UPS SMX1000 LCD and All LEDs flashing

[ddfgdfgder43]

We have 3 SMX1000s and one started behaving off today. it is making a clicking noise along with the lcd and all 4 leds flashing. I tried turning it off and that didnt seem to do anything. i unplugged it for now. The equipment is roughly 6 years old. I have attached a video of the issue.https://imgur.com/H6Xg51D 

[Teken]

What do the error logs indicate the active faults / past faults are?!? What is voltage at the wall outlet? What is the current battery voltage of the cartridge?

When did you change out the battery cartridge? 

[ddfgdfgder43]

after unplugging it for a day and plugging it back in, the apc now blinks red with a constant green. checking the software, it notes that no battery is attached. we tried unplugging it and un-connecting the battery and putting it back in. no change in results. The battery itself is pretty old (6years) so I assume it is dead. is there a way to check the life of the other batteries we have using the software?

[Teken]

Generally speaking you can use the LCD on the unit to view the following: Battery charge state, runtime, battery voltage as it relates to the cartridge.

None of the information is very accurate given the batteries are long expired. The battery voltage on the LCD display is the charging voltage from the system going into the battery while AC Mains is attached.

If you remove AC Mains from the wall and review the same battery voltage that would be more reflective of the entire battery cartridge (not the individual cells).

My expectation is you won’t get that far as the unit will simply turn off before you even have a chance to press the status buttons.

If the system allows you to perform a self test I expect the test to abort or fail immediately - give it a shot! 

Since you have two other working units you can test this out easily as to if the problem is the battery pack / cartridge. This assumes the other two units have newer batteries! ☝️🤦‍♂️

Remove the cartridge from a known good working unit as they are hot swappable so no shut down is required. Insert the same into the problem unit - what are the results?

The problem unit should immediately indicate a good cartridge and ask you to confirm if a new cartridge is present and to enter the month / year - Don’t.

You should be able to initiate a manual self test and pass the same. If so, you just verified it’s an expired battery cartridge causing you all the problems. 👍

The APC part number or (Replacement Battery Cartridge) is RBC116. 

If inserting a good cartridge does NOT resolve the problem. The UPS is faulty and needs to be replaced / repaired.

If the unit has a NMC (Network Management Card) it would be a lot easier to narrow down the actual fault assuming the replacement cartridge didn’t solve the active fault.

I expect if you removed all of the cells out of the cartridge you will find one or more cells (dead short). That would cause the unit to behave the way you show in the video! As the protection circuit in the unit sees a massive current draw coming from the cartridge which is outside of the safe operating limit.

Report back what you see and observe from the battery swap! 🤟