I smelled SMOKE!

[Anonymous user]

I woke-up from a nod-out nap in front of my computer to the acrid smell of BURNING electronics! Took nearly an hour of panic searching before my old dude nose finally zeroed in on the problem ... one of my two BF500's.

I've been using the BF500's, for oh geeze maybe 5 years, without problem on my prime and back-up PC's. I'm sure they have "saved" me grief from a number of power outages and glitches over that time. Last time was a sudden power outage only about a month ago. Prior to buying APC power back-ups I lost a motherboard from, I'm sure, line power problems.

I realize now that I should probably not fault the APC UPS because, out of sight out of mind on the bottom shelf of my computer cabinet, I didn't think about them as I upgraded to more powerful and power hungry PC's. I would like though to try to understand what happened so my second BF500 doesn't meet the same fate!

Here's a photo of the component that "fried."

!http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/2563/cktboardburn100640w.jpg!

If APC tech help is willing I'll attempt to write-up an explanation of the line power voltage fluctuations I've noticed recently which I wonder may have been a factor.

Note: Yesterday I got a BE750G to replace the odorous BF500.

Mark

[Techie_apc]

The UPS is designed to protect the connected equipment from all the types of power problems. In my opinion, I believe that this unit scarified itself to protect the equipment harmful surges or power problems. If you think that the Power fluctuations on your circuit is frequent, then I would suggest you to check with your Power Company or have a qualified electrician to see if the everything is normal on your site. APC current UPS which uses Smart Signaling monitoring method can allow you to monitor the input voltage, input frequency and other advanced details. This will help you to keep an eye on the input power quality. I have had seen these types of issues when I was servicing the different types of company brand UPSs. In case if any one of the components failed to work in the circuit or if there is any internal fault, that may cause this type of issues.

Was there any damage to the connected equipment which was plugged into the UPS outlets after the UPS failure?

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

The picture clearly shows a transistor that failed. I don't think it has anything to do with the protection against surges, the transistor just failed...

The picture shows at least one MOV - The blue disc on the upper right, which is the component supposed to protect against surges and it seems intact.