Two SUA3000XL Units Dead After Power Outage, What next?

[Anonymous user]

Yesterday morning our office experienced a brief power outage that caused the first SUA3000XL unit to switch to battery power and the second unit to fail (it completely shut off). When power was restored a few seconds later, the first unit simply would not return to utility power even though the L5-30R receptacle was providing stable power. None of the circuit breakers on the back of the units had tripped so I could not figure out how to get it to switch back to utility power. In the past it always automatically. After I shut down all of our server equipment, I shut down this UPS and moved it to a separate L5-30R receptacle. I could start the UPS in battery-powered mode but again it couldn't see or switch to utility power mode. I tried a third receptacle only to experience the same issues.

The second UPS simply shut down. I can power it up but it immediately shows power overload and shuts down even with nothing connected to it. Also turns out this unit may have fried a server power supply that it was protecting.

Neither UPS was overloaded. The first had an average load of around 60% capacity while the second had an average load of around 40%. The units are only about six months old and each had an additional SUA48XLBP battery pack attached.

My questions are:

1) Is there an internal or input circuit breaker that needs resetting on these units?
2) What are my options in getting APC to repair or replace these units?
3) What are my options in getting APC to cover the cost to repair the dead server power supply.

This is the first time I ever experienced a problem like this having used APC products company-wide in my 12 year IT career.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

[BillP]

1) Sounds like they may have absorbed surges and sacrificed themselves, since there is no internal breaker you need to trip to get it to come back online. Like you said, it should do so automatically as soon as utililty power is restored.

There is an input circuit breaker but it's external to the unit near the input power cord.

2) If the units are in warranty (which they should be if they're only 6 months old), APC will replace anything that's defective. Not so much repair. If it's out of warranty, I'd recommend Coastal Business Machines for repair (888-234-9877), or a Trade-UPS.

3) This product has a lifetime equipment protection policy plan. You can give APC a call to file a claim for your defective server and you'll get a free replacement unit, but keep in mind you will have to pay for shipping the UPS to APC for testing - in case that cost outweighs the potential results of a claim on your server. Depending on the results of the testing, you may get current market value of the server.

Are you running the PowerChute software with these units, or do you have a network card in either? I'd be interested to see what it reports in terms of the data & event logs.

[Anonymous user]

Thank you for your reply. I really appreciate you taking the time.

Yes, both of these units came with the AP9619 Network Management Card and both cards are still functioning following the outage. The 1st unit that stayed on battery power reported a "voltage notch or spike" at the time that the event occurred. Nothing is registered in the event log for the damaged unit. I guess it happened so fast that it couldn't register anything.

After speaking with APC support for close to two hours we were able to get the first unit back on utility power. The second unit will have to be shipped back to them. They are sending out a replacement to swap out our current one for no charge. They've also sent a claim form for me to fill out to get reimbursed for damage to our server.

Yes, we finally found the circuit breaker. I had to go through three people at APC before I was given the correct information. The first two support techs kept insisting that the circuit breaker is a push button type at the bottom of the unit. When I asked asked if it's the white push buttons next to each output receptacle they told me yes and instructed me to press each one. They failed to tell me that pressing the circuit breaker, even if they hadn't been tripped, will temporarily kill power to the associated receptacle. It wasn't unit I was speaking with the third tech did he finally tell me that it is the toggle switch next to the input power cable.

[BillP]

No problem - glad you got one back up and running! Do you remember what the issue was or how it came back on?

Just out of curiosity, I'm assuming you called in (not email/chat support)?

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

I'm stuck with a similar problem here: Same battery pack in either one of two SU3000RMNET's results in power up to fan running with no LEDs lit. Pressing on button and releasing during beep results in power up sequence that starts with flashing ONLINE led and ends with solid red OVERLOAD led (with no loads attached).

The standby UPS was disconnected from mains and loads during this week's power "event". The primary SU3000RMNET UPS has been running 24/7 with 1-year old RBC-17 battery pack and went insane after a power outage this week. There were two extended periods with no mains. On the second outage, the UPS batteries were exhausted and the UPS shutdown. When power was restored, the UPS started cycling the loads (computers and HT amplifier) on/off/on/off... bad smell came from UPS (I'll guess the FETs were overloading with surge currents...). Batteries were re-charged using an automotive chargers - they seem to be O.K. Actually they work fine in an old Smart UPS 1250 (two batteries at a time). What does the overload-with-no-load LED mean? How could both UPS be doing same thing and yet batteries seem to be good?