APC UPS - Replaced Battery, low runtime

[Cache]

Hi All

 

could someone provide some advice to me about this please? We have a Smart UPS 2200VA which is getting on a bit now and recently the battery came back as failing the Self Test. So, I ordered a replacement battery and fitted it, however now the UPS is only reporting a runtime of 4 minutes with a load of 20% - I'm sure it should be more the 4 minutes though....

 

anybody any advice as to whether I'm missing something else obvious that I need to do? I've run a self test and a calibration on it but it didn't make any difference. The Event log reports every 10 minutes that the Battery is Discharged and then 8 seconds later reports that it's within range.

 

Stuck as to what else to do now.

[netadmin]

I had the exact same issue on a Smart UPS 2200VA XL - runtime was unacceptably low after replacing the battery. I got with APC tech support and they had me try doing a complete manual "calibration" - basically turning off the power to the UPS and waiting for it to run itself down. The runtime then got even worse and they said there was unfortunately nothing else that could be done except for purchasing a new UPS. The issue for me seemed to be that the UPS had calibrated itself for the reduced charging capacity of the old battery pack and there was no way to reset this to factory defaults after a battery is replaced (the older units had a "recalibration key" that would do this).

 

My UPS was out of warranty but I had just purchased several new APC UPSes for several other closets, so they agreed to replace the non-working UPS at no cost.

 

This is a very frustrating issue. If they had not replaced my non-working UPS at no cost I would have looked elsewhere for the replacement model.

[Cache]

Grrrrr, I'll give them a call tomorrow then and see what they say.

 

I knew I should have ordered a computer instead of a battery.....

 

Thanks.

[tomearnshaw]

Hi Cache,

 

I had this issue when we replaced the battery in our APC Smart UPS 3000VA. Even though we had put the new battery and all was well, it was showing a rubbish runtime and the battery lights were flashing on the front.

 

I did some research and found some posts about some voodoo commands you can use with a Putty connection via a serial cable but then someone recommended a exe called APCFIX.exe. I was dubious at first, as the site is Russian, but the software is all in English and worked perfectly. It's a standalone installer and requires the serial cable that comes with the UPS to connect over COM1. I also had to remove the network card from the back of the UPS before it could communicate fully with the UPS.

 

The link (in Russian) is apc-fix.com - For APCFiX users - Статьи and is very straight forward, worked for me. Just crazy that you have to do this!

[Cache]

Well, it seems the UPS fairies have paid a visit during the night.....

 

After a week of constantly claiming that there is insufficient run time, I came in this morning to phone APC and the runtime double to 8 minutes. Not just that, it decided to do it 3 minutes before I got into work!

 

Running another calibration now and it's running much more like it should, so I'll give it another week and see where we go.

 

It's things like this that make you wonder what chance you have of keeping things working....