BE750G Random Shut Offs...

[Anonymous user]

Hello, Our BE750G is a few years old, and has been working well. The last few months, it has been occasionally shutting off at night. When we come in to turn computer on in the morning, we find the unit is off. This happens very seldom, 2-4x per month, but wondering what is causing it. There seem to no power outages when this occurs, as no other equipment is off and no clocks are flashing. We have one desktop computer, one monitor and one router connected to the unit. Any thoughts or suggestions about this?

[Anonymous user]

Hello, We tried the troubleshooting steps and found that when the battery is unplugged the power light stays on and it goes through the series of 4 beeps. We noticed that the modem and router immediately shut off when the battery was unplugged, but the monitor (which was in sleep mode with amber light on) stayed on in sleep mode until the battery finally shut off. We did not have our Master Switch enabled, which we have the computer plugged into. The connector to the battery seems to be firmly attached.

Would this indicate that we just need a new battery, or could something else be wrong?

Thanks again for your help!

[BillP]

Can you confirm what type of outlet your monitor is plugged into - what is it labeled? If you're getting the four beeps every 30 seconds, the UPS is able to run off of the battery and it is connected properly. It sounded to me that perhaps the modem and router were plugged into the Surge only outlets, and not the battery back up outlets..

[Anonymous user]

That's correct - the modem & router were plugged into surge-only outlets. So, we expected the surge-only outlets to shut off when the plug was pulled. The monitor was plugged into the outlet next to the Master, where the computer is plugged in.

We wish that there was a 'backup' outlet that was controlled by the Master for our monitor, so it could shut off when the computer shuts down, but is still on battery-backup, not just surge... as it is the monitor is always pulling power in sleep mode.

Does this now sound like a failing battery problem?

[BillP]

Hi olliemurph,

I was just reviewing your issue here and thought I may be able to help. The BE750G will transfer to battery power for any one of the following issues.

A brown out when power drops below 88v,

complete black out,

an over VOltage when power rises above 142v

Frequency out of range

and something called THD or (Total Harmonic Distortion)

The above listed conditions when met, will cause your UPS to transfer to Battery power however may not be observed by any other of your home devices as these devices are not designed with the sole purpose of monitoring utility power and can continue to operate at much higher or lower voltages. During normal operation, the BE750G is desinged to operate on Battery power until it is no longer capable of supporting the connected load. At that point it will turn the load off and then itself. Once utility power has returnd to a normal operating range, the UPS will automatically power itself back on.

The BE750G also has something referred to as a runtime limiter. If the unit switches to battery and senses a load less than approx 30watts, the unit will turn itself off after a period of time in an effort to conserve battery power and eliminate an unneccesary discharge of it's battery. In this case, the UPS will not power itself back on when it observes utility power has returned to its notmal operating range.

Given your situation as described, I feel the second scenario is most likely occurring. You may be able to eliminate this from occuring in the future by adjusting the operating parameters of the BE750G, as stated in the User Manual. http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/KBOK-766PMZ/KBOK-766PMZ_R2_EN.pdf

As for your feelings regarding a lack of Controlled by Master outlet on the battery side, APC has also seen the addition of this as being helpful for some customer. This improvement has been added to our Back -UPS Pro line of units.

I hope you find this information helpful!

SecretSquirrel

[Anonymous user]

Thanks so much for your explanations and the link!

Questions:

1. Will setting the threshold programming require that the Master be enabled?

2. We currently do not have the Master enabled, so is our threshold programming set at the default level? Or does that programming only work if you have the Master enabled?

3. We only have a router plugged into the surge-only side. So, when the unit switches to battery at night, on the backup side the PC is already off, the monitor is in sleep mode, and a wireless phone is plugged in. What wattage would you estimate those to be?

[Anonymous user]

One other question: we have not changed the load on this unit for a number of years, so it is odd that the intermittent shut-offs are occurring just lately, with no other known changes to electrical supply... ?

[BillP]

Please see my response below:

Questions:

1. Will setting the threshold programming require that the Master be enabled?

     No, the threshold adjustment is independent from the Master function.

2. We currently do not have the Master enabled, so is our threshold programming set at the default level? Or does that programming only work if you have the Master enabled?

    The UPS ships in the medium threshold and the unit must be turned off, while attempting to adjust these thresholds to the lowest setting.

3. We only have a router plugged into the surge-only side. So, when the unit switches to battery at night, on the backup side the PC is already off, the monitor is in sleep mode, and a wireless phone is plugged in. What wattage would you estimate those to be?

     It would be difficult to say what the Monitor would draw in sleep mode not knowing the make and model. It's safe to say however, that between a monitor in sleep mode and a wireless phone base the wattage draw would be extremely low.

     Well below the trigger point for the run time limiter of the UPS.

4. We have not changed the load on this unit for a number of years, so it is odd that the intermittent shut-offs are occurring just lately, with no other known changes to electrical supply... ?

     Many electrical companies will dial back their power production during the late night hours, when power demands are at their lowest. When they do this, RMS voltage levels will drop slightly. The level of the drop you see can be impacted by your Household current consumption at      that time of night, as well as the electrical usage of other electrical consumers in your area. This increases the possibilities for Brownout conditions, which may cause the UPS to switch to battery. If you have added any new equipment to your household circuits or reconfigured them,      it may increase the overall current draw of a specific electrical circuit. A combination of lower RMS voltage from the provider at night and this slight increase in Current draw could result in a drop of voltage on the electrical circuit resulting in a Brownout. Most devices will not notice      this slight drop in RMS voltage. The UPS, however is monitoring the power and will switch accordingly. By adjusting the Thresholds for operation of the UPS to it's lowest settings, we increase the chances the unit will remain Online during these periods of low RMS voltage.

[Anonymous user]

We have changed the threshold programming to 'low' and will monitor the situation to see if this fixes the shut-offs.

And, what a great explanation of the power drops - thanks so much for your help with this!

[Anonymous user]

Hello, Our BE750G is a few years old, and has been working well. The last few months, it has been occasionally shutting off at night. When we come in to turn computer on in the morning, we find the unit is off. This happens very seldom, 2-4x per month, but wondering what is causing it. There seem to no power outages when this occurs, as no other equipment is off and no clocks are flashing. We have one desktop computer, one monitor and one router connected to the unit. Any thoughts or suggestions about this?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi - just to clarify, you're saying the "unit" is off - you mean the entire BE750G, correct (as opposed to the computer)? And there is no light on it either?

If it is a few years old, my first thought was to verify the UPS works on battery power. Perhaps there is an issue and the UPS needs to go to battery due to something like electrical noise (as opposed to a full blackout) and the battery is older and not supporting the UPS. Either way, a pull plug test will test many aspects of operation. Before proceeding, you could also disconnect the equipment, turn off the UPS, unplug it from the wall and go ahead and turn it over and verify the battery connectors/leads are securely connected to the battery.

What I'd suggest is plugging a non critical load into the Battery Back Up + Surge outlets, such as a lamp, clock radio, etc and then have the UPS on and unplug it from the wall to see if the UPS switches to battery. Let it run for a few minutes and see if anything happens or the attached equipment turns off.