APC BackUPS Randomly Shuts off

[MichaelK]

I have a new (two months old) unit that has a couple of computers and a printer connected to it, but also has my internet moden/router  Twice in the past month the unit has sounded an alarm and I have seen that the unit was shut down.  There have been no electrical events and nothing else has happened to cause this.  Is the unit defective?  Is there a way to find out what has caused this?  This would be a real problem if it happened while I was out of town because of the dependency of  internet service.  Thoughts?

[Teken]

You’ll need to provide a lot more information than what has been posted here.

Such as APC UPS SKU, logs, Diagnostic Beeps / LED status, and total power draw.

Questions Ask . . . 👍

[sammum]

Try turning off the printer... perhaps the printer's operation causes a brief increase in overall power consumption... Is it a laser printer?

[MichaelK]

I am not able to botain any of the stats.  The unit does not give me diagnosic access as far as I can tell, but I will investigate this further.  Thanks.

[MichaelK]

This could be the issue.  I do have a laser printer although there is a Monster Power unit in the middle.  I will try plugging the laser printer into a different outlet separae from the UPS.  Thanks.

[Teken · Accepted solution]

The UPS is designed to support computers, monitors, network, and low current devices like your router / modem.

There are two rows of outlets on the UPS Protected (Battery) and Unprotected (Pass Through) directly to AC Mains.

The laser printer would certainly cause an overload and shutdown the UPS as the printer began warming up and began operating.