BN1500M2 Power dropping.

[yoyodyne2112]

APC Back-UPS 1500 (BN1500M2) provides surge and backup power for a home office, connected devices include a Macbook Pro, CalDigit hub, a pair of SONY Bravia 40" monitors, an internet modem, and gateway.  Power has dropped twice today.  The duration of each drop was less than one second, resulting in the monitors resetting (simple power off/on event) and Macbook pausing (no reset, just pause).

There were no other indications of a power issue in the house, no lights dimming/flickering, and no warning tones from the UPS indicating a power loss.  The only outward indication of any issue was the monitor reset.  The UPS display is typical, when queried it indicates a 150W load, 121V @ 60Hz, but shows 19 events logged since installation roughly 2.5 years ago.  Unfortunately, it has been a while since I had a concern that necessitated checking the event log, so I have no idea whether the issues experienced today were logged.

We are located on the island of Hawai'i and operate on 100% solar power.  The system is about 18 months old, and we do not rely on grid service, except for when the weather is such that the system is unable to keep up with demand.  The recent hurricane activity (hurricane Lala) did just that, but we experienced no issues switching from solar power to grid power and back to solar before the storm to fully charge our storage batteries, and we expect to go through this again soon, as another storm is approaching the islands.

I have cleared the event log and will be tracking activity daily, to see if there is an outside influenence causing these drops, but don't feel like that is even remotely possible given the fact that the only devices affected are connected to the BN1500 only.  I would like to know whether anyone else has experienced something of this nature, momentary power loss to connected devices, without audible warnings, and with no other parallel issues in household lighting, etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Mike

[Teken · Accepted solution]

At first blush I would say the UPS transfer time isn’t fast enough for the hardware in place. You can easily prove two things right now.

Transfer time and RBC health by removing AC Mains from the wall outlet. If you see the same behaviour simply by removing AC power from the wall outlet.

The transfer time is too long and the only solution is to live with the problem or replace the unit with better specifications. If during the tests you also see the unit turn off immediately or far below the expected operational runtime when compared to the APC Online Runtime Calculator than the RBC is near end of life and needs to be replaced.

Given the information you provided the RBC and unit are still under warranty. As such (IF) the validation tests show a bad RBC have it replaced under warranty.

Questions Ask . . . 👍

[yoyodyne2112]

Thanks for your response and the information you provided.  Prior to reading your message, I experienced another incident and since I was not surprised by the event I was able to notice more of the device behaviors specific to the event. The monitors are not powering down as previously thought, the HDMI input signal to the monitors is glitching, but I will proceed with the testing you advised, to confirm.

...................

I just completed the test you advised, and the unit is functioning properly: switching was automatic when the AC input was disconnected, the event logged correctly, and there was no disruption to the video signal or power to the monitors. 

With that in mind, the next link in the chain of equipment affecting both monitors would be the CalDigit hub.

Thanks again,

Mike

[Teken]

Keep us updated as to the final outcome and what you find. 👍

[yoyodyne2112]

Thanks again, for your advice.

I have been able to confirm that the BN1500M2 is not the issue, it is performing fine.  The issue turned out to be a needed firmware update for the CalDigit hub.  I was able to isolate the issue to the hub after a couple days of monitoring, and once I was able to confirm it was the culprit, I confirmed that an upgraded firmware was available and that took care of the issue.

[Teken]

Hi Mike,

Appreciate the follow up and identifying root cause and the final solution.

Rock On . . . 🤘