APC BE750G-UPS 750VA 10 Outlet making clicking noise

[Anonymous user]

It's more than Annoying and Unprofessional that no one from the company seem to provide an actual answer to these "clicking noise" questions I keep seeing pop up regarding the APC Back-UPS.

I myself came on here because I dealt with this issue with an older APC Back UPS model (an ES 550) and I purchased a newer model 7 months ago (APC BE750G-UPS 750va 10 Outlet) and I have it plugged into the same outlet with the same devices plugged into the BACK-UPS.

It seemed OK for 5 months and all of a sudden for the last 2 months approx. it started making the clicking noise just like the older model. On the older model (APC Back-UPS ES 550) which I had for about 3+ years it worked fine and only started making the clicking noise not so long ago.

Which made me think it was just time to replace the unit since it was getting close to its 4 year period. Even though the battery seemed fine and didn't indicate any issues. With the APC Back-UPS ES 550 model, I tried testing the issue in various ways.

It made the clicking noise even if the computer was shut down and all electronics plugged in were turned off. It even made the clicking noise when nothing was plugged in except the APC Back-UPS unit itself. I had the outlet tested with an outlet voltage tester which showed no signs of a problem.

Just to double check things, I plugged the APC Back-UPS into 2 separate outlets upstairs, on a different circuit than the previous one and without any devices plugged in. It took 15 min. or maybe 30 min... but sure enough it made the clicking sound.

So I bought a new one. After purchasing the new model (APC BE750G-UPS) I plugged it into the outlet where I had my computer and the original set up. It worked great and everything seemed fine for 5 months and then out of nowhere it clicked on/off.

I thought maybe it was a fluke... A day or two or maybe a week went by and it clicked again, then again and again.. now it's clicking 30-40+ times a night and it's driving me insane. When the computer is on it might record 3 or 4 out of 12 clicks as a "blackout"

There is no true power loss and nothing to indicate that there is a real issue with the outlet or the power in the house. Other devices plugged into the same outlet but not into the UPS unit do not turn off or react in any way when the UPS unit is clicking.

All evidence is pointing at there being an issue with the APC unit which may have a problem with the management module. I e-mailed customer support on APC's website 2 days ago and I have not received a reply. When I inquired about the older model's clicking noise problem, I never heard back from customer service and I'm getting really fed up with how they're handling such technical issues with their products.

On the website it mentions this about the clicking noise,

"An additional sound that the Smart-UPS may produce is a clicking sound. The Smart-UPS will make a clicking sound when the when the UPS is enabling AVR Boost or AVR Trim. AVR Boost is when the UPS uses the internal transformer to decrease input voltage which may be too high. When the UPS switches to use this transformer, an internal relay makes a clicking sound. This is a normal operation of the UPS reacting to too-high, or too-low voltage."

Another question that was posed then was in the Power Chute personal edition program where you can configure audible alarms and change the notifications so that such alarms are disabled during certain periods of time of your choosing or disabled at all times. However; this does not disable the clicking noise which is inconvenient and annoying. I'm sure it only disables the beeping alarm which would happen when power actually blacks out for minutes and not 5 seconds.

The clicking sound happens mostly between the hours of 12 midnight until 12 noon for me and it tends to fluctuate and has been happening a bit more frequently lately, which is making me think there is something wrong with the unit.

This is NOT a normal operation if it's happening 30-40 times or 6-8 times within a few minutes which is the case here, especially not with a new unit (barely 7 months old) and not when it was working fine for 5 months without such clicking sounds. The clicking is happening on a regular basis now and it keeps me up at night. I'd like to know what's causing it and if APC will replace the product or if there is a way to fix it on my end.

My APC BE750G-UPS 750VA 10 Outlet unit is automatically covered for 3 years under warranty from date of purchase or (if proof of purchase can not be provided, it's covered from the manufactured date) which is still less than a year old. I have proof of purchase and I'm waiting for APC to get back to me... but I'm posting this in the forums because it seems like a fair amount of people have this "clicking sound" problem and APC writes it off as a normal audible sound.

I'd be fine with it if it wasn't happening 40+ times a night and keeping me awake. To me; normal would indicate something that occurs once or twice ocassionally. PLEASE HELP!!!

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Some additional info:
It's not recording under or over voltage (currently it's set at 92-139) so if it goes below or above it will intervene. I'm using approx. 119-121 volts on average it seems which is within normal range. I'm using approx. 112 watts of power out of 450 watts (my computer desktop, monitor, scanner, blu-ray player and TV are hooked up). The sensitivity is on Medium.

I have tried setting the voltage to 88-142 which is the lowest and highest setting possible, but that doesn't fix the issue. 

[BillP]

Mike,

Have you tried to adjust the sensitivity to Low? This may be being caused by harmonic distortion in the electrical sign wave. 

