SU1400 Not Charging?

[Anonymous user]

Hiya,

I've got an old APC Smart-UPS 1400 that's been running well for the last 8 years! 🙂

The batteries overheated yesterday and I noticed the 5 battery level LED's were all flashing. I I removed the battery pack, which had also slightly leaked - I assume that's normal for something that's only supposed to last 5 years! 🙂

I've replaced the battery with a brand new set, but have the same problem with the flashing LEDs.

PowerChute shows the battery status as GOOD, but the screen shows;
Battery Capacity: 100%
Battery Status: Discharged
Battery Voltage: 27.87 VDC
Runtime Remaining: 0 min.
UPS Load: 28%
Temperature: 29.7^o^C

It's been plugged in for a few hours now, but it's still showing as discharged. How can the battery capacity be 100% with a runtime of 0 minutes? I ran a sef test on low load and it passed.

If this a charging issue or an incompatability between PowerChute Basic Business Edition and an old UPS?

Any advice, that's cheap to implement(!), would be much appreciated.

Chat soon.

[Anonymous user]

The runtime probably dropped unacceptably low before your battery completely failed. You should do a runtime test annually and replace the battery if the runtime at current load is no longer acceptable.

[EZ_Button_apc]

I'd recommend 2 things. First is going to be a manual runtime calibration. This is outlined in the document below and is just to make sure you're going to get the expected runtime from the batteries.

http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1497

Once you realize the you are getting the runtime, put a call into tech support at 800-890-4272. They can get you out a calibration key to to recalibrate the unit.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Hiya,

I didn't get as far as running the manual runtime calibration - I didn't have an easy 30% load that wasn't critical 🙂

I was talking to APC about the Calibration Key and they sent me the manual steps to perform the same function. Hyperterminal and change the Battery Constant. Seems the constant value is different for each model of UPS, so I'll not publish the value here, but a value of 0x14 is bad, and one much bigger is better! 🙂

I've now donce a runtime calibration via Powerchute and all seems to be functioning correctly!

Thanks for the advice, and I've learnt a lot about the CalKey stuff.

Chat soon.