Need Battery Constant reset value for Back Ups Pro 1000 (BP1000)

[BillP]

I installed new batteries and need to reset the battery constant value for three USA model BP1000 Back UPS Pro 1000's (firmware version 13.J.D):

I already spent the money on the new batteries and also on the smart signalling cable needed for this.

The hyperterminal procedure described here works: http://www.rm.com/support/technicalarticle.asp?cref=tec817072

I found a table of battery constant values here: http://apcupsd.com/manual/manual.html#resetting-the-ups-battery-constant

But, the BP1000 is not on this list.

So, I e-mailed support for the answer. Firstly they asked "what I was referring to." I replied:

Quote:

I can confirm that the hyperterminal procedure above works exactly as described for an older Back-UPS Pro BP1000. My current battery constant is at NA. I need to know the value to reset it to, after putting in a new RBC6 battery.

This is their response:

Quote:

Please note BP1000 is a discontinued model and it does not the option to reset battery constant table. I just wanted to make sure before answering. If you have any other concern, please let me know.

Well, yes, actually, I do have another concern. I explained that the hyperterminal procedure works. So, in fact, it does "option to reset the battery constant table."

I know this is my first post, but, APC is a pretty big company, and my jaw is pretty much on the floor. I think this is a first for me, where, officially, I have been blatantly lied to, officially by support. And, for such a simple problem... it has an extremely short, and very direct answer! Which they refused to give me! So, I am quite a bit upset, especially after spending money directly with APC!

I am posting with the hope, that somebody knows it.

Please?

[BillP]

Hello,

I don't personally think support intentionally/officially gave you the incorrect answer as this is typically a procedure that is done only on Smart-UPS. In the early days of these UPS systems, Back UPS and Smart UPS shared some of the same hardware/firmware platforms but today they are completely separate. We do not receive requests on these older models and battery constants often at all so if anything, I can only fault support (in my mind) for maybe not double checking with someone else who has more experience.

Putting that aside, NA refers to Not Applicable for any response when talking to UPSs of these type. Just because you can get in via HyperTerminal or serial does not mean it supports every single feature/value the Smart UPS product family does.'NA' is not a valid value as a constant. I double checked my list of battery constants and I do not have it on my list unfortunately. If I had it, I would provide it to you for use at your own risk of the procedure you found since Smart UPS engineering I know did not want to have customers to this anymore since some customers have damaged their UPS by entering in the wrong commands previously and blamed us. To add to that, we don't have this procedure on our own website though for this reason.

If you want to try and change it at your own risk, I would assume SU1000 is similar as on my list, I have BP420SI/SU420iNET listed and the constant is A0. That is also on the chart on the apcupsd website I noticed. But, I don't think you'll be able to change it since you're receiving NA for Not Applicable for this UPS model. Otherwise, perhaps you received NA because you hit an incorrect key or the timing on accessing the key combination for the constant was incorrect.

Let me know if you have further questions.

[BillP]

I hit + and - and confirmed that I was able to change the constant to different values. I don't remember what any of them were, but it didn't occur to me until you mentioned that "NA" means "Not Applicable" that N is not a hexadecimal digit.

I left it at NA (I didn't want to change anything until I got a definite answer), but if "NA" really means "Not Applicable" then perhaps changing it to something else would be bad.

I will check the other two BP1000's in Hyper Terminal and confirm that they also have constants of NA, as one of them has never been used. In fact, if one of them has never been used, then whatever the constant setting that has would be the answer. But, while it hasn't been "used" as in plugged in, the yellow connector is attached at the back, so it did have the batteries connected. Obviously it needs new batteries, but, since the batteries were connected, it's possible the constant changed to something else. But, if "NA" = "Not Applicable", then I guess all of that is moot.

I apologize for saying support "lied," I felt justified in saying that, given the information I had. Really, all they would have had to say is something like, "BP1000 is a discontinued model and it does not the option to reset battery constant table, as a value of "NA" is not a valid hexadecimal setting and stands for 'Not Applicable.'"

It's not like I'm a complete cheapskate and refuse to buy new equipment, I just felt like these older models still work and rather than throw them away I could put them to use.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Yes, I understand on the support response. I agree it was lacking explanation and certainly could've been much better. I will look up the chat correspondence and address the specific incident internally.

On these models, I guess you'd be limited to a runtime calibration if the reported runtime is not accurate. Let me know if you need help with that.