XS 1500 Battery Test Failing Half Of The Time When The Batteries Appear Fine

[Anonymous user]

I started getting a battery test failed message on my UPS, it was probably 4 years old, i could run the test again and it would sometimes say it is just fine. I went ahead and bit the bullet, bout replacement batteries for it, it immediately failed the test when it said the batteries had 100% charge, so i let it run down to like 5 minutes left out of 30-45, let it charge back up, re-ran test, test ok, marked battery as changed in APC software. Just now I had a message it failed again, ran test, failed again, waited a minute ran test, passed.

I have checked the batteries and both are strong, the wiring connecting the 2 is all in perfect condition, the pins on the receptacle to connect to up look very good.

Anyone else have this issue?

I could not fine the exact slide in insert so i got two identical batteries, and rebuilt the pack, i doubt this has anything to do with it as this failure issue was happening with the original batteries. i have good power here, UPS does not have to intervene much at all.

Disconnected Main, UPS ran on battery just fine for awhile, was beeping about a bad battery but was giving me very accurate time left readings, after letting it run on the battery for 5 or 10 minutes. it has 4 out of 5 charge, and all tests are now showing good, i already cycled these new batteries when installed like a month ago.

The UPS does not appear to be crapped out as it is functional, it has no problem running on battery and keeping things up and going fine, even for the long haul, i wonder if my original batteries were not still good, or still ok at least, seems to be something in the testing process. not sure why its failing?

[BillP]

Hi Ash,

It is important to run the self-test with your typical configuration powered on during the test. Changing the battery replacement date (which you appear to have done) in the PowerChute software should help to adjust the battery constants of the UPS to identify the new battery. If your original batteries were 4yrs old, it's safe to say the likely required replacement. Typical battery life is between 3-5yrs depending upon the environment in which they are installed. How much load do you have applied during your tests? How much runtime remaining is showing on the UPS vs the Powerchute Software?

Secret Squirrel

[Anonymous user]

Load is around 19% or 1 bar, both software and ups show around 35 minutes runtime, wattage ranges from 150 to 250. I have tested the ups twice once right after replacement and failure message used a 200 watt work light and it performed as expected. Ran another test and it kept everything normal up for 10 minutes and was time decreasing properly and drained the battery by 1 bar which then let all tests results show up good again.

by all performance tests I have done I see nothing wrong, It just complains on tests sometimes. The batteries both measured and right over 12 so no dead cells on my replacements

[BillP]

I would agree, it sounds as if the UPS is operating as expected. I might recommend you un-install the version of PowerChute you have installed and try and install the latest version. 

Secret Squirrel

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

I’ll give that a shot, however the software is correctly triggering the ups to perform internal test and the bad indicator is showing up on the ups itself