old.
-I believe the Replace Battery LED(X) was on before I replaced the internal battery. It is no longer on; however, to answer your next question, I am still seeing the single flashing light on the Battery Charge Indicator.

Thank you for the link to the K-Base document. It did not occur to me (although it should have) to disconnect and reconnect one at a time to determine which battery is bad. The only question I have about that document is how to determine whether the battery packs were added correctly when first installed. As I alluded to in the OP, I'm having difficulty establishing communication between the servers and the UPS, so I'm guessing that the people who set up this system did also. I'm using the supplied 940-0020B cable to connect the server to the UPS, but from what I've read I need a different cable to do this. I'm just not exactly sure what cable to get as I have received conflicting answers from different sources as to which one will work correctly.

[BillP]

Jim Boy,

The SU3000 that you have can only accept one serial connection from a computer. The AP9207 expands this in one Advance Port which uses the Smart signaling cable (940-0024 or 940-1524) and seven Basic Port which uses Simple signaling cables (i.e. 940-0020). If you do not have the manual for the AP9207 click here [Share-UPS User Manual|http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/ASTE-6Z5QCB_R0_EN.pdf]. To verify if there is communication we normally advise our customers to user the Smart Signaling port and cable.

Regarding your battery problem, would you happen to know what is the exact part number and serial numbers of those battery packs? Have you replace the batteries on those packs? If you can find a voltmeter, can you measure the battery voltage?

[Anonymous user]

JonPro,

Thanks for the cable information. What was/is confusing for me is that the BATTPACK diskette label states that you "Must use UPS Link cable Part# 940-0024B", whereas the Smart-UPS manual says that you need a 940-0024C. Do you know if either of these are different item than a plain 940-0024? Likewise, are the 940-0020B cables that we are currently using for simple signaling different from the 940-0020 cable that the AP9207 manual suggests that I use? Also, in order to use the Smart Signaling port and cable, do I need to be running PowerChute plus ? I only have the PowerChute Business Edition and the AP9207 manual seems to be indicating that I need to be running the plus version for any of this to work properly.

I will have to wait until this weekend to get the part and serial numbers of the battery packs, so please bear with me. I don't think they have ever been replaced, but I am not 100% sure. Finally, I do not have a voltmeter but I think I can borrow one for the weekend. I will post more information once I get it.

Message was edited by: JimBoy

[BillP]

You're welcome Jim.

The letter at the end of 940-0024 denotes the revision/changes that has been made on the design and or specifications. As long as the cable bears 940-0024 or 1524 on it there shouldn't be no problem same thing with the 940-0020. PowerChute Business Edition is one of the active UPS management software that we do have in the market today. The AP9207 should not have any problem with this software and your UPS.

The computer connected on the advance port would be using the smart signaling cable and for the software installation you can use auto detect and it should be able to locate the UPS. For those that are connected on the basic port, you'll be using the simple signaling cable and configure the software to establish connection to the UPS. Please be reminded as well that if you are on simple signaling the SmartUPS will be detected as Back-UPS.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for all of your help Jon, but apparently the problem I am having is not cable-related. All of my servers are connected to the AP9207 via 940-0020B cables. When I try to install the PowerChute software, it cannot locate any UPS devices. I get the same message no matter which server I use for the install. I then opened HyperTerminal on each of the servers and I am still not getting any response from the UPS. The COM1 ports on each of these servers appears to be functioning normally, so I'm not sure what the problem is.

Hey, I just realized that this discussion has veered away from the subject of battery replacement. Should I open another thread or can I keep on writing about it here?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

The life expectancy of our batteries is usually 3 to 5 years Jim. By using a voltmeter we would be able to get the voltage readout of those batteries compare it to the nominal voltage it should produce.

For your AP9207 problem, let us start with connecting it properly. First I would like you to connect the AP9207 to the serial port of your UPS. Look for a 940-0024 or 1524 cable and plug it on one of the computer while the other end goes to the Advance port of your AP9207. Next install the PCBE Agent on that computer and click Yes when prompted if you want to automatically detect the UPS.

[Anonymous user]

Jon,

It looks like I will have to purchase a 940-0024 cable as I can't locate the one that supposedly came with this device. I will resurrect this thread once I receive it and have it installed.

[Anonymous user]

It looks like all it took to resolve this problem was getting the right cable. Once I installed the 940-0024, I was able to see that I had to re-add my 2 battery packs. When they were re-added, lo and behold, the single flashing LED on the battery charge indicator went solid. After an hour, I now have 2 solid indicators and am hoping it continues to increase to the full 5. Thank you Jon and everybody else who helped me solve this problem!

[BillP]

That's good to hear Jim.

Typically each battery pack needs to be recharged for 24 hours. Hopefully after charging for 3 days you can perform a manual calibration for us to know how long would the runtime be.