ES750 not switching to Battery when Power cuts off.

[Anonymous user]

I have a weird issue with my UPS ES750. I bought it about a year ago, and the battery should still be good. Recently purchased a new Dell XPS Studio 435T and it's plugged into the ES750 now. I've mostly been using it without PowerChute (this is my 5th UPS from APC) and normally when the power goes out, the battery kicks in, I save my work and shutdown the computer.

So, just the other day, the power went out for a second, and the computer cuts off. The battery in the ES750 didn't even back up power at all. I restarted the computer, and a few minutes later, power cuts again, the same thing happened. I checked the battery, it seems to be still good. I plugged in a fluorescent work-light to the UPS, tried unplugging the power from the wall, and the battery came on, work-light stayed on, and the UPS beeped.

I decided to install Powerchute 2.2, I'm using Vista 64bit. Everything looks fine according to Powerchute, Load on the battery backup is way less than half of the max 450watts available. Battery is 100% full. Battery time is 12mins. Then I tried the "Run self-test"....as soon as I hit the button, computer cuts off! When I got back on, the "Date of last manual self-test" says "Never". And "Result of last manual self-test" says "Not Recorded". I guess it didn't even get a chance to record anything!?

Any idea what the problem is? I'm hoping this is a known issue, or someone has experienced this before.
Thanks in advance for any input.

[BillP]

what is the exact model off the bottom of the UPS on the white sticker? BE750G or BE750BB?

also, is it possible to remove the PC from the outlets on the UPS, and plug it into the wall, but leave the data cable connected to the UPS and try to issue the self test with the lamp/light as the load, to see what happens?

i'd also be interested to see what type of voltage is coming out of the outlets when this happens so can you use a voltmeter to check? and you said the entire UPS is turning off right? so you have to kind of depress the power button to turn it off then then back on?

this isnt normal so either there is a problem or we are missing something.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for your response.
When I cut power to the UPS, it's like the UPS never had a chance to even have the battery kick in for backup! The computer cuts off right away, and reboots automaticallly. Then it starts up with no problem with UPS. The UPS did not turn off, I did not have to turn the power button back on.

I think my problem is similar to this one, we have the same computer:

https://community.se.com/t5/APC-UPS-for-Home-and-Office-Forum/bd-p/home-office-forum

*For some reason, I'm not able to insert a link.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

hmm i cant see the link. do you mind posting it again?

[Anonymous user]

Managed to insert the link. Didn't realize that url's link automatically, I was trying to insert bbcodes.

[BillP]

if its the same exact problem, only the load should drop and the UPS should remain on battery. so after the computer drops, does the UPS still indicate its on battery with four beeps every thirty seconds?

[Anonymous user]

When the power cuts off, computer shuts down right away. Nope, if I remember correctly now, UPS did not beep, it didn't even switch over to battery backup. If it did, the computer would have stayed on. But when I plugged in the lamp, cut the power, the ups switched over to battery, lamp stayed on, and UPS beeped.

[BillP]

that entire test you did with the lamp makes me think the battery isnt able to support larger loads so maybe its capacity is dwindling.

has this ever worked with this particular computer though..?

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

No, it hasn't worked with this new computer. I don't recall it working on the old computer either. We have pretty stable power where I'm living, so that is the reason why it seldom gets to be tested. And I shutdown my computer every night.

At first I thought maybe the ES750 wasn't capable of enough watts to power this new computer. But according to ispalten, the other guy with the same issue, he had tested his same computer with several other UPS units with higher watts output, it still didn't work. According to him, our new Dell Studio XPS 435T needs a Smart-UPS which outputs a pure sine wave when On Battery.

[BillP]

what i would try is to put the UPS on battery FIRST (so pull the plug) then try to turn the computer on while the UPS is already on battery (and outputting a step approximated sinewave). this would at least tell us that maybe its the transfer time to battery (4-6ms on a Back UPS) or if it just doesnt flat out like the step approximated sinewave.

another thing to keep in mind as well for sizing is accounting for power factor corrected power supplies. you should find out if yours is PFC which it might state it right on it some place and [reference this article|http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=8883].

hope this helps!

[Anonymous user]

I have the exact same issue, same UPS and same Dell computer. Every time the UPS does a self-test the computer just completely reboots instantly. In doing some research though, it looks like the ES 750 supports 450 watts and the Dell XPS tech specs say the power supply is 475 watts. Could this be causing a load that is too much for the UPS to handle when it disconnects from AC power during the self-test?

I'm interested in knowing if this is just a case of needing a larger UPS or if it is needing the Smart UPS? I'd like to replace it. Not only is it not protecting me against power failures, but it's causing them.

Thanks.
Joe

[BillP · Accepted solution]

i will PM you the link.

[Anonymous user]

I just received a used SUA1000, doesn't come with a software CD, so I went to the APC website to download PowerChute Business Edition v8.0.0. Having problem with that, download page wont' load. Don't know if it's some bug with IE8 compatibility issues, or on the APC site. I did register and log in as required but that didn't help either.

Any ideas how or where to download the software?


Thanks.

[BillP]

it should work fine in IE8. i think the website was down for a bit today. if it is not back up by tomorrow, we can get you a separate link. please post back if you still cant get to it by tomorrow.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks winna! I just tried again, no change...

[Anonymous user]

Thank you winna, I got it! The APC download link is still down, btw.

[BillP]

yeah a Smart UPS will have that pure sinewave and also has a shorter transfer time to battery. it could be a combination of both.