Should PC auto shutdown if battery life warning rings?

[Anonymous user]

Hi.  I have an 18 month old battery in an ES 750.  The continuous ring went off and then the computer just went off, prompting the Windows 7 "incorrectly shutdown" warning.  This has happened twice now.

The replacement may take a week to get here.  Shouldn't the powerchute software (which is detecting the device) shut the machine down if there is a problem with the battery prompting a continuous alarm?

[BillP]

Hi Nicholas,

It is hard to give you an answer with what you have provided.

What is this "continuous ring"? What prompted the unit to go off, a input power issue? Did it go to battery at all?  Has powerchute shut down your computer gracefully in the past (meaning is it properly configured)?  What outlets do you have the computer plugged into (is it in the surge only outlet)?  What is the exact model and serial of the unit?  If you were to pull the plug of the unit from utility power, would it go to battery as it should right now?

[Anonymous user]

BE750G

3B0808X16514

The continuous ring means the battery needs to be replaced.  I did try pulling power and the unit did not supply power to the PC.  We haven't had more than short term blackouts, less time than powerchute is configured to shut it off in.  PC is plugged into backup, not "surge only."

I've ordered the replacement battery, but am not understanding why it won't shut itself off.  

Remaining battery power is now listed as 7% and charging.  Think it has dropped.  Says "Passed test on 04/16" and "Last blackout on 05/17."

Is one and a half years a reasonable lifespan for a battery?  Don't think it loses power that often.

[BillP]

Hi,

If the UPS is rapidly beeping and the power on LED is flashing every ½ second the battery is low. If there is a constant tone and the replace battery LED is flashing the battery needs charging. If there is a constant tone and the power on LED is lit then the UPS is overloaded or if there is a constant tone when unit switches to battery the UPS is overloaded.

With either overload or low battery when an outage occurs the UPS could drop the load before the system has a chance to react.

As for lifespan, a battery should last more than 18 months however there are many factors that can affect the battery. Usage, environment, and age are 3 of the most common lifespan factors.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for helping.  I do not recall the power led status when the continuous alarm was going off.  Load on UPS is rarely above 90 watts.  Runtime had been set to 1 minute, though I see your point about low battery causing dropping of the load.

Next day the charge level is still at 7%.

I did order a replacement battery online.  Batteries Plus (charges 2x online price) locally told me that online replacements come from unsold batteries that are past the sell date.  Didn't believe him and so bought a replacement on amazon from buyclerk.  Could he have been right?

[BillP]

Hi,

If the replacement battery is a genuine APC RBC they the stock should not be older than 6 month. I looked at the Buyclerk web site and they are selling AJC batteries so I cannot say how long the battery may have been on their shelf.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the help.  Guessing from your comment that the batteries do have a limit and maybe I got an expired one last time.  Well if the unit lasts another 2 years, I'll get an APC.  Had no idea about the distinction.

I did just try the self-test and an error was returned:  Unable to perform self test at this time.