3 beeps? Clicking? Shutdown... (edit: This UPS may have saved my house)

[Anonymous user]

Last night I left my computer on since I was uploading to YouTube, and at 9 am the battery started clicking, and giving 3 beep bursts. I have a Back-UPS ES 350. It's only 2 weeks old. There is another one in the house that is working fine at the moment. I had my computer and my computer monitor (17" LCD) plugged into battery support and a fan that I havn't been using lately in the surge protection. So I shut my computer down thinking the power was out, then when back to bed (Though I did notice the power was not out). I got up, turned my computer on, and the backup started beeping and clicking again (3 beeps). It was in the middle of loading BIOS and it let my computer die. I plugged my comp into the wall and it works fine. It is now in the surge protection outlet. My monitor, which I am using now, is still in battery backup and working fine. For some reason it just does not like my computer anymore. The manual does not state what a 3 beep is, so I'm asking here. Also, the red light is on for wiring fault, but it has always been on, and it is like that on the other backup we have too. Everything has always worked fine until now. At the moment I'm thinking I should open it up to make sure the battery wire is still in well, but I'll wait for the moment, thanks.

Edit/New update 11/9:
I have figured out the problem I believe. And actually, this UPS may have prevented an electrical fire. I found out the next day why it shut down my computer. Apparently it detected an anomaly in the circuit and shut down. Well the next day I figured out what this anomaly was. Not long after I plugged my computer into the wall as stated above, I started smelling something. An unused outlet on the other side of the room was literally melting. I unplugged everything and it stopped (I could see red inside the empty outlet glowing; it was that hot). Even turning on a light upstairs was enough to get that outlet going dangerously hot. So I turned off and unplugged everything upstairs. An electrician came today and fixed it. Everything inside was burnt up and ashed. Luckily the box was still intact in the wall, because if it had eaten through that, the house may have caught fire. The electrician said it was a good thing this was noticed and repaired quickly, because this could have easily started a fire if left unattended.

So basically, I have to partly thank this UPS (and APC) for alerting me by shutting down my system while I was asleep. If it had not, the power usage overnight would have let that other outlet burn all night and might have possibly led to a disaster. Not exactly sure how, but the UPS detected something bad was happening. After having the outlet and wiring being fixed (it was crappy wiring inside the outlet he said, one of the wires was loose, etc), everything works fine. I have my computer and monitor plugged straight through battery backup in this ES-350 and it is letting my computer stay on now. Whew, disaster avoided. I guess I got this thing just in time.

Message was edited by: tweed86

[Anonymous user]

Last night I left my computer on since I was uploading to YouTube, and at 9 am the battery started clicking, and giving 3 beep bursts. I have a Back-UPS ES 350. It's only 2 weeks old. There is another one in the house that is working fine at the moment. I had my computer and my computer monitor (17" LCD) plugged into battery support and a fan that I havn't been using lately in the surge protection. So I shut my computer down thinking the power was out, then when back to bed (Though I did notice the power was not out). I got up, turned my computer on, and the backup started beeping and clicking again (3 beeps). It was in the middle of loading BIOS and it let my computer die. I plugged my comp into the wall and it works fine. It is now in the surge protection outlet. My monitor, which I am using now, is still in battery backup and working fine. For some reason it just does not like my computer anymore. The manual does not state what a 3 beep is, so I'm asking here. Also, the red light is on for wiring fault, but it has always been on, and it is like that on the other backup we have too. Everything has always worked fine until now. At the moment I'm thinking I should open it up to make sure the battery wire is still in well, but I'll wait for the moment, thanks.

Edit/New update 11/9:
I have figured out the problem I believe. And actually, this UPS may have prevented an electrical fire. I found out the next day why it shut down my computer. Apparently it detected an anomaly in the circuit and shut down. Well the next day I figured out what this anomaly was. Not long after I plugged my computer into the wall as stated above, I started smelling something. An unused outlet on the other side of the room was literally melting. I unplugged everything and it stopped (I could see red inside the empty outlet glowing; it was that hot). Even turning on a light upstairs was enough to get that outlet going dangerously hot. So I turned off and unplugged everything upstairs. An electrician came today and fixed it. Everything inside was burnt up and ashed. Luckily the box was still intact in the wall, because if it had eaten through that, the house may have caught fire. The electrician said it was a good thing this was noticed and repaired quickly, because this could have easily started a fire if left unattended.

So basically, I have to partly thank this UPS (and APC) for alerting me by shutting down my system while I was asleep. If it had not, the power usage overnight would have let that other outlet burn all night and might have possibly led to a disaster. Not exactly sure how, but the UPS detected something bad was happening. After having the outlet and wiring being fixed (it was crappy wiring inside the outlet he said, one of the wires was loose, etc), everything works fine. I have my computer and monitor plugged straight through battery backup in this ES-350 and it is letting my computer stay on now. Whew, disaster avoided. I guess I got this thing just in time.

Message was edited by: tweed86

[Erasmus_apc]

What kind of computer do you have, and if it is custom built, what kind of power supply does it use?

A site wiring fault means that either a) there is not a good connection to earth ground for the unit to reference, b) the polarity at the outlet is reverse, or c) the neutral wire is overloaded. If this is showing on more than one unit it is very, very unlikely that it is a false alarm.

[Anonymous user]

This is my power supply. I have a custom built computer. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007
It probably is just bad wiring in the whole house, but the UPS has been working fine the last 2 weeks.

Message was edited by: tweed86

[Anonymous user]

Hi,

If all units has SWF on, you might want to check with a certified electrician for you to know if what is going on with the wall outlet. Or before doing that, you may check this [SWF Doc|http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=183] for more information.

For the clicking sound, there could be a possibility that the unit has switched to battery during those time due to bad input power. A Back UPS unit gives 3-4 times beeping every 30secs. when it goes to battery.

Looking at the link of the power supply, it seems like the power supply requires 451 - 500W. Back UPS 350's output capacity is just 200W. In addition, aside from the Wattage information, we are also looking for some of other factors about the equipments that you want to attach to the unit to properly size a unit. You may want to call our Technical Support 800-800-4272 if you want to get an exact model number that is right for your configuration.

[Erasmus_apc]

Yes, it sounds like the unit did detect a power issue on the line. However, it's telling that a different outlet was experiencing a failure like that, and not the one the UPS was using. Either one of the three problems I mentioned before is present in some way on that entire circuit somehow (See previous post above), or, the wiring used to wire out from your house's electrical panel is not thick enough (small gauge), which can cause higher resistance when power runs through it, which in turn produces more heat. I would have an electrician check out the bad outlet and your house wiring ASAP, if you feel that is appropriate. You can mention what we have talked about on this forum to him, but all decisions are best left up to a licensed electrician.

[Anonymous user]

He did check it and replace/fix the outlet today.

[Erasmus_apc · Accepted solution]

Assumed answered due to lack of customer update/response.