APC UPS for Home and Office Forum
Support forum to share knowledge about installation and configuration of APC offers including Home Office UPS, Surge Protectors, UTS, software and services.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Posted: 2023-01-10 02:15 PM
Hi. We have an ES350 that's beeping to signal it's finally time to replace the battery. A new battery is on order arriving tomorrow, so we're all good there (so far).
I understand that the battery replacement is done through a panel on the underside of the UPS unit. My problem is I can't get to the underside of the UPS, as it is solidly mounted (in horizontal orientation) on a plywood panel on the wall as shown in this photo. And, yes, I know the cords in this photo are plugged into only the surge protected outlets. I temporarily swapped them to those outlets hoping to give the battery some time to revive itself.
I have just a simple question. HOW do I dismount this thing from the wall?
It was here when we bought the house, so I didn't get to see how the UPS was originally mounted. I'm just assuming there must be two screws fastened into the plywood, with the protruding screw heads fitting into slots in the underside of the UPS.
I was hoping the UPS just hangs there and should lift straight up to slide off of the screw heads. I tried giving the UPS a good whack from below to slide it up the wall, or a whack from either side to try sliding it sideways, but it won't budge at all. It's on there really tight! I don't want to hit it any harder for risk of breaking something.
Could anyone tell me how this works, or maybe share a photo of the underside of their ES350 to give me a clue as to how this thing might be fastened to a wall mount?
Thanks.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Posted: 2023-01-12 04:00 PM
Here's what the backside of my Battery Backup Unit looks like. Note: There are NO slots at all for mounting screws! Mary was absolutely correct. This unit was never intended to be wall-mounted!
So how was it held to the wall?
Those four circles in each corner that I thought were rubber feet? Maybe they originally even were for rubber feet. But now they're just empty holes. Someone had simply driven four screws into the plywood to align with those holes and loosely hung the unit onto those screws.
The screw heads fit into the empty holes. But, because the screws are all standing at different angles, as the unit is pressed tighter against the plywood, the exposed threads of the screws wedge against the plastic rim of each hole, locking it firmly into place.
No wonder I couldn't slide it up/down or left/right. And when I only gently tugged on it, the screw threads prevented me from pulling it straight away from the plywood. I didn't want to pull any harder for fear of breaking anything. With enough force applied, it ripped loose from the exposed threads. Sheesh.
After all that, it was dead simple to lift out the old battery, slide in the new one, and pop the restored Backup system "back up" into its place on that @#$%ng plywood sheet. It's all good again now. Phew.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Posted: 2023-01-11 06:24 AM
Anyone?
Here's all I can figure out from the User Manual. This would be simple if the unit just sat freely on my desk. Merely flip it over and open the hatch on its underside to replace the battery.
The image in the User Manual shows four spots on each corner of the underside (see highlighted in red). Presumably those are just rubber feet, no?
The Manual says the UPS may be mounted on a wall, either in a Horizontal or Vertical orientation, and specifies how far apart to put the mounting screws. Mine is mounted horizontally. But the illustration in the Manual provides no indication of how or where those screws fit into the underside of the UPS. Because it's solidly fastened to the wall right now, I cannot just flip it over to take a look.
I'm guessing there must be slots in the underside of the UPS case to accept the screw heads, shaped as I've indicated in red at the bottom of this image. But I don't know the orientation of those slots.
Should I push up/down, or left/right, on the UPS to slide it free of the mounting screws?
At the moment, I can't get it to budge without using excessive force. I'm afraid of pushing it in the wrong direction, as that might end up breaking something.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Posted: 2023-01-12 03:03 PM
Success! Many thanks to Mary Joy, who patiently researched through User Manuals and listened to my sad story for over an hour on the help chat line! I'm more accustomed to receiving useless "Help" suggestions of, "Have you tried turning it off and back on again?" But Mary was a real champ and wouldn't give up until we could figure this out together.
Apparently there are different versions and vintages of this same Battery Backup Power Supply. Mary found an older User Manual that looked exactly like the one I posted above, except hers omitted any mention of "Wall Mount Installation". She suggested it was not designed to be wall mounted.
However, I'm looking right at ours and it's obviously mounted on the wall. And I found a version of the User Manual, pictured above, showing that it CAN be wall mounted.
Mary asked for the Serial Number printed on the unit's underside, as that would confirm the exact model we're dealing with. Yup, that'd be great, except the label is on the underside of the unit, which is the side firmly clamped against the wall. If I could get it off the wall I'd be happy to read the label.
What I really need is a photo of the underside of this unit, as that should help me figure out how it's mounted and which direction I need to push it to slide it off its mounting screws.
After several pauses putting me on hold, while Mary went off to source other documents or to confer with colleagues, she eventually came up with this photo. Perfect! That's precisely what I needed!
Here you can see that there are slots to accommodate screw heads so the unit can be wall-mounted hanging either vertically or horizontally. This, at least, narrowed my choices. To release, I either need to push straight up, or push to the right (away from the side with power cable). Thank you! Thank you! I'm off to try it right now.
Except...
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Posted: 2023-01-12 03:18 PM
I pushed UP, and I pushed to the RIGHT, and NOTHING. It just won't budge. Maybe I'm looking at this backwards. I pushed DOWN, and I pushed to the LEFT. Nope. This thing absolutely does NOT slide in any direction. It just doesn't move.
Now I'm thinking worst case. It's mounted on a plywood sheet that's screwed to the wall. What are the chances whoever installed this used BOLTS instead of screws? Maybe the bolt heads are inserted into the slots in the plastic underside of this unit, and the bolts protrude right through this plywood sheet and are fastened with nuts on the backside of the plywood? If the nuts are tightened down really tight, that would explain why I can't move this thing. Maybe I need to pull the entire plywood sheet off the wall, along with all the other equipment installed on it, router, modem, power cords, telephone lines, etc. That'd be an enormous nuisance.
Before resorting to that, in final desperation, I first tried prying up one corner of the UPS, hoping I could force enough of a gap behind it to see what's actually holding it in place. And...
.
.
.
.
It popped right off the wall! Eureka!
You're gonna laugh. I did...
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Posted: 2023-01-12 04:00 PM
Here's what the backside of my Battery Backup Unit looks like. Note: There are NO slots at all for mounting screws! Mary was absolutely correct. This unit was never intended to be wall-mounted!
So how was it held to the wall?
Those four circles in each corner that I thought were rubber feet? Maybe they originally even were for rubber feet. But now they're just empty holes. Someone had simply driven four screws into the plywood to align with those holes and loosely hung the unit onto those screws.
The screw heads fit into the empty holes. But, because the screws are all standing at different angles, as the unit is pressed tighter against the plywood, the exposed threads of the screws wedge against the plastic rim of each hole, locking it firmly into place.
No wonder I couldn't slide it up/down or left/right. And when I only gently tugged on it, the screw threads prevented me from pulling it straight away from the plywood. I didn't want to pull any harder for fear of breaking anything. With enough force applied, it ripped loose from the exposed threads. Sheesh.
After all that, it was dead simple to lift out the old battery, slide in the new one, and pop the restored Backup system "back up" into its place on that @#$%ng plywood sheet. It's all good again now. Phew.
Link copied. Please paste this link to share this article on your social media post.
Create your free account or log in to subscribe to the board - and gain access to more than 10,000+ support articles along with insights from experts and peers.