New UPS clicking couple of times a week

[Anonymous user]

I have used a Back-UPS ES 500 for a number of years. I just upgraded to the BP700UC when I bought a new computer.

I have noticed that every once in a while I hear a click from the UPS (no beep), perhaps a couple of times a week. Today I heard the click (no beep) and a pop-up on my computer said the UPS was on battery power. My desk light was on. The menu bar icon displayed the charging symbol and showed 99% which went back to 100% in a minute and icon went to the on line symbol.

Any thoughts on what is happening? I never experienced this with the Back-UPS ES 500. Note, the load on the BP700UC is about 230 watts.

[Anonymous user]

I have used a Back-UPS ES 500 for a number of years. I just upgraded to the BP700UC when I bought a new computer.

I have noticed that every once in a while I hear a click from the UPS (no beep), perhaps a couple of times a week. Today I heard the click (no beep) and a pop-up on my computer said the UPS was on battery power. My desk light was on. The menu bar icon displayed the charging symbol and showed 99% which went back to 100% in a minute and icon went to the on line symbol.

Any thoughts on what is happening? I never experienced this with the Back-UPS ES 500. Note, the load on the BP700UC is about 230 watts.

[Techie_apc]

Robert,

It appears that your UPS makes clicking sound whenever it transfers from online to on battery/on battery to online. The UPS will run on battery whenever UPS deems the power is unsafe for your computer equipment. I suggest you to adjust the UPS sensitivity to Low. This would allow the unit to be more tolerant of voltage distortion and, therefore, make less transfer to battery. Here are the steps to adjust the UPS sensitivity to Low.

Open the Power chute software>Configuration>Sensitivity

Once you inside Sensitivity, you will find the option to adjust the UPS sensitivity to Low.

I hope that this helps.

[Anonymous user]

Techie wrote:
Open the Power chute software>Configuration>Sensitivity

Once you inside Sensitivity, you will find the option to adjust the UPS sensitivity to Low.

There is no such thing. I'm on OSX using the latest version of PC for Mac (1.3.4) and it's very basic. Note, I uninstalled it since the Pref Pane that is part of OSX 10.5 offers more options but not sensitivity.

[Techie_apc]

You are correct. Unfortunately, the UPS sensitivity can not be adjusted through MAC OS X.

In case if you/or any one of your friend has got a Windows OS system....

You can adjust the UPS sensitivity through Windows OS(XP, 2000, Vista, ME and 98) based Power Chute Personal Edition software.
http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=129&ISOCountryCode=US

You can connect the UPS to any one of the above Windows OS computer via the USB cable, and install the PCPE version 1.5, 2.0 or 2.2(view the compatible chart for more information).

You can reconnect the UPS to the MAC system after adjusting the UPS sensitivity. The Setting will not change until you make any changes through the PCPE software.

If you do not have the Windows OS system, then you may need to check the wall outlet to see if it provides good power to the UPS. As I said earlier, the UPS will run on battery if the input power is not normal in order to protect your connected equipment from power problems. The relay inside the UPS may be the root cause for the clicking sound. The relay activates when the UPS switches to battery/from battery to online. Is the clicking sound abnormally loud? Make sure that the UPS power cord is directly plugged into the wall outlet. Connect the UPS to any other working outlet and check if it makes difference.

[Anonymous user]

Friends don't use Windows 😉

I guess that the original reason for my post was that in five years of operation, I never experienced this on my Back-UPS ES 500 so was somewhat surprised to see it on the BP700UC.

With regard to the power it is clean, looked at it with a scope, and exactly 120 volts. UPS plugged directly into the outlet.

This seems to happen only mid afternoon. The power company may be switching things to maintain proper load factor causing small glitches on the line. Strange though that my cheapest and most sensitive digital clock doesn't see it and start blinking.

My son has a Win laptop; also uses an APC UPS with his Win desktop. I excuse him though since he was smart enough to stay with XP and uses Firefox 😉 Next time he visits I'll have him check the sensitivity setting.

Thanks for your information.

Message was edited by: bobsenior

[voidstar_apc · Accepted solution]

Yeah, there are many possibilities, like the electric company using an automated meter reading system that communicates over the power lines, or an appliance kicking on mid-afternoon. Hopefully adjusting the sensitivity takes care of things.

Since you have a scope, you might try using a sine reference on one probe and the AC line on the other. Get them in phase, then trigger on the difference going above a certain amount.