APC UPS clicking constantly

[ChrisH]

Our APC UPS is constantly clicking as if it keeps switching between battery and mains although the status lights on the front all report everything is fine. Has anyone ever had this?

[tech_guy]

Have come across this;

"I cannot say exactly what is happening at this point, but one possibility is that the UPS may be reacting to a distorted power signal (THD). THD can cause a UPS to rapidly switch back and forth form battery to online operation. If this goes on long enough, the battery could be drained to the point where it can no longer support the load while on battery, and this may explain why the output form the UPS is going on and off.

Depending on your UPS model, and operating system, you may be able to use PowerChute software to lower the UPSs sensitivity to power distortion, and stop the constant switching. Also, if you are using PowerChute software, you may be able to view a log or record of power disturbances. That may help you figure out exactly what is happening."

[tech_guy]

Also found this:

"If you have a laser printer on the same circuit(in control of the same circuit breaker/fse) as rest of the computer equipment, what you described often happens. Many laser printers draws power in pulses causing notches in line voltage. Put the laser printer on a separate circuit even if you have to run an extension cord."

Hope some of it helps.

[Joedetic]

I had that problem with an APC Smart-UPS 700 i've got. Lowering the sensitivity using the button on the back of it seemed to fix it. It was being powered from a small village's naff power supply at the time...so the distorted signal sounds about right.

[User3204]

We have a stack of APC UPS systems, all 1000 or 1500s (although I have two new 5000s).

They all seem to click onto battery at odd moments, some more than others, they do do "tests" on a daily basis.


Is it your electricity supply that is the problem ? We used to have a server room that had all the UPSs click onto battery when we turned the computer rooms on (and off) in the morning.

[ChrisH]

I will check the sensitivity thing. The UPS has its own dedicated feed from the consumer unit so unless there is problems further down the line I dont think it will be that.

Thanks for all the responses.

[john]

You sure its not a ticking time bomb chris

Sorry had to add that, back to sensible me now, can you look at its status web and see if theres anything useful in that, and also pull its batterys out, last one i had that ticked / hissed was oozing acid out of the usual APC Leaky Batterys.

[ChrisH]

ops: The main lead wasnt in properly by about a nanometer in the end !

[Ric_]

ops: The main lead wasnt in properly by about a nanometer in the end !

If you had bought the 'proper' opne that is hard-wired into the mains you wouldn't have had this problem :P

[jumbu]

My APC UPS - RS800 (bought in India) started clicking after 5 years. As of this writing it's with APC for servicing.
Now read this: It was connected to a good voltage stabilizer for about 4.6 years. I removed the voltage stabilizer thinking that the UPS itself has a built-in stabilizer. The UPS started clicking a month ago. It would click a lot sometimes (like once in 15-30 seconds) and click little (like once in 30 mins). I had replaced the batteries about 8 months ago. The APC service guy dropped in and didn't really have a clue. He kept stressing that if the sensitivity is set to low it wouldn't click. I had a hard time convincing him that the UPS must not click with default (factory) setting. I have another new APC UPS (RS1000) which doesn't click at all (regardless of the sensitivity setting).

After doing hours of reading on this issue, I finally concluded that the APC UPS need a good voltage stabilizer. If you don't protect it with a good stabilizer over a period of time (perhaps 4-8 months) the solid state circuitry inside the UPS starts acting up. It just starts malfunctioning.

I strongly suggest you have the APC service take the UPS to their service center and fix it. OR if you think buying a new UPS is cheaper go for it.

Do not use the clicking UPS. The voltage coming out of a clicking UPS could fail your costly electronic gadgets/components/computers/etc., I checked the voltage with the multimeter on my clicking UPS and it was quite high indicating that it's a major problem. I suggest you use a multimeter and check the output voltage at different times on your clicking UPS.

One of my routers stopped working, just went dead. And my mind tells me that it was because of the clicking UPS. Hope all you guys find my detailed feedback on this issue helpful.

All the best.