UTS-6 & Inverter Gennies: Addition To Troubleshooting

[PeteCress_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 10/5/2014

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Here's one that should be added to the UTS-6 manual's Troubleshooting section:

1) User acquires a second Honda EU2000i generator

2) User fires up his two EU2000i's in parallel giving a combined

   capacity of 3,600 Watts.

3) User forgets to increase System Settings | Generator Power

   Rating from 1,800 to 3,600.

4) User tries a test wherein total load exceeds 1,800 watts.

5) UTS-6 responds by turning off the LED of the offending circuit,

   making it look like a fuse has blown.

6) User replaces the fuse and, knowing that the total draw is well within

   the circuit's 20a capacity, tries again.

7) The UTS-6 goes blank and, when user tries to power it back up, it just

   emits a series of clicks and then goes blank - over-and-over again as long

   as generator power is applied.   None of the red circuit LEDs light up.

😎 User finally remembers that the 1,800 watt Generator Power Rating needs

   to be increased and user kicks it up to 3,600.

9) User repeats test, but the endless loop of clicking/shutting down with no

   red circuit LEDs persists.

What Actually Happened:

When the UTS-6 sensed the overload (more than 1,800 watts) one of the things it did was to reset System Settings | Gen Srge OverLdTime from the zero value required for inverter-type generators to 5 seconds - which caused the click-shutdown loop.

In desperation, user goes through the spreadsheet where they recorded all of their settings and discovers the overload time > 0.

User resets overload time to zero, the click-shutdown loop goes away, and all seems to be well.

(Screen snap of my complete setup attached.   The circuit settings are such that when the UTS-6 senses an overload condition in circuit 3 (the kitchen), it will shut down some of the other circuits in an effort to make up the difference.     The rec room and LAN closet circuits (4 & 6) will not be shut down for more than five  minutes so that the UPS' serving them will be able to take over for the shutdown period.   The other circuits may be shut down for an extended period.    I post this because programming load shedding seems to be regarded by many as a sort of black art.... not really covered in the UTS-6 manual.)

[BillP · Accepted solution]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 10/6/2014

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Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to post and share your experience and feedback. So yes, what I understand from reading is that by not adjusting the generator setting, the UTS essentially was overloaded (or so it thought) and the Adaptive Load Management (ALM) kicked in.

I will put a request in to add this to our UTS FAQ @ apc.com/support and see what can be done to add something regarding details in the next UTS user's guide update (which I don't know when that will be but I passed it along).