[Anonymous user]

Hi Bill, Setting the sensitivity to low is the only thing I have not done because of what it mentions if you set it to low.

"Caution: this will allow greater voltage distortions to reach your computer"

Which worried me because I do have my computer hooked up to the APC Back-UPS unit, however I will try setting the sensitivity to Low tonight and see if it stops the clicking noise from occurring. I'll respond tomorrow whether it continues to click or not based on this change in the settings.

Mike -

[Anonymous user]

I had talked with Customer Tech Support and I set the Sensitivity to Low a few days ago. Which 'Seemed' to work and I no longer heard the clicking sound occurring. 

However; after 2 days of no clicking.... I heard it click once or twice one night and then last night/early morning it clicked about 20-30+ times again. So now Tech Support asked me to try and set the Voltage to a lower and higher setting to see if that helps.

I had already set the Voltage to the lowest and highest range by itself - prior to setting the Sensitivity on "Low" and that by itself didn't work.

I just set the Voltage range as low and as high as it will go, so I'll have to see if that along with having the Sensitivity on "Low" stops the clicking from occurring tonight.

[Anonymous user]

Me Too. except it clicks and shots off the computer sometimes with loss of data. Battery fully charged and line voltage on. Thinking i had a faulty unit i exchanged it at Best Buy. Same issue.

my APC unit makes a great paper weight but as a "UPS" I give it a big FAIL.

[Anonymous user]

Hey Charles,

Yea I see way too many people mentioning this clicking sound issue (which I understand is a result of the transfer, internal relay from the UPS to the transformer for AVR boost or trim) but having had no issues for 5 months and for it to be doing this quite often all of a sudden for no apparent reason is not acceptable.

After talking with Customer Tech/Support, they are issuing an RMA request so that I can get a replacement unit since setting the sensitivity to LOW and the voltage range as high and low as it can go didn't fix the issue. It's not clicking 'as much' but it's still clicking more than what would be considered normal.

My only problem right now is that an old APC ES 550 BACK UPS unit I had before did this after working fine for 3+ years (plugged into the same outlet and with the same equipment plugged into it) and this new unit worked fine for 5 months but it's also doing the same thing. So if they send me a replacement I'm just wondering..... "How long til it has the same issue"?

With the old unit I tested it on different outles throughout the house and it clicked even without anything plugged into the UPS.

- Mike

[voidstar_apc · Accepted solution]

I think the bigger issue is that some customers do not tolerate any noise so if the UPS is clicking, that's a problem! But most of APC's UPSes are supposed to click as part of doing their job. APC doesn't really have great solutions for acoustically silent UPSes besides acoustical silencing cabinets.

It's possible for a unit to click more often due to malfunctioning, but it's also possible that changes in the electrical environment such as more disturbances on the power line requires the UPS to transfer more often, clicking as it does. For example, a laser printer on the same circuit will cause the UPS to transfer, as well as changes to the line done by the electrical utility, regardless of what's plugged into the UPS. A few years ago one person on the forum found his UPS started clicking after the utility installed an automatic meter reading system that communicates by distorting electrical power. So it will be interesting to see how the RMA unit performs. If it's an environmental problem, the RMA unit may exhibit the same behavior.

[Anonymous user]

Voidstar,

I will update people here about the RMA unit when it arrives and I've had a chance to check it out say for a fews days or a week (if it makes no clicking sound at all).

I would be able to tolerate the unit clicking ocassionally, but when it ends up clicking over 40 times in a single night (and that's only when I'm able to hear it) including times when it wakes me up since it's in my bedroom - I can't tolerate being woken up every 30-60 minutes because of a power surge protector.

As mentioned, the old unit plugged into the same outlet with the same equipment worked fine for 3+ years and the new unit worked fine for 5 months. Though I understand you're saying that there could have been a change made elsewhere (outside, whether it's something the electric company changed or as I had read about someone else's problem relating to an electric fence installed).

If the RMA unit works fine without an abundance of clicking, then I'll know that the unit currently plugged in is malfuntioning. I just think that if the old unit started clicking A LOT and when the new one was plugged in it didn't click at all...that is enough proof that there was no "Outside" interferance. If there was, it would have caused the new unit to start clicking immediately, not 5 months later.

I'll post an update within a week or two after the replacement arrives.

[Anonymous user]

Hey guys,

I thought I'd update people on the "clicking noise" issue I was having. I received my RMA replacement unit 2 days ago.

I hooked everything up as it was with the previous unit (so all the same equipment) and it's plugged into the same outlet as the one that was clicking.

This replacement hasn't made ANY noise yet. It's only been 2 nights (which is when the other unit was clicking 95% of the time) and I have the settings on "Low" for the sensitivity and the Voltage range at 88-142

So currently, everything seems to be working fine. The unit that was replaced was clicking every night, so for this replacement unit not to have clicked at all to my knowledge, tells me there was some sort of malfunction going on with the other unit.

