UPS 1500VA self test?

[Anonymous user]

I have a number of 1500VA devices that are reporting they failed the self test via our monitoring tool. When checking the status of these devices via the management card there are no alarms present but the status of the self test shows "not available {insert date}". If we run the self test and wait until it is completed the status will then change to "passed on {insert date}" in the device and it will clear the invalid calibratuion test in our monitoring tool as well. It will stay this way for 15-30 minutes and then it goes back to the "not available..." status again. We have even tried rebooting the devices both before and after running calibration tests to see if this would clear them.

What could be causing this to happen becasue there is plenty of battery life and calibration tests confirm this.

[Techie_apc]

Tom,

Do you see a Replace Battery Light(X) in the front panel of the UPSs which are reporting failed Self test? How old are the batteries?

If possible, can you perform a self test through test button and update us the result of the self test?

In order to perform a self test manually, press and hold the on/Test button until you hear two "chirps". You may now release the button.
After pressing the button, you will observe the following events:

1. The green On Line indicator will flash.
2. The yellow On Battery indicator will light while the battery test is performed.

If the UPS passes the Self-Test, the green On Line indicator will be lit and solid. If it fails the test, the red Replace Battery indicator will be lit as well as the green On Line LED.

[Techie_apc]

Tom,

In this situation, we need to analyze the data and event logs of the UPSs which are recorded before the failed Self test event and after the Self test event to provide the best course of action.

I strongly recommend you to ask your clients or your techs to call in the APC Customer Care Center at 1-800-800-4272/www.apc.com/support so that the Customer Care Center rep can analyze the logs. They can also replace the defective batteries if the units are under warranty.

[Anonymous user]

These devices are all at remote locations so I personally will nto be able to perform the self tests manually. Most of our end users are not comfortable going back into the network closets and helping troubleshoot. I will try to figure out when a tech will be onsite at one of these locations to work on something else to help me with this.

I will try to report the results back here once we try this.

[Techie_apc]

Tom,

I also recommend you to make sure if the Network Management Card firmware of all the UPSs are up to date. You can download the latest Network Management Card firmware version from APC web site.

Follow the below K-base document instructions to upgrade the firmware on an APC Network Management Cards which you use to monitor the UPS status?
[http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=768]

Secondly, typical battery life is three to five years. Please check if the units which have more than three year old batteries are behaving like this.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

We have over 700 of these devices out in the field. Out of these only about 15-20 of them are like this. Most of these have the newest version of the firmware and out of them the batteries are between 1-2 years old on most of these as well. What confuses me is it will say the self test passed and even clear the alarm in our monitoring too

Message was edited by: TomFoolery