XS 1200 goes on battery constantly

[Anonymous user]

I have a Back-ups XS 1200. Yesterday we had a storm, I didn't notice anything from it like a strike or anything, TVs and lights never flickered or anything like that. But during the storm my back-ups started having the following issue.

I've checked the support section and looked through the manual. I don't see any referrence to my issue.

My back-ups runs fine, status light is green "On Line" and is not beeping. But every minute or so (it is not exact, it is varying, sometimes it goes 3-4 minutes before beeping again.) it goes orange "On Battery", buzzes, and then beeps loudly. What could be causing it to go on battery so often?

I thought something was overloading it possibly, so I shut everything down except the computer and it still does it. Over night I shut everything off completely and tried to turn the UPS off from the front button but I couldn't figure out how to shut it down 😃 I held the button for 1-2 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds.

Any ideas?

[BillP]

you can try adjusting sensitivity on the unit which is noted in the manual. you can do it via the front switch or via software.

if that doesn't help, the second thing that comes to mind (because of how frequently and consistently this is happening) is "pings" from the power company having to do with their automatic meter reading (see my attachment to see what these disturbances look like on the power line). These pings cause disturbances on the power line and the UPS sees it and transfers back to battery power. you could probably check into the power company to see if they are using this in your area, especially if you just got a new meter installed or anything recently..

a little more explanation on this issue:

AMR (automatic meter reading) can be done in two ways by the power company:

Over the air - A receiver van drives around the neighborhood and polls meters wirelessly to ask for a reading. This shouldn't have any effect on the electrical waveform.
Piggy-backing - The utility company sends "pings" which are basically electrical blips in the sine wave to the meter, and the meter responds similarly to report back to the utility company.

The latter is where we have seen troubles with UPSs. Back-UPS will switch to battery and some Smart-UPS models will buzz (which turned out to be a harmonic rattle of the transformer in the UPS). It seems dependent on how large the blips are in the sine wave which is related to the size of transformer feeding the neighborhood.

[Anonymous user]

I unplugged everything overnight and let it rest. Seems to have had no effect. As for the sensitivity thing, according to the manual there are 3 settings, (L/M/H) and it is defaulted to medium. So the only place to go is Low and it says it is not recommended for computer loads. What would be the negative effects of using Low sensitivity with a computer load?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

here, this info below should help. in all honesty, the UPS isnt going to let disturbances to your computer that will cause damage to it.

The UPS detects line voltage distortions such as spikes, notches, dips, and swells, as well as distortions caused by operation with inexpensive fuel-powered generators or disruptions from the utility power company. By default, the UPS reacts to distortions by transferring to on-battery operation to protect the equipment that you are plugging into the UPS. Where power quality is poor, the UPS may frequently transfer to on-battery operation. Battery longevity and service life of the UPS may be conserved by reducing the sensitivity of the UPS, as long as your equipment can operate normally under the conditions detailed below. Any type of voltage disturbance includes; High/Low/No RMS Voltage, Total Harmonic Distortion(THD), Change in Voltage over Time(Dv/Dt), Frequency (Hz) out of tolerance.

High Sensitivity Mode
In the event of any type of voltage disturbance, the UPS will transfer to battery power and watch the AC line until it can transfer back to line. The transfer time in this mode depends on how far the line voltage deviates from the sinewave reference.

Medium Sensitivity Mode
In the event of a RMS voltage-out-of-tolerance(High/Low/No) and RMS-rate-of-change disturbances(dv/dt) in the line voltage, the UPS will transfer to battery power and watch the AC line until it can transfer back to line. In this mode the transfer times are longer but still within acceptable limits to insure the continuity of a computer's operation.

Low Sensitivity Mode
In the event of a RMS voltage-out-of-tolerance disturbances(High/Low/No) in the line voltage, the UPS will transfer to battery power and watch the AC line until it can transfer back to line. In this mode the transfer times are longer but still within acceptable limits to insure the continuity of a computer's operation.