Is this normal?

[Anonymous user]

I haven't had my unit long, about a week. Yesterday, the power went off for about an hour. When the power went off, my PC was completely shut down. Everything was off. When the power came back on, I checked the status of my unit, and it said that there were 13 minutes remaining and that the unit was charging. I can't figure this out. As far as I can tell, there was no drain on the battery. Where was the power going? Can the unit lose power just because the external power has been lost?

Bill

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

Bill,

I guess the next question to clear things up would be, now that I understand that your PC was off, is whether or not the UPS was on at the time?

Do you power it off if the PC is not on? Ideally, when the UPS is used in that manner, the battery may start to discharge slightly because there is no consistent power being provided to it.

However, if the UPS was on powering nothing, it will transfer to battery regardless of a load attached, and will operate on battery for up to 3 minutes with no load or less than 50W attached, before powering itself off.

Obviously that will create a state of "charging" upon power restoration to the UPS.

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

Bill,

I hope I am correct in assuming when you say that you checked the status of your unit for runtime, you checked through PowerChute. Is Hibernation enabled on your system? Is the UPS data cable running through an externally powered USB hub? Within PowerChute, do you have it set to shutdown after X minutes on battery, or once there are X minutes remaining (basically, one is power saving, the other is max runtime)?

[Anonymous user]

K.M.P.,

I wan't really sure how to configure it. Yes, it was Power Chute that told me I had 13 minutes remaining. When I look at the Runtime screen, I have "Keep my computer running as long as possible" selected, and Shut down when backup power is 5 minutes. But my computer wasn't running when the powere went off, it was shut down and turned off.

Bill

[Anonymous user]

KMP,

Yes, the unit itself was on. I normally leave it on all of the time, not just when I am using the PC.

Bill

[Anonymous user]

KMP,

Gradually, I think I am beginning to understand the situation and what is happening. Inside the unit, in addition to the battery, there is "stuff." This "stuff" draws power (when the unit is on) and if there is no power coming in, the "stuff" will draw power from the battery. So my next question is, can the unit turn itself off, and if so, how do I set it up to turn itself off?

Bill

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc · Accepted solution]

Bill,

Other than physically powering the UPS off, or it shutting down after battery power is exhausted, the Back-UPS line of products cannot be commanded to power off after completing a shutdown. Normally it will just go to Low Voltage Sleep Mode after completing the hibernation of the PC, and sit there until either power returns, or the battery becomes exhausted. I believe it is that "stuff" to which you refer which is powering the UPS during Low Voltage Sleep Mode.