SMC1500-2UC: UPS clicks > Battery Alert icon starts flashing > clicks, then goes away > clicks, then comes back, etc. What does this mean?

[Anonymous user]

I bought a server cabinet that came with the APC SMC1500-2UC UPS.  I have never operated a UPS before so I'm really lost. 

The UPS turns on, the battery indicator seems to be full but after a few seconds I hear a click and the flashing battery alert indicator shows up with an empty battery bar.  The battery alert icon flashes and there is a constant beeping sound for a few seconds and then I hear a click and the battery alert icon goes away and the battery status bar goes back to full.  It repeats like this forever.  Happens with or without load.  I have changed the sensitivity to low but no difference.

I have read the documentation and the closest thing I could find is that the UPS has an internal fault and it needs to be serviced.  Is this accurate?  What does this exactly mean and can I service it myself?  

[robmir_apc]

To me  looks more like a battery pack failure and I don't think there is something wrong with the UPS by itself. If you are handy you could remove the battery pack, open it's cover and check the voltage of each one  of the batteries inside, may be one of them is faulty and then you decide if you will buy a new complete battery pack or replace only the faulty battery and have your UPS operative for a while until take further actions !!!!

In the UPS menu there should be stored a date when the batteries where installed and that could give you an idea if the battery pack should be replaced at all or is just bad luck that only one of the batteries went bad. 

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for the reply.  I'm not really familiar/comfortable with working on electrical issues so I was wondering can I easily check the voltages of the batteries with a multimeter? 

I do suspect the batteries may be old because the person I bought them from was not tech savvy at all and I highly doubt they were keen enough to stay on top of battery maintenance.  I believe they originally bought the unit 5ish years ago, give or take, and the batteries likely are that old.  I don't mind replacing them, I was just checking here first in case a fresh set of batteries wouldn't solve the issue.

[robmir_apc]

You should use a multimeter to  check each one but now that you noted they are about 5 years old it's quite clear that they are way past they projected 3  years life.

Just buy a set of a good brand of the same size batteries that came with the UPS from a source that sells a lot as to be  sure they are fresh  and replace them yourself, is not big deal and probably when you turn on the UPS it will ask you if the batteries are new, select yes, fill the month and year, save it  and you are all set or enter in the setup and adjust it yourself.