Back-ups & Smart-ups failing during power flickers

[BillP]

I have two Back-ups 500's and a Smart-ups 1500 that must be at least 15 years old. I typically cycle the batteries every 3-4 years and they've worked no worries for all this time. But recently I notice they don't transfer power during grid flickers and my computers shut down. However, should I throw the panel breaker, they will kick on.

Is my UPS hardware just getting long in the tooth or could there be another issue? None of them have the computers directly hooked up to them (there is either extension cords or power strips in line).

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[BillP]

Hi David 

One thing it may be causing this during power flickers is the transfer time.

If the power flickers off and back on, the 8-10ms transfer time (for a back UPS) or 6-8ms (for a SUA on medium sensitivity) will double as it is switching twice once to battery and then straight back to online. Whereas when you flick the breaker it is only switching to battery.

You could try altering the sensitivity setting on your UPS to see if this helps.

Regards

Matt

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the reply Matt,

I'm using the SUA1500 & a Back-UPS500.  One of the 500's does not have the issue, but the other as well as the 1500 do. The UPS fail only began in the last year. Before that all functioned well when there were flickers.

I can sure try your suggestion on the 1500 but that still leaves the 500 that fails. Is this kind of thing a normal problem with an aged UPS?

[kaltal]

Hello,

I have the same problem.  Quick power flickers cause the UPS to go into fault/alarm and cuts off power to anything connected to it.  Clean power outage doesn't cause any issues, and the UPS continues powering the units for a good while.  Unfortunately, my UPS doesn't have a sensitivity adjustment.  It is UPS 1500 model BN1500M2. Any possible solutions for that?

Thanks