SMV1500CAI - Won't charge batteries

[teamzaptos]

Hi braintrust!

I recently obtained a used EasyUPS (SMV1500CAI) without the batteries inside. Upon buying new batteries and installing it, the UPS powered up fine but it wasn't charging the battery. Its connected to mains with no load. A couple of days later, the batteries were fully drained and the UPS was beeping. I had to manually charge the batteries using my 12v charger and it powered the UPS back up, with the battery indicator showing its full. But again, it started draining (no load, connected to mains) and eventually goes flat after 1.5 days.

Is there a setting/calibration required to get the UPS to start charging once you replace the batteries?

[Teken]

The problem you’re seeing is a common failure point on various models of APC UPS systems. ☹️

This is why you’ll see many of them being thrown out or resold in the aftermarket. 🤦‍♂️

Connect this unit to a computer running APC Power Chute software. Once connected the system may call out what the active faults are / error codes present.

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If we assume the battery is brand new and once fully charged. Reconnect the battery cartridge and report back what Power Chute Software indicates the battery voltage is along with its charging state. You’ll probably see the battery voltage begins to drop and the system does (not) reflect it’s charging.

You may also see the software indicate everything is fine when it clearly isn’t! 🤢 Report back what you see and observe along with some screen captures of the Power Chute Software displaying all the tabs with respect to self test status, input / output line voltage, frequency, power / watts, and battery voltage, percentage, and operational runtime with connected load. 

[teamzaptos]

Appreciate the reply mate! Im actually having issues with Powerchute detecting the UPS with my Windows 10 pc. Should i be using personal or business version

[Teken]

Your specific model UPS came with a CD that has a monitoring software called: UPSCAPO.

It’s very similar to APC Power Chute software. In case you have misplaced the CD here is a direct link to download the same:

https://www.apc.com/us/en/faqs/FA404031/