Smart UPS 8000 .... shows "No Batteries installed" ... but there ARE batts!

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

i got a Smart UPS 800 with an extra battery pack from a good friend yesterday. He said, the UPS did a good job the last month, and there were no failures.

As i powered the UPS on, it shows an error. The "X" led and the second and third (from top) Battery LEDs were lit.

In the management card, it shows "self test failed" and "no batteries installed". In the log there were entries that the usv did pass the self test last time it was powered of by my pal.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks!

Martin

[BillP]

hm ok, those are good battery voltages. anything below 88v is usually no good but those are at a good voltage. i will await the logs if possible 🙂

[Techie_apc]

Dear Martin,

the solid Replace Battery LED X means that the any of the batteries are faulty. the unit performs a self test at start up and every 14 days automatically by default. if the unit battery self test fails, the unit will show the solid replace battery light. the typical battery life 3-4 years. the age of battery will vary due its usage such as charging cycles, temperature etc.,

the following APC document can help you in determining the faulty battery modules.
Test: How do I test which battery is bad (internal or external?) on a Smart-Ups XL model?
URL: http://jpaa-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3078/kw/external%20battery%20pack

[Anonymous user]

Dear Techie,

from the Manual:

Fault

"X - Symbol"
The UPS detects an internal fault (see Troubleshooting).

"X inside Battery - Symbol":
Replace Battery


I Think it's not the "X inside Battery" - Symbol, but the "internal fault" - Symbol. With the "X" - LED two of the LEDs of the Battery Charge indicator are lid ...

[BillP]

ok, i just saw the pictures. this indicates an issue with the battery voltage i think. do you have a voltmeter where you can measure battery voltage from the battery connectors?

before this happened, did you have a power outage? or what happened before you noticed this fault?

alternatively, when the UPS is powered, is the network management card configured and accessible to see if it reports the battery voltage or even any other log information to help us determine what the issue is?

[Anonymous user]

okay, just let me see if i could get a "longer" network cable to connect the usv to my home net ... then i can post informations and logs from the web console of the usv ...

i installed two battery modules in the usv just now, the modules had 108V and 112V at the connectors ...

(btw ... sorry for my bad english -.-)

Message was edited by: tbird

[Anonymous user]

After 1 day juggeling with Batteries and the UPS (won't power on anymore), i got it back running ...

The Battery packs all have >100V ...

I attatched a screenshot from the web interface (UPS powered on, a server as load) as well as something from the logs ...

what makes me wondering is that the ups said

Load Power: 000.0 % Watts

... but i know that the server takes around ~0.3kW ... so whats wrong here?!

08/07/2011 17:14:50 System: Web user 'apc' logged out from 10.10.0.10.
08/07/2011 17:11:27 UPS: Invalid internal diagnostic self-test.
08/07/2011 17:11:18 UPS: No batteries installed.
08/07/2011 17:11:13 UPS: Turned on.
08/07/2011 17:11:13 UPS: No batteries installed cleared.
08/07/2011 17:10:47 UPS: Turned off.
08/07/2011 17:10:01 UPS: Invalid internal diagnostic self-test.
08/07/2011 17:09:52 UPS: No batteries installed.
08/07/2011 17:09:48 UPS: Turned on.
08/07/2011 17:09:48 UPS: No batteries installed cleared.
08/07/2011 17:04:48 UPS: Turned off.
08/07/2011 17:04:34 UPS: Turned on.
08/07/2011 17:03:38 System: Set Date or Time.
08/07/2011 17:04:24 UPS: Invalid internal diagnostic self-test.
08/07/2011 17:04:21 System: Web user 'apc' logged in from 10.10.0.10.
08/07/2011 17:04:17 UPS: No batteries installed.
08/07/2011 17:03:51 UPS: Communications established.
08/07/2011 17:03:35 System: Network service started. System IP is 10.10.0.198 from manually configured settings.
08/07/2011 17:03:28 System: Coldstart.

Message was edited by: tbird


//EDIT: One thing i noticed at the moment: Battery Voltage shows

Battery Voltage: 158.7 VDC

But only a short time. It Switches from 158.7V to 218.1V ... why?

Message was edited by: tbird

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

thanks for the Firmware file. I upgraded successfully, the failure is nearly identical (no Batteries installed).

I don't think Batteries are charged, but i'll give it a test this evening.

Unfortunately i don't have any fresh, new batteries for that UPS.

Critical Alarm 2 Critical Alarms Present

Battery Disconnected
Output Power Turned Off


Here a Log from the new Firmware:

08/09/2011 05:30:12 UPS: Runtime calibration refused due to UPS battery capacity less than 100%.
08/09/2011 05:28:50 System: Web user 'apc' logged in from 10.10.0.8.
08/09/2011 05:28:42 System: Console user 'apc' logged out from 10.10.0.8.
08/09/2011 05:27:51 UPS: The output power is turned off.
08/09/2011 05:27:50 UPS: The battery is not installed properly.
08/09/2011 05:27:50 UPS: Restored the local network management interface-to-UPS communication.
08/09/2011 05:27:40 System: Initializing data in the RMS file.
08/09/2011 05:26:47 System: Console user 'apc' logged in from 10.10.0.8.

Status Page shows

Last Battery Transfer: No transfers have occurred
Internal Temperature: 21.2°C
Runtime Remaining: 1 hour 1 minute
Power
Input Voltage: 237.6 VAC
Output Voltage: 0.0 VAC
Input Frequency: 50.00 Hz
Load
Load Power: 0.0 %Watts
Apparent Load Power: 0.0 %VA
Load Current: 0.00 Amps
Battery
Capacity: 99.0 %
Battery Voltage: 218.1 VDC
External Batteries: 1

Message was edited by: tbird

[BillP]

hmm, yes 217/218vDC for batt voltage is where it should be at.

based on all the information here and researching, it could be batteries or the UPS. if the batteries are original, based on all of the symptoms, it is likely we could just have a bad set of batteries. i think it'd be worth a try before looking at a UPS replacement if the batteries are from 2006 (which is when the UPS was manufactured per a screenshot). i cannot guarantee that this is not a UPS issue though and i am making an educated recommendation. let's see what happens with those batteries though if you want since you weren't sure if they were charged.

[Anonymous user]

Okay ... hmm .. where did i get those batteries from? I am a private / hobby user ...

[dario_ramos_apc]

Hi
I don´t know if this helps or adds noise:
In the past with a SURT3000 it happened to me the same:
- Fault led lit
- Battery led 2 and 3 (counting up to down) lit

In my case the UPS run perfectly from batteries but freezes with that led code when connected to mains.

It was identified it as a capacitor soft start failure and it was true!

Because I think SURT8000 as a different topology I don´t know what I said makes sense.

Let an APC guy confirm or deny it.

[Anonymous user]

Hello,
Did you ever find a solution to this?
I have a 8000XLT which was just inherited from a site we bought and we are having a very similar problem.
I will start my own thread here in a bit.
Thank you.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi Marc,

For our SmartUPS RT units, if the batteries are bad or dead the unit will not turn on. There is a specific battery voltage required for the battery to be recognized as good.