smart ups 1500 va refuses to calibrate or self test via powerchute

[Anonymous user]

Replaced the battery yesterday. Left charging overnight. Powerchute sees the battery now at 98% so I hit self test and got "Set request failed, please try again". Exactly the same with calibration.

Holding self test on the unit tested correctly and the "replace battery" light went out.

I need to run calibration as the runtime is at 11 mins (33% load). Our other 2 1500VA are seen by powerchute and can self test via software.

I have restarted the APC services on all 3 servers. Any ideas? Can you "manually" calibrate?

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

Have you tried to brain-dead the UPS? It seems the USB or Serial isn't 100% active.

To do so:

1. Power off the load
2. Power off the UPS
3. Unplug the load from the UPS
4. Disconnect any comm. cable
5. Depress the Off button for 4-6 seconds until all the LED's flash and the unit emits a click
6. Plug in either serial or USB (whichever you were using prior)
7. Power everything back up.

Let us know how you make out.

[Anonymous user]

I think i'll wait for a while (I tried plugging into a new usb port - I hadn't tried that previously but no effect) I cannot afford to power the server down at the moment.

It isnt critical for me as I know the load & runtime will be fine (new battery, the bars dont "sag" under self test - the old battery immediately sagged to 2 bars on self test!) next time I can reboot I will try this.

Thank you for your suggestions.

[BillP]

The issue appears to be that your battery has not charged to 100%, which is a requirement to initiate a runtime calibration via software. The brain dead may help in getting that back to 100%, or you may want to artificially discharge the batt for several minutes and let it recharge. Sometimes, the UPS will stop charging just below 100% due to a under-estimate on the trickle charge routine.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Just for closure (in case anyone else gets a similar problem), we restarted the server over the weekend to finalise some updates so I took the time to switch the UPS on and off. Powerchute correctly recognises the UPS now and has started calibration.

I did not check to see if the UPS was at "100%" so I cannot verify JoMammas recommendation.

Message was edited by: kk20