Bad power kills RS-500?

[Anonymous user]

We have fairly 'messy' power at our worksite. all pc's (dell desktops) run a Backups RS-500. They don't go to battery mode very often (ie power outage). After a few months, the ups flashes all lights (1 second on 1 second off) and makes a short double beep.
Image:!http://aussiemuscle.totalnfs.net/images/24042008.jpg!
here's a pic with all lights on. Sticking a multimeter across the battery terminals shows the battery is low (10v). the side of the ups has a brown discoloration where it's been hot (where the charger is inside).
This has happened to most of the ups's around the office. we have to replace them after about 9 months of operaiton.
Wierd huh? APC support have no idea either.

[Anonymous user]

What sort of a "site" is this? Is this an industrial facility with a lot of machine loads?

You may want to have someone from your plant management or the utlity company arrange to have a power quality monitoring performed where UPS keeps getting fried.

[Anonymous user]

Ouch - that's definitely burned up circuitry/components inside the UPS.

SInce you are able to use a multimeter successfully you sound like someone who is technically competent. By yourself you could use your meter in AC mode to check the voltage from the wall outlets the UPS's are being is plugged into. You should see 115 to 120 VAC normally.

The more likely scenario is that there could be power spikes or surges hitting your ups's many times a day which your mulitimeter might never show - in that case there is a very inexpensive monitoring device called a "Powerwatch" made by ACR systems here in BC ( Vancouver , Canada area), that is also sold by Fluke ( huge test equipment manufacturer). You just plug it into a wall outlet and if there is over voltage, spikes or surges it will record it and the LED on the front will flash. It comes with software that allows you to download the results to a PC.

I have used a Powerwatch for years and its a great diagnostic tool. I also use a Fluke 43B (but these require engineering/technician skills).

Good luck!
Dave

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

yes, KVAr, it's a timber mill (lumber yard). We are asking management to put in a diesel generator for when the power is off for three days at a time, but this won't save the UPS during other times. The office needs some kind of filtering on the mains.

The powerwatch sounds great but a bit expensive for what could be a one off problem (assuming they put in necessary filtering etc.)

i put a backups to an electrial repair center to check it out, the charger in the backups had fried itself, possibly constant charging the battery until the unit burned out. there was scoring on the main board and around the area of the internal charger. Not sure what this is caused by or if this is what has happened to all the ups that have started bipping.

Message was edited by: willmo637