Posted on March 27, 2011 1:03 PM
I came across a Smart UPS 1500 that needed a battery replacement recently. After the replacement battery was installed, I ran a self-test like I normally do to clear alarms on the unit. I noticed that the self-test reported that the battery had a runtime remaining of 0 minutes and a 20% capacity. I decided to let the battery charge up to 100% and then try a runtime calibration.
Later that evening, the UPS was reporting that the battery had 100% capacity and a runtime of 3 minutes with a very minimal load. I ran the runtime calibration and the runtime dropped immediately to 0 minutes with a 20% charge. I thought that the battery might be faulty at this point.
The customer happened to have another battery there to try. We put the battery in and testing showed the same exact symptoms. Therefore the problem must be with the UPS and not the batteries.
APC’s forum quotes “The battery constants give the battery status via their life expectancy. If the battery ages and is ‘exhausted’, the constant is overwritten. The management software calculates the runtime of the UPS with these constants. If the battery is now replaced, a self test must be done with the new batteries. Through it, the red battery replace indicator goes out and the battery constants should be reset to the standard settings. This does not occur in some cases. Therefore, the constants must be reset manually in order to correct this situation.”
Through research, I came across this article http://www.rm.com/Support/TechnicalArticle.asp?cref=TEC817072 which describes how to reset the battery constant manually. The only problem is that this has to be done by physically connecting the serial cable to the UPS, so I was not able to try this out yet. Since each UPS has different constant variables, you will have to call APC support and ask them what to set it to.
Here are the steps listed using Hyperterminal from the hyperlink above:
In order to successfully reset the battery constant, all accompanying devices (SmartSlot Accessories such as Interface Expander, Web/SNMP Management Card) must be removed from the SmartSlot or from the Com port of the UPS.
This is for the following people who have these symptoms
• You ran Power chute software and noticed your run time is less than it should be.
• You replaced your batteries with new one(s) and your run time is still very low.
• Your Battery LED lights are flashing / blinking without a full load.
• Your UPS program tells you, “UPS battery is discharged” from power chute software.
• Close power chute software, and stop the “APC – UPS power chute” service.
• Open HyperTerminal. Start > Programs > Accessories > Hyperterminal > Hyperterminal
• Enter in a name, such as APC repair .
• Be sure the settings are as follows : 2400 Baud, 8 data bits, 1 Stop bit, no parity, Protocol is Xon/Xoff .
• You should have an empty window. Press "SHIFT + Y" . You will get back “ SM ”
• Enter “ 1 ” two times, with a two second gap between the two. (Two cursor flashes)
• You should see “ PROG ”
• Enter “ 0 ”. This will report back the current state the UPS is in. A perfect running APC UPS will be at “ 8C ”
• Press and hold the “ - “ minus key to program the UPS to the correct state. You can cycle through the options until you get to “8C”
• Press the “ + ” plus key once you have selected the correct constant value.
• Press “ SHIFT + R ”, it should say “ BYE ” You're Done!
• Press “ SHIFT + Y ”, Enter “ 0 ” to verify your Program took. If it does, you have fixed your problem. If not repeat the process again.
• Close Hyperterminal, restart the UPS service, and re-run Power Chute software. You're UPS will show the correct run time.
This Info was provided by APC tech support back in June of 2006. My website is not going anywhere. Wanted to make sure it was well documented.
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