Back-UPS 600 (BE600M1) cycles on and off battery every other minute

[itmgr]

I have a computer, monitor, and printer plugged into a Back-UPS 600 in a manufacturing environment.

I can watch the event log on PowerChute and the Back-UPS goes on and off its battery every other minute or every two minutes.  It will go on like this for a day or two, and then will die completely because the battery is exhausted from all the on/off activity.  I have had the in-house electrician put a voltmeter on the outlet and he tells me that the voltage is steady.

I have tried to set its voltage sensitivity to green (the LOW sensitivity setting, 88 Vac to 142 Vac), but it has had no discernable effect.

I have a number of these Back-UPS 600's around the plant, but this is the only one giving me grief.

How do I troubleshoot this?

Is the Back-UPS faulty?  Does the in-house electrician not know what he's talking about?

Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[Teken]

There are a few things to consider as it relates to the problem you are seeing.

Battery: The battery is rated to provide 2-5 years of service life based on usage, temperature, and environmental conditions. If the battery has been depleted many times this impacts the cycle life of 260.

Consider replacing the battery if the above conditions are true. As the system will struggle and try to recharge the battery cell even when it’s end of life. 

If this condition is left unchecked the battery will begin to heat up, swell, bulge, and finally vent. All of the above battery conditions make servicing the unit harder and poses a fire / safety risk. ☝️

Load: If the connected load is near the maximum rated capacity of the UPS. And the battery is also marginal in overall health this too will cause the unit to behave erratically and also shorten the battery life.

Power Quality: The system will go into battery only mode when the following conditions exists. Some of these line conditions will not be seen & tracked in the APC Power Chute software.

High / low input voltage, frequency drift, fast voltage swings, excessive THD, surge, spike, lulls.

Neither the APC PCPE Software or hardware can tell you with a high degree of accuracy when THD is out of band. Nor can it tell you when very quick / brief voltage transients are present.

Only a power quality meter and a scope can monitor and capture the above electrical conditions. 

A simple test is to move one of the so called working units to that location. If there are no issues with that replacement unit than it’s more likely the original unit needs service / replacement.

Conversely, if the problem follows the original unit to a new location with different loads / no loads. That specific unit obviously needs a new battery to start. If the unit still displays the same issues you can always try a brain dead reset.

Brain Dead: Disconnect all connected loads and USB cable. Remove AC Mains from the wall outlet. Disconnect the internal battery cartridge. Press and hold the power button until you hear a click / beep.

You may (Not) hear anything at all either. 

Reassemble the unit and power the unit with no loads attached. The system will complete its self test (POST). If everything is fine it will pass and you can move on with connecting the loads.

Its imperative to note and call out if the battery is EOL / Marginal. You’re simply wasting your time performing the brain dead procedure as the unit will (Now) be in a unknown state and operate erratically.

If you have more questions please do ask. 👍

[itmgr]

Thank you for replying to my post.

The Back-UPS 600 (BE600M1) was manufactured 12/07/2023, I purchased it 12/11/2023, and I installed it out in the plant 02/13/2024, so it's new.

The environment is harsh.  I'm in Wisconsin, and it's summer.  Temperatures have been 70-90 degrees F.  There's been pretty high humidity lately as well, so it's cooking out in the plant.  In the wintertime, it can get down to 20-30 degrees F in the plant, since there's a nearby dumpster-sized trash chute that isn't sealed against the outside air hardly at all.

I brought in my "K*ll A Watt" device from home, and plugged it in that outlet.  I watched the volts for a few minutes.  The volts seemed to fluctuate from 116 V to 120 V.  Medium (red) sensitivity is 92 Vac to 139 Vac, and Low (green) sensitivity is 88 Vac to 142 Vac, but I never saw the voltage dip below 116, so in my mind the Back-UPS shouldn't be going on and off battery unless the outlet voltage falls out of that range, right?

I plugged the monitor, the PC, and the printer into the K*ll A Watt.  The monitor draws 23 W, the PC draws 23 W when idle and 40-60 W when doing something.  The printer is 11 W when idle, and I was very surprised to see it spike up to 825 W when printing.

Most of the time the idle draw is between 80-100 W, which is fine for the 330 W max of the BE600M1, but I don't know what happens when the printer is printing and momentarily drawing up to 825 W.  I guess the UPS must enter an overload condition, but is somehow able to handle it?

None of this really sheds any light on why it's constantly flipping on/off its battery every minute or two minutes.  Like you said, my cheap K*ll A Watt device is definitely not robust enough to show me power quality.

I noticed that the voltage dipped whenever the nearby palletizer was doing something, so obviously the outlet must be on the same circuit.  I suppose that palletizer might be causing THD when its motors and conveyors are abruptly turning on and off, and like you said, I don't have anything sophisticated enough to measure that.

I can try putting a different Back-UPS out there, but at this point, I really don't think it's the Back-UPS device.  I think the power at that outlet must be bad, and this inexpensive Back-UPS just isn't capable of smoothing it out.

I'm sure if I talk to in-house electrician guy about this, his attitude will be "not my problem", so I'm kind of stuck.  😒

[Teken]

Appreciate the detailed response as it offers lots of insight. 👍 You can follow the suggestions outlined up above from Brain Dead, Replace Battery, Swap the unit.

Let me know what you decide to do and the final outcome. 🤟