F02 Error on APC Back-UPS BR1500G

[Anonymous user]

Forgive me if I used the wrong model number. Our ups gave us error F02 when my sibling turned on his PC so I looked at the manual and it said unplug everything and power cycle it so I did but I tried putting the battery back in and it stopped detecting it. The second I unplug it from the wall it powers down even though it worked earlier. It might be my father replaced the official battery with some he had in his work truck (7Ah instead of the 9Ah that it came with but it worked fine). Anyway is there some way I could remedy this?

[BillP]

Hi,

You should brain dead the UPS to see if you can clear the error.

To do this, follow the below procedure;
 

1: Disconnect any attached load.

2: Unplug the UPS from the wall socket.

3: Disconnect the UPS' internal battery.

4: Push and hold the "On" button on the UPS for 5 seconds

5: Reconnect internal battery.

6: Plug UPS in to known good power source.

7: Turn UPS on.

If the brain dead procedure does not resolve the issue the UPS should be replaced. 

[Anonymous user]

Sorry for the late response. It does seem to be working now but I noticed that the battery cable was loose so I'm not sure if that's what caused the error or what, however, it is working just like it's supposed to now. Thank you!

[BillP · Accepted solution]

I have the same problem a days of ago. I believe that in troubleshooting, I did your trick (not in the manual) to wipe the memory by holding down the power without battery, then put in the battery.

When a new battery (or the original went back in, same condition) was inserted in the internal the battery level indication was flashing on/off and did not indicate any charge. ANY load did not work and immediately caused the same error. The internal battery that I took measures 26.2VDC, so the indicated manual description of shorted battery does not seem possible. 

I will try your specific recommendation again just to be sure, but I think the unit may have another issue. Do you have any further steps to confirm? I see others have had similar issues and some cases there were fixes by replacing the battery and some there were not. It's too bad this unit is so quirky with this condition. When it worked it was fine.

I don't think that I would buy the same model again (or even an APC) based on my experience. Too bad, because I have another one of a newer vintage still out of warranty in a different office. I have a new battery to put into it since it's also three years old (even though the battery indicator always says full) it seems that I should replace the battery before a similar failure takes place. So unless there is something you can do, I'll simply have to suspect the warning circuit as a point of failure and replace the whole unit if/when that one fails.