I have an APC UPS with just a few things attached to it and in the past few months everything on the battery side has randomly shut off. No power outage or anything else going on* and everything else attached to the other side (and the rest of the house for that matter) is just fine. The only way to get everything back up and running is to power cycle it with the switch or the plug. Needs to be replaced…right?
I was at Best Buy today and grabbed a new one.
I’d guess it’s probably at least 5 years old so it’s probably about time to replace it. I’m pretty sure the battery still works so I’m guessing there’s something else wonky with it.
You may just need a new battery pack. IIRC, five years is a typical life for one. Unfortunately, it may well be that you can buy a complete new UPS for little more than a replacement battery as discounts on complete UPS units are common, but replacement parts don’t often go on sale.
I’m thinking the battery is still good. A few months ago I unplugged the unit from the wall to move the entertainment center and as I recall everything ran for another 20 minutes or so. I’m wondering if this is different.
I just remembered I put an asterisk in the OP, I was going to add that the most recent time it happened there was a thunderstorm happening. It’s possible that was happening the previous times as well, I really don’t remember. When I replace it I’ll unplug it from the wall first and see what happens. Regardless of the problem, I can’t have this happening so it needs to be replaced.
The batteries in older UPSs are usually lead-acid batteries. While these should last longer in a stationary appliance than in a moving vehicle, they’ll still lose the ability to maintain a charge, over time. Like the battery in a car, discharging them can, and usually will, shorten that time. Some (I don’t know how many, these days) use NiCad or lithium batteries, and these behave differently, and I can imagine scenarios wherein they could cause this.
However, since you say that power-cycling it restores the function (at least temporarily), you may be having some other problem, possibly related to the switching mechanism. A true standby UPS is a simple device, and is unlikely to display that behavior, but an online or line-interactive UPS has a lot more going on inside. A single bad switch might do it to any of them, though, especially in combination with a battery on its last legs.
I replaced it and ‘tested’ it by pulling the plug first…everything shut down. Then, when I put then new one in I installed the software that came with it and plugged the old one into (via USB) into my computer. It had no charge and wasn’t taking one either.
My guess, all those times that everything was shutting down were probably all during thunderstorms and the power was probably going off then back on quickly enough that most things in my house stayed on but the UPS couldn’t switch to the battery and then back to the mains fast enough. It wouldn’t be a problem if the battery had a charge but since it didn’t everything turned off. Why everything stayed off, I’m not sure. I can only guess that switching over to a dead battery confused some internal switching circuitry and it didn’t switch back. Either way, the new one is in now. The other odd thing is that the old one was running VERY hot. It’s inside an entertainment center (tons of space around it), tilted up on it’s side and up against the side wall. A few weeks ago I noticed I could feel the heat on the outside of the cabinet. It was warm enough that it was heating all the way through a half inch of particle board. I just assumed it had been like that for the past 5 years and didn’t give it much thought. In fact, it may have been…or that may have been one of the symptoms of it dying. Maybe something inside fried. But, like I said, I replaced it.
Now, try as I might the old battery is wedged in there really really well so I’m just gonna give the entire unit to my recycler/junker and let him pry it out since I’m tired and don’t feel like smashing the plastic case off of it right now.
A had a similar incident with a fairly new (2-3 yr old) APC. I was pulling my hair out because at the same time I had a new PC build with a MB that was giving me problems - so I thought my PC shutdowns were MB related. I eventually got a new MB and the new build did the same thing. I switched the plug from the UPS side to the surge protect side and never had another problem.
A few years later the battery started dying, so I got a new UPS. I made sure I got a different brand than APC (Trip Lite), and the new one had the exact same problem (UPS randomly shuts off, surge prot side rock solid).
Could anyone explain why a battery might cause this, since it shouldn’t even be using the battery unless you lose power?
I would check your voltage. If it dips below or goes over a certain threshold (90-150V maybe ) it’ll switch over to the battery. If you have crappy voltage quality it could be cycling the battery a lot more often then you realize. Was it beeping to signal that it was using the battery when you didn’t expect it to? Do you have any other electrical issues (going through a lot of light bulbs)? Have you installed the software and plugged the USB cable into your computer to let it monitor the status for a few weeks? That’s where I’d start.
Never beeped. No other electrical issues (in fact I have some digital clocks that are crazy sensitive and they never started flashing 12:00). Quite a few times the PC powered off while I was using it and I never had a flicker or dimming light. I had the s/w and USB installed for the old APC UPS. It never showed the battery < 100% up til the point I swapped it out. This new one doesn’t have s/w or USB.
For the OP - Yeah, a hot UPS is a bad one. Warm is OK, but hot enough to start cooking an entertainment center is bad. I wouldn’t bother with swapping the battery on it - you mentioned lightning, so I’m guessing the thing has taken a few hits and has properly sacrificed itself to protect everything else.
Fear the Turtle - a lot of newer PCs need sine wave power, rather than the square wave approximation most cheaper UPS put out. The unfortunate solution is to spend more money than you planned on a “true sine” UPS. Square wave approximations are fine for light bulbs, but some PCs will either work erratically, overheat, or not at all on it.
