APC BR1500G-IN, Fan continuously on

[Anonymous user]

Hello all, first post! 🙂

I purchased an APC BR1500G-IN on October 8. This follows my generally positive experience with my 2008 era RS1500-IN, which this replaces. I have also owned various avatars of the smaller 600VA UPS units, which were for the most part reliable.

On first power up, the UPS fan was on and remained continuously on. It is so loud it cannot be used next to the load, which is a PC, which people actually sit next to. I disconnected all loads, connected it to mains power, and left it overnight.

The next morning, the fan was still on when I turned on the UPS. I disconnected the mains power at which point the fan was still running. No load was connected at this time. After a few minutes, the fan stopped. Everything was normal and we could use the PC again, which we did and things went well for a day.

We had a brief power outage (about a minute, which is descriptive of almost all power outages we do have) and when it came back on the fan kept running. It was so loud and so distracting I put the PC in standby and left the room. After three hours the fan was still going. The wattage meter showed 0W load, the mains is connected and voltage and frequency are within parameters. I installed the software out of frustration, which showed all parameters were normal.

I shut down the PC, removed all loads, turned off the UPS and disconnected mains power. The fan duly stopped after a few minutes. I let the UPS sit for an hour, and then reconnected mains power but did not connect the load (power switches were turned off). I then turned on the UPS, with no load connected. The fan turned on, stayed on for a few minutes and then turned off. I then began to turn on the loads one by one and the fan did not mercifully switch on again.

Is this the normal power cycle process for all APC UPS units now, in order to be able to actually sit next to them? Do the fans really have to be so loud? We run a recording and mastering home studio and this level of noise is basically unbearable and renders the unit unusable. The RS1500 has seen better days, but it never made this much noise. The fans were generally silent all through their operation.

I have claimed warranty support, but looking at the kind of feedback on Amazon (which I should have looked at before buying) this seems to be a very common problem with no specific diagnosis or resolution besides for swapping out units and batteries. I would rather swap this out for a pair of lower capacity units that did not have these issues. I would run a trio of 600VA units rather than have one occasionally maleficent device.

Thanks for any inputs anyone can provide. I am keen to sort this out before taking any steps for further redress. The load is around 80W nominal, 10W continuous and 600W peak. Basically one or two PCs with occasional high stress operation. The room is on the warm side sometimes, but I do use the AC when it is needed.