BE325R Clicking!

[Anonymous user]

BE325R is acting up:
Erratic quick clicking noise (from relay within obviously)
AC Volatge readings at battery-backed up sockets...
Fluctuates from 121V hot-to-neutral 54V hot-to-ground 73V neutral-to-ground to something less* during click
Battery reads 13V DC
Any ideas? Is this unit toast?
It was only protecting 1 PC.
Always sounded alarm when washing machine came on, but other than that it was ok.
Thanks for any help.

*Can't be sure of low readings as digital VOM is too slow to react

[Anonymous user]

The clicking sound from the BE325R can be caused by laser printers injecting noise into the 110 vac line. The BE325R is apparently trying to compensate for the noisy AC by switching between line and battery power. I have a SOHO Brother printer which causes the BE325R to click constantly when it's plugged into a wall socket that shares the same AC branch the BE325R is plugged into (same room, same wall, etc.).

[EZ_Button_apc]

Generally this happens when you have slightly dirty power. It's a pretty common occurence. The UPS is simply sensing a slight power problem, switching to battery, then immediately switching back to normal mode. When you are at a borderline condition, you will simply only hear that clicking.

It could possibly go away in the near future and just be a temporary issue. I'd also suggest trying the unit in another outlet or other circuit to see if the clicking occurs.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks EZ.
The clicking is constant, although random.
I have moved the unit to another circuit... same thing (without load).
Voltage readings got cut off in my original posting...
Is it normal to have 121V AC across hot/neutral, but 70VAC hot/ground and 54VAC neutral/ground?
These readings dip when the click occurs.

[Anonymous user]

70VAC between hot-ground means one thing which is a high resistence ground path. Bad wiring, bad connections, rusted wires, rusted grounding rods, can cause this. If you leave your ground the way it is now, it can pose a safety risk for people and for your electronics and also having a neutral wire with a 54V potencial in relation to ground, is not good either. The difference between Neutral and Ground should be ideally at 0 volt, they should be at the same potential, specially for sensitive electronics.

You should call an electrician as soon as possible, both situations are not good.

[Anonymous user]

RAU -

Thanks for your reply & concern, but the readings I provided were only evident at the OUTPUT of the BE325R.
The outlet to which it is plugged in reads normal.
Guess it isn't a battery problem, no?
Can my BE325R be fixed?

[Anonymous user]

oh, i know what you problem is!

the polarity inside your wall outlet is reversed. Check if your outlet follow this pattern below, if not, change it and this problem will be solved:

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Q__cH8wcTB8e4M:http://www.tangible-technology.com/power/p2/7_out...

But I guess the reading between Hot and Neutral and Hot-Ground should be the same even with the polarities reversed. Check it anyway.

Message was edited by: rau

[Anonymous user]

Nope... wall outlets are fine. Correect polarity & grounded.
It's the UPS.
Question is, is it fixable?

[Anonymous user]

I made a confusion here. The same thing happens when you plug a 220V to 110V transformer when the polarities are reversed... Since where I live is 220V and I've seen this happen before and I forgot the fact you're live in a 120V land I had thought that problem would be the polarities...

Well, electronics are always fixable, what you have to check is if it is fixable at a reasanable cost. In some countries like mine most of the times it's cheaper to fix things than to buy a new one, in US I know sometimes it's cheaper to buy a new one than to fix it. I also know that APC has a policy of changing the whole the UPS "logic" board and put a new one or exchange the whole UPS when this happens and not only the faulty component, APC does the same thing here. So, call APC and see what they tell you because your UPS is defective for sure and I'm almost certain it is not the battery that is causing this.

Message was edited by: rau

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Thanks... thought that would be the case!