SUA1000i - Battery discharged, insufficient runtime, comms lost etc etc

[BillP]

One of our SUA1000i UPSs has been reporting some odd things over the past few days. It is connected to a dedicated machine by RS232, and has a total load not exceeding 20%. The UPS is less than a year old, but has not until now exhibited any issues.
Below are the last few log entries:

03/11/09 11:57:16 Insufficient Runtime Available
03/11/09 11:57:16 Battery Discharged
03/11/09 11:57:11 Communication Established
03/11/09 11:57:03 Communication Lost
02/11/09 08:11:43 Communication Established
02/11/09 08:11:34 Monitoring Started
28/10/09 19:29:08 Communication Established
28/10/09 19:29:00 Communication Lost
28/10/09 19:28:29 Battery Charge In Range
28/10/09 19:21:20 Insufficient Runtime Available
28/10/09 19:21:19 Battery Discharged
28/10/09 19:21:14 Communication Established
28/10/09 19:21:07 Communication Lost
28/10/09 09:56:47 Self Test Passed
28/10/09 09:56:39 Self Test Initiated
28/10/09 02:15:51 Sufficient Runtime Available
28/10/09 02:15:43 Insufficient Runtime Available
28/10/09 02:12:34 Sufficient Runtime Available
28/10/09 02:12:26 Insufficient Runtime Available
28/10/09 02:12:18 Sufficient Runtime Available
28/10/09 02:12:10 Insufficient Runtime Available
28/10/09 02:12:02 Sufficient Runtime Available
28/10/09 01:48:36 Battery Charge In Range
28/10/09 01:41:43 Insufficient Runtime Available
28/10/09 01:41:42 Battery Discharged
28/10/09 01:41:37 Communication Established
28/10/09 01:41:18 Communication Lost
26/10/09 15:20:50 Self Test Passed
26/10/09 15:20:35 Self Test Initiated

Thoughts? I'm not far off calling APC tech support, but I thought I'd give the forum a go first.

Thanks

[Techie_apc]

This situation can occur when the runtime remaining is at or close to the Low Battery Signal Time. What was the runtime and battery capacity when the Insufficient Runtime event was recorded? Could you please let us know the serial number of the UPS? Were the battery bar lights flashing at the right side of the UPS when this occurred? And also let us know the following details:

Version of the Power Chute
Operating System
What is the UPS runtime showing on Power Chute?

[BillP]

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

The runtime remaining while in the "battery discharged/insufficient runtime" state was either 0 or 1 minute. However, it has now returned to a normal state and reports 73 minutes.
The serial number is AS0840121367
I'm afraid I cannot say how the LEDs on the UPS responded as the unit is at a remote site. This is not something which I will be able to check, as this fault is intermittent.

PCBE V7.0.5, XP SP3, 73 minutes as mentioned above!

Thanks.

[Techie_apc]

Was there a Power Failure before this event? Could you please check the data logs and check if there were power failures before these events?

Secondly, you may check the below K-base document which addresses this issue.
http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2819

[BillP]

No power failures, though there have been several instances of overvoltage and subsequent AVR trimming.

I have read the KB article listed:

UPS load is not above 70% and runtime IS accurately reflected.

This leaves us with requiring a larger UPS (I think this only applies if the load is over 70%...), A new battery (for a 9 month old UPS?) or an issue with firmware...

Any more ideas before I contact support?

Thanks.

[Techie_apc]

Rob,

I believe that the UPS and the battery are fine as the runtime is accurately reflected. Are you still getting the same insufficient runtime messages from the Power Chute? If possible, could you please post the recent data and event logs which was recorded by the Power Chute software? Do you have another 940-0024 or 1524 cable? If so, please change the cable and see if it works fine.

Secondly, please upgrade the PCBE software to the latest version and see if that makes difference.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Late response, I have been busy.

The UPS has done this again a couple of times. This weekend it returned to "Battery Discharged" and ceased power output without initiating a shutdown sequence at 7:15am this morning. When I went to physically fix the issue, I found the UPS displaying the "Battery Needs Replacing" LED (red) and the top and middle of the battery charge level LEDs (some kind of error code?).
It has therefore been branded unreliable and taken out of service - we aren't in the habit of using equipment which turns our servers off at its will.

We have loads of cables, however in light of the above, I don't see how it is any longer relevant. The same applies for installing the latest version of PCBE although I will look into it as a matter of course now I know it exists!

Going to call support now...

Thanks.