Hope that's of some help to other people who may be experiencing clicking noises very freqently even with their Sensitivity on "Low" and the voltage range at it's lowest and highest peak.

- Mike 

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Dear Friend,

    The UPS or any UPS Unit should not click all the time...! This is not its job.!! Its job is to give you power when the voltage drops or  raises a threshold you define. It is very simple though , if it is clicking ,like mine does after 10 + years of operation, then 2 things are happening : 1] Your AC voltage is not constant ( that is a big lie because it is never constant but ..between logical levels) this means that somewhere in your line you have a voltage drop or sudden spikes ... the big problem is that if you have sudden spikes from what ever, then you must have 1 or 2 equipment fried ...toasted for good . If you have a voltage drop then again you will have some electrical units in the house to malfunction....!!!

                2] The UPS Unit is malfunctioning 100% . This means that the circuit responsible for the sensitivity of the voltage drops is not working at all. Maybe a faulty capacitance in the unit can cause the relay unit to activate or deactivate at random times.! If it is clicking a lot of times then for sure it is going to be fried soon and it depends on the life of the relay unit that the UPS has. The relay has more that 10.000 clicks/life but if your unit is clicking 40 times a day then do the math...!!! 

Final thoughts

---------------

If you want to test the ups about the clicks then hook a AVR unit ( AC Stabilizer- suppressor  unit)  in front of the  UPS and if it clicks again then you will know where the problem is... or if you have 2 UPS Units then hook one in front of the other and observe !!! GOOD LUCK. As for me I will replace it for sure.          

[voidstar_apc]

For that test you'd have to make sure your AVR or UPS utilizes double-conversion and maintains good frequency stability. An AVR or UPS that uses transformer taps, for example, would distort the line when changing taps. Any UPSes downstream would detect this and transfer as well. Your observation that the AC is never constant is very good. The UPS is looking for disturbances in the instantaneous DC voltage which varies at 60 Hz. It will transfer either because the input voltage doesn't match the expected 60Hz waveform or because the long term RMS voltage is outside the safe limits set for the output voltage.

[azbruno_apc · Accepted solution]

Just thought I'd pop in here to mention my problem with clicking on a BE750G. Over the past year or so, I'd notice there would be times when the clicking would occur a lot but after a short while it would stop.

So a couple weeks ago I had to shut down the power in my house to repair a kitchen hood. Starting after that, the clicking got very bad. I only noticed it when the computer was turned on. Sometimes it would go to battery power but not every time. I would get 30 or so blackouts a week, but the clicking was far more often. PowerChute showed the blackouts, but undervoltage, overvoltage and electrical counts were all 0. By the way, next to this unit is a BE550 which has never clicked as far as I can tell.

I had another BE750G unit which had a different problem, plugged it in and there have been no clicks since. So I wonder what happened when I dropped the power to the house.

-Bruno

[BillP · Accepted solution]

I'm new here. I had an APC BE750G for several years. I replaced the battery in August 2016 and all was fine. Around the first of this year (2017), out of the blue, it started clicking. Nothing had changed, no new electronics added, same as it's been for seven years. Thought maybe it was the outlet, so I moved it from my office to the guest bedroom and hooked up a HP Pavillion and monitor (different circuit breaker). Started clicking right away. Moved to another outlet, still clicking several times an hour. Not consistently, though.

Bought a new APC 750 to replace the old one in my office. Hooked up everything that had been on the old APC and the brand new one started clicking right away. I set the sensitivity to low, the volts to 136/92 and it's still clicking. Output is 119v. Plenty of room left, but still clicking 5-6 times a minute. Tried another outlet in the office, same result. I've got an HP Envy Phoenix; Dell 20" monitor; Epson XP-830 printer; Logitec speakers; AT&T landline extension phone; a Directv whole house Genie extension box and an Insignia 19" HDTV plugged into it. Out put is 119 volts.

Observations:  The clicking started out of the blue around 1/1/2017. Some days there is no clicking at all. Other days, both will click several times a minute for a few hours. Times it clicks are different each day -- sometimes morning, sometimes evening, sometimes both, sometimes none at all. There is no pattern to it; it's all random. When they click, the lights in the kitchen and dining room dim significantly (different circuits altogether). The only change I've made to the electric in the house is to the Kitchen and Dining Room lights. I switched the outlets to dimmers, but I only use them after dark, and the clicking happens when they're not on as well as when they are on, but the clicking did start about the time the dimmers were installed. Coincidence? 

I have a six year old 550 in the living room for the TV, DVR, Directv whole house main genie box, a floor lamp and VCR player. No clicking ever.

Any suggestions?