New BX1500G won't charge

[Anonymous user]

I have a just purchased BX1500G (serial No. 4B1226P43580). I flipped the battery over per the instructions, connected it to power and turned it on. I get the empty battery indicator flashing with a periodic beep. I silenced beep and left it alone for 9 hours. Then I checked the display and it is still showing a flashing empty battery symbol. Shouldn't it have had a least a partial charge showing after all that time?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

yes, it should. do you happen to have a voltmeter to measure the voltage on the battery pack? even though the indicator is flashing and indicating the battery is not connected, could you try to plug in a lamp or something non critical to it and remove the plug from the wall to see if it supports the load or just turns off? just curious to see if the battery is really "there" and the UPS just cant detect it or if there is a problem with the battery or UPS battery charger.

[Anonymous user]

The light turns off immediately when I unplug the UPS. Is there anything else I can check short of exchanging the unit.

The battery goes in with the artrows into the body and the green label side of the battery toward the side panel. Correct?

[BillP]

in all honesty, i dont have this type of unit readily available to me to check for you. did you just follow the instructions in http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/EALN-7SEGRP_R6_EN.pdf ? i feel like the battery can only go in one way on these. you can try reseating it to make sure it is secure.

when the light went off, did the UPS go off as well? and you made sure you connected the light to a battery back up + surge outlet (versus just surge)? silly question but it happens 😕

[Anonymous user]

I plugged the lamp into the Master port on the battery side. The unit and the lampboth went off when I unplugged it.

The battery may not be connecting because the alignment tab in the center dows nit go all of the way to the botton of the guide notch and the left and right side batteries seem like there is room to go in further when I press them down but the center connectordoesn't want to budge. Can I try WD40 on the contacts inside the unit?

[Anonymous user]

I am also having some strange issues with my BX1500G. Since I got it, it seems to "want" to switch to battery power for no reason. It clicks and makes a low whirring noise and then goes back to AC power after a few seconds. This happens every few days. Three days ago, we had a brief power outage due to a storm. I had plenty of time to safely shut down my desktop computer and turned off the larger consumers of power like the computer and monitor. The only items I left on were my cable modem and wireless router. The BX1500G reported that I had about 90 minutes of battery power for these two items so I was able to use a netbook computer for the internet. When I had about 15 minutes left, I powered everything off and turned off the BX1500G. Three days later (last night), I was awakened by low beeps every 4 or 5 seconds. When I got up everything connected to the 4 BX1500G battery enabled outlets was powered off (my computer and peripherals run 24x7). The other 4 outlets (not battery backup enabled) were working fine as was the cable in and out jacks. I was unable to turn off the BX1500G with the power button and even unplugging the unit didn't stop the beeping. After several iterations of unplugging and plugging, the unit briefly flashed the F05 error message and finally shut down. This morning when I awoke, I turned on the unit and it powered up fine but reported only about 50% battery power. I left it on and it eventually went to 100%. I still had all 4 battery enabled outlets empty so there was no draw on the battery. I then performed the self test. The unit clicked, made the brief whirring noise and finished the test. The diagnostic window (in Power Chute software) reported that the test was successful. However the battery life went from 100% back down to 50%. This leads me to believe that the battery had charged overnight to 100% and when I powered the unit on in the morning it reported 50% because it had gone through an automatic self test. Also note that doing a second consecutive self test kicked it down again, from 50% to about 20%. Last night, the diagnostic window reported an "Internal Fault" but this morning it said "Charging". The unit is still in warranty but APC has no weekend support so I will have to wait till Monday to find out how to go forward with returning the unit if that is what is recommended. Not sure if I should bring it back to the store where it was purchased but I still have the receipt if that is necessary.