Back-UPS ES 8 Outlet 350VA 120V (6 & 8 Slot) Issues

[BillP]

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BE350R&tab=features

Our company is having problems with this (as well as the 6 slot variety) kind of battery.

We have computers and monitors connected to the "Battery Backup & Surge Protection" slots on these APC batteries, but during an outage, computers go down. We have it set up so there are only 2 computers maximum to one of these Backup batteries, so I'm not sure if its an overloading problem. In one case, we have two computers connected to one battery, and they both stayed online.

Some of our computers go down, some don't. What can we do to fix the problem? We only need our computers and monitors to stay on during a power outage.

Also wanted to know if there is an easy way to test out your batteries when there isn't a power outage (like do we just unplug your batteries from the outlets or not?).

Message was edited by: agvsport

UPDATE:

Another power outage occurred. I was able to save 2 computers that previously powered out during a storm (I moved their Monitor power chords from "Backup Battery & Surge Protection" to "Surge Protection", each of these PCs have their own separate Backup batteries).

I also found that two groups of two PCs connected to one Back-UPS ES 8 Outlet 350VA 120V (8 slot) Battery each caused all four to power out. With only one computer per Back-UPS ES 8 Outlet 350VA 120V (8 slot) Battery, I was able to save 2 out of the 4 during the power outage.

However, there is now a new problem that didn't exist before. There are two PCs (and their Monitors) connected to a Back-UPS XS 1000 (8-slot, http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=23). One of the two we have set up as a backup PC for the other PC. The Backup PC stays online, while the other didn't.

Message was edited by: agvsport

[BillP]

Greeetings agvsport!

It certainly appears that your issue with extremely short runtime is caused by excessive load on the 350VA UPSs as well as the likelihood that the batteries (at least those in the BE350U 6 outlet varieties) are old. These UPSs have a 200W maximum capacity, which is easily exceeded (as you discovered) by connecting two modern PCs plus displays to the battery-backup outlets.

These are the lowest capacity UPSs in our entire product line-up, and they are intended for use with one basic PC. An easy way to prove that it's a load issue would be to plug just one PC tower into the UPS and disconnect the UPS from the wall, forcing it on-battery. You should get some measure of on-battery runtime.

With brand new batteries at full charge, these UPSs would provide approx 10min at half load (100W) and just under 3min at full load (200W).

Are the monitors heavy glass CRT displays or flat panel LCD type? The CRT displays certainly draw too much power from the battery in conjunction with the tower PC.

As far as the issue on the BX1000, if both are definitely plugged into the outlets marked battery-backup and one did stay running during the outage, the other PC may be incompatible with the type of power this UPS supplies when running off the battery.

An easy test would be to connect the PC that turned off into the UPS' battery protected outlets all by itself and pull the UPS' plug from the wall. If the computer shuts down or reboots, it may not be compatible with the transition time from AC power to Battery, or the output AC waveform.

[BillP]

Thank you for responding JoeMomma 🙂

Would first like to say that I fixed three more computers. I connected two computers and their monitors to a CyberPower 550VA battery. The battery works fine. The third computer I connected to one of the Back-UPS ES 350 (8-slot) batteries. This battery works fine with this one PC as well. Their is a fourth computer that I tried with a set-up exactly like the third one (Its singly connected to a Back-UPS ES 350 (8-slot) battery), however it doesn't work 😞

All the monitors (minus our one mac, which is one of the computers powering out during a storm) are flat panel monitors.

Idunno why one of the two PCs connected to the BX1000 would power out and the other doesn't. Hardware-wise, the only difference they have is that one of the PCs is an XPS 200 (thats the PC that powers off) and the other is a Dell Pentium 4 Processor (which doesn't power off). All the other PCs in the office are Dell Pentium 4 Processors, minus the Mac. The hardware difference may be the problem. I will try that trick you mentioned in your last paragraph on the XPS 200.

Some of these batteries may not be able to power a single computer. We most likely will need to buy some new ones or get the old ones fixed.

I'll update this thread with my progress as I continue to try to fix this problem.

Message was edited by: agvsport

Message was edited by: agvsport

[BillP]

Another very simple test of the UPS is to connect a 100W lamp to the UPS. Then unplug the UPS from the wall. I've already provided the runtime that you would get with a 100W load with a fully charged, brand-new battery. Based on the result of this test, you will be able to determine just how aged your battery is based on runtime performance.

[BillP]

Bittersun,

Did you hear any beeping from the UPS when you experienced these difficulties?

Perhaps you can also try to limit what is plugged into the battery side (perhaps just plug the LCD only) for testing purposes. If the UPS performs better, the issue is likely load-related.

What kind of computer and printer do you have?

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

I have a my computer, LCD monitor and printer attached to the Battery Back up plus surge protector and three other accessories attached to the surge protector only. So far, today, my computer, LCD and printer keeps shutting down while the others remained on. I have the same kind of UPS 350VA (8 slot). I didn't upload the software on my computer yet. I just set up everything two days ago. Now, I had to unplug everything from the back up because my computer keeps turning on and off while plug into this UPS unit. Could it be a faulty unit?