3 1-year old BackUPS XS 900's showing overload with nothing plugged in

[Anonymous user]

I purchased four APC BackUPS units approx. a year ago, three XS 900 units and a single XS 1500. The three XS 900 units, in rapid succession, began squealing a continuous beep with the red "Overload" light lit on each. One was simply plugged in with nothing attached to it and presumably turned off. The other two had a computer and monitor on it, nothing else, the other had a clock, lamp, and set of speakers....not exactly a huge draw in wattage.

What I have noticed is that a fan inside each unit seems to be dying....making horrible noises when running and mostly quits turning, which I believe leads to the overload alarm, which is more likely an overheating of the heatsinks the fans are attached to.

Thankfully, the 1500VA unit has yet to malfunction.....

So, anyone else having a problem with this particular unit? Too heavy to send back in for warranty service.......

Message was edited by: Beanie54

[Anonymous user]

I purchased four APC BackUPS units approx. a year ago, three XS 900 units and a single XS 1500. The three XS 900 units, in rapid succession, began squealing a continuous beep with the red "Overload" light lit on each. One was simply plugged in with nothing attached to it and presumably turned off. The other two had a computer and monitor on it, nothing else, the other had a clock, lamp, and set of speakers....not exactly a huge draw in wattage.

What I have noticed is that a fan inside each unit seems to be dying....making horrible noises when running and mostly quits turning, which I believe leads to the overload alarm, which is more likely an overheating of the heatsinks the fans are attached to.

Thankfully, the 1500VA unit has yet to malfunction.....

So, anyone else having a problem with this particular unit? Too heavy to send back in for warranty service.......

Message was edited by: Beanie54

[Anonymous user]

I had the same symptoms -- noisy fan when working, no fan and squealing alarm when not. I just replaced the fan and the UPS seems to be doing well now. See my comment in [this thread|http://forums.apc.com/spaces/4/back-ups-surge-protectors/forums/general/2218/apc-be325r-alarm-doesn-...] for more information.

[Anonymous user]

I recently inherited a three year old XS-900r with dead batteries. I replaced the batteries and the UPS has been working great for about three weeks...until early this morning. I was woken up by the alarm accompanied by an overload light. I unplugged everything from the unit, powered it down, and unplugged it. It has been doing this repeatedly all day and I've noticed the fan is loud and working overtime. I'm assuming the fan is to blame after reading this thread. The next time the unit sounds the overload alarm, I'll check to hear if the fan is working. If not, where can I find a suitable replacement fan?

Thanks,

- J.

P.S. Unfortunately, my UPS is only ten days out of warranty, according to APC's website. Any chance they'd replace the unit for me as a measure of goodwill? We have four APC UPSes in our house, so we're clearly loyal customers.

[Anonymous user]

I have exactly the same symptoms on exactly the same unit. It just woke me up at midnight, squealing. There was no power outage, and it wasn't overloaded. I unplugged all load from the unit, turned it off/on. In a few minutes it started doing it again -- with no load plugged into it.

The fan was making a faint noise, but not loud. My diagnosis is the same as Beanie54 -- failed fan leading to overheating leading to overload alarm and UPS shutdown. My XS900 is more than two years old, so I'll just replace it.

It sounds like a widespread problem. I see other posters have reported similar problems: http://forums.apc.com/spaces/4/back-ups-surge-protectors/forums/general/2218/apc-be325r-alarm-doesn-...

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

I had the same problem, after unit on for about ten minutes with no load, overload lights and beeping noise. Since the unit was out of warranty, I opened the case, turned it on and noticed the cooling fan did not operate. I purchased one from www.allelectronics.com for $1.75, installed it, and everything works fine.