BR1500GI battery issue

[BillP]

When my BR1500GI is operating in battery mode (including the startup self-test) it depletes the battery charge from 100% to 0% in about just a few seconds (maybe 10 seconds or so). Often times, when I'm using my PC the UPS chirps twice/thrice consecutively with an interval of a few seconds and then PowerChute will tell me that the battery is disconnected or something like that. Does this mean that the battery is already dead? My unit is about 4 years old now but I seldom use my computer. Although, the UPS is turned on 24/7.

[BillP]

Hi,

If you have a DC voltmeter you should measure the battery pack. A good battery pack should measure around 27v DC. If the reading is low the battery pack should be replaced. The proper replacement battery pack for the BR1500GI is RBC124. 

[BillP]

Yes, I have a Voltmeter and I'll do that when I get home later. If it measure 27VDC, is the problem in the unit itself then? Did you experience cases lilke this already though?

[BillP]

Hi,

The unit should report the battery is bad so there is a possibility that the Back-UPSs needs to be replaced. You should check the voltage first. If the battery is bad (low voltage) you should check the internal battery connector with the UPS plugged in (does not need to be powered on) to verify it is outputting around 27v DC to charge the battery pack properly.  

[BillP]

Here are my observations:

1.) At 100% charge on the battery (left the UPS unit turned off to charge the battery overnight), the voltage is 26.60V.

2.) The voltage of the internal battery terminals of the UPS unit is 27.20V.

3.) From a 100% battery charge, I turned on the UPS unit and intentionally unplugged it from the mains. It started depleting the battery charge fast again but the output voltage and frequencies from the battery are normal values. When the battery gauge has no bars in it I turned off the unit and removed the battery again. It measured around 23V which is expected.

* I already tried to brain dead the unit to no avail. With these observations, it does seem that the battery is the only component at fault here, right? The voltage measurements of 26.60V to 23V in just a matter of seconds means that the battery is no longer holding charge at its specs. Do you concur? The only thing I don't understand is why doesn't the unit report that battery is bad? I mean, PowerChute does eventually tell me that the battery is disconnected when this issue happens but why don't I see the fault inidicators in the unit itself?

[BillP]

Hi,

If the battery drains UPS may report the battery is disconnected and that appears to be what you are experiencing. The battery should fail a self-test but the test is based on the load at the time of the test so that may explain why it has not failed. Based on the charge information the battery should be replaced and that should resolve the issue.

[BillP]

Yeah, that makes sense. During self-test, there is still battery charge but it just depletes unusually and that explains why it still succeeds on the fail test. I'm glad that the only problem is the battery. Thanks for the help.

[BillP]

Last question by the way, can I use my PC that is connected to the UPS even without the battery inserted? This is just temporary until I can get a new battery. I'm assuming the line voltage from the UPS to the PC would be cleaner compared to if I were to connect the PC directly to the wall socket.

And when I get a new battery, what is the first thing I need to do for calibration purposes? Also, for times that I don't use my PC should I turn off the UPS unit to prolong the life of the battery? I would think that keeping the UPS unit on or off wouldn't make a difference to the battery life as it charges it either way, right? And similar to car batteries, these batteries should always have 100% battery as much as possible, correct?

[Anonymous user]

You can continue to use your PC and the UPS. The UPS will continue to provide surge suppression and line noise filtering even without a battery.

While you could force the UPS to perform a runtime calibration by simply pulling the plug (and leaving your computer at place where it would generally be safe to lose power, like the BIOS setup screen) and waiting for the UPS to shut down, I have found it much more effective (and faster!) to reset the unit's battery replacement date parameter. PowerChute is capable of doing this and I think apcupsd can do it as well. Even if you don't normally use PowerChute, you could install it temporarily or use another computer to perform the task.

While things like the self test at every startup do make some difference to battery lifetime if done often, it's not a huge difference. The battery charges at any time the UPS has power, whether it is turned on or off.

It has been the experience of myself and others that APC's charging circuitry runs a bit on the aggressive side. Anything that periodically takes a little charge off the batteries (like the self test) might be beneficial by reducing any potential overcharge that might occur. Moderate to deep discharges on a regular basis will reduce battery lifetime considerably.

[BillP]

But will resetting the battery replacement date really calibrate the battery? I mean, I thought the CPU needs to get a "feel" of how long the newly-installed battery would last for it to be "calibrated"? How does resetting the battery replacement date do that?

With how you explained the battery lifetime maintenance, are you recommending to turn off the UPS when there is no load? Or is it fine to keep it on 24/7 with or without load?

[BillP]

BUMP!

[BillP]

Bill/William, can you please help me with my pending questions here? The question about calibrating the new battery is the last question I have for you guys. So do I just install the new battery and change the install battery parameter date in PowerChute right away even without waiting for the new battery to be fully charged/discharged? Can you explain how does this effectively do a runtime calibration in the background?

[Anonymous user]

Changing the battery replacement date parameter in PowerChute does not perform a runtime calibration. It merely resets the calibration data to reflect a new battery pack that meets APC's original specification.

You can do a manual runtime calibration after that if you wish. I don't see a great need in doing so, unless you have reason to believe that the unit might "oversell" its runtime estimate and shut down sooner than it should have. It is just that much more wear and tear on your new batteries.

I don't believe it makes a great deal of difference if the batteries are fully charged when you indicate that the battery has been replaced. I do not wait that long and have never had a problem.

[Anonymous user]

On 4/20/2016 2:42 AM, Kevin Mychal said:

With how you explained the battery lifetime maintenance, are you recommending to turn off the UPS when there is no load? Or is it fine to keep it on 24/7 with or without load?

You may do whichever you are most comfortable with.

If, however, you turn the unit on and off several times per day, the self test that takes place at each power up may wear out the batteries a lot sooner.

There will be no harm done if you elect to leave the UPS powered on at all times.

Do whatever works best for your situation.

The UPS charges its battery any time it is plugged into a working outlet, regardless of whether it is "on" or "off".

[BillP]

Ok. And if I understand it correctly, doing a manual runtime calibration calibrates the battery monitor that is inside the battery pack itself and would in turn report the accurate runtime to the UPS device/PowerChute software, correct?

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

On 4/23/2016 6:06 AM, Kevin Mychal said:

Ok. And if I understand it correctly, doing a manual runtime calibration calibrates the battery monitor that is inside the battery pack itself and would in turn report the accurate runtime to the UPS device/PowerChute software, correct?

There is no monitor of any kind in the battery pack. All the monitoring is done within the UPS. From there, the UPS simply reports all the data to PowerChute.