UPS did not work ? what happen ?

[neko77025]

Ok .. So about 2 months ago I got this UPS. Tested it .. everything seemed fine ( as in can unplug it and everything works ). However, Last night we had A bad storm come threw. And lighting hit near us. It only seems like the power that this computer was on went out for A sec... Everything else .. my other server, ktichen .. nothing went off.

( was about about 80% done on A 3 day encode, (had paused it , when storm came.. did not want comp using all cores on BBU)).


My question is ... Was this A BBU issue or A house issue ? ... Kind of mad .. cause Had another encode going on another PC and it just has a surge protector ... it did not reset


Edit (added in) ... PC and 1 Monitor is Plugged to UPS BUU side .. Everything else is plugged in Surge only or Another Surge. Nothing is going into the wall.

However I do Have my Cat6 cable coming in from A PoE Powered cat6 into A Poe(in) Switch. But the PoE (out) Router / Switch is on A BBU also.

 

[Norton]

If you were running full load when the power went out then it's possible that the hold up time on the power supply was shorter than the transfer time on the UPS. Specs on both say no (assuming it's the power supply listed in your system specs) but that's in a testing environment not in a real life situation.

 

[tabascosauz]

I have the original BR1500MS and never had any problems when I needed to count on it. Lots of brownouts and blackouts where I live in the past few years. Throughout many different builds I've had - last year I was running a 5900X + 3070 Ti like you.

Are you monitoring your UPS via data cable to PC + HWInfo, or using Powerchute software? You can set behaviour in Powerchute (ie. voltage threshold for switching to battery, shutdown times). I think Powerchute also keeps a log of events that occur.

@Norton hold up time is reviewed to be pretty decent on G5 750 though. Although, may very well be a PSU problem - I've had split second brownouts and blackouts while PC is unprotected and my SF600 always handled it fine. Screen went black for a second but everything came back, no data loss or reboot.

I don't connect any networking to the Gigabit port on the BR1500MS, though.

 

[neko77025]

If you were running full load when the power went out then it's possible that the hold up time on the power supply was shorter than the transfer time on the UPS. Specs on both say no but that's in a testing environment not in a real life situation.

No , was not running any load at all .. Once storm came. I paused the Encode ... in fact, I also Switched the Power options to Power Saver. I closed programs that were of no use. (steam, discord, Track ir ... ect ect) . They computer was doing nothing... it had hand brake open .. but Que was paused.

I assumed I was going to lose power ... and was hoping to use the BBU .. took keep me from losing the work 2 days of encoding

Also when I lose power to the House ... My oven clock alway resets. All my smart lights turn on to full power .. when power comes back. Non of that happen.

So I dont think i lost power at all.

But I know this computer on the BBU restarted. Handbrake was close and all my programs I had closed were back on from (steam, discord ... ect ect)

 

[Bill_Bright]

No clue what BBU is - unless you mean battery backup unit and if so, why not just say UPS? A "good" UPS with AVR is so much more than just a battery backup. In fact, having backup power is just minor bonus feature. It is the AVR that is most important - at least 99% of the time.

And for the record, that is a "good" UPS. Well, at least that model is. Not sure about that specific unit. You might have got a faulty one (or a faulty battery cell). It happens, even with the best of makers.

You didn't really say what happened, only that it did not work. How did it fail?

What is connected to the UPS? If the computer in system specs, the UPS should have handled it fine. I have my computer, all my network gear and two 24 inch monitors on mine and it supports all that just fine. And I live in Tornado Alley.

Sorry Norton but that is not how hold-up time works. That is, hold-up time is not dependent on the load presented by the connected equipment. Hold-up time, as required by the ATX Form Factor Standard, means the power supply MUST maintain DC output if the input AC power drops below 90VAC (or 180 for 240VAC mains) for a minimum of 17ms. It does not matter if 0 load or 100% load. The PSU must still maintain power output. Sadly, some PSUs fail to meet that requirement even though they claim to be ATX compliant.

That UPS however, has a cutover spec of 10ms. So it "should" have been quick enough - if the PSU was working properly

How did you test it? Just yanking the plug from the wall is a good test to see if it will cut over to battery. But it may not test how it deals under load, or for any duration.

I have two 150W lightbulbs I use to test my similar APC 1500VA UPS.

Did you test the wall outlet? The works optimally when the outlet is properly grounded to Earth ground. So every home and every computer user should have access to a AC Outlet Tester to ensure the wall outlet is properly wired and grounded to Earth ground. I recommend one with a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupt) indicator as it can be used to test bathroom and kitchen outlets (outlets near water) too. These testers can be found for your type and voltage outlet, foreign or domestic, (like this one for the UK, or this one for German outlets) at most home improvement stores, or even the electrical department at Wal-Mart. Use it to test all the outlets in the home and if a fault is shown, have it fixed by a qualified electrician.

Also, if the UPS senses a fault in the mains (to include an abnormally EXTREME surge or spike - such as when a lightning strikes "near" you), the UPS will, to protect itself and the connected equipment, shut down. That may seem counterintuitive, but it is better than burning down the house.

I will add that having a good UPS with AVR is not so you can continue working. It is so you have sufficient time to "gracefully" save all your open files, exit your programs, shutdown Windows and power off the computer.

My "guess" here is that lightning strike was just a little too close and the UPS shut down as a safety precaution. My second guess is one of your battery's cells is bad.

Do you have PowerChute installed and the USB cable connected? If so, does it pass self test? And how much runtime does it say you have now?

 

[neko77025]

No clue what BBU is - unless you mean battery backup unit and if so, why not just say UPS? A "good" UPS with AVR is so much more than just a battery backup. In fact, having backup power is just minor bonus feature. It is the AVR that is most important - at least 99% of the time.

And for the record, that is a "good" UPS. Well, at least that model is. Not sure about that specific unit. You might have got a faulty one (or a faulty battery cell). It happens, even with the best of makers.

You didn't really say what happened, only that it did not work. How did it fail?

What is connected to the UPS? If the computer in system specs, the UPS should have handled it fine. I have my computer, all my network gear and two 24 inch monitors on mine and it supports all that just fine. And I live in Tornado Alley.

Sorry Norton but that is not how hold-up time works. That is, hold-up time is not dependent on the load presented by the connected equipment. Hold-up time, as required by the ATX Form Factor Standard, means the power supply MUST maintain DC output if the input AC power drops below 90VAC (or 180 for 240VAC mains) for a minimum of 17ms. It does not matter if 0 load or 100% load. The PSU must still maintain power output. Sadly, some PSUs fail to meet that requirement even though they claim to be ATX compliant.

That UPS however, has a cutover spec of 10ms. So it "should" have been quick enough - if the PSU was working properly

How did you test it? Just yanking the plug from the wall is a good test to see if it will cut over to battery. But it may not test how it deals under load, or for any duration.

I have two 150W lightbulbs I use to test my similar APC 1500VA UPS.

Did you test the wall outlet? The works optimally when the outlet is properly grounded to Earth ground. So every home and every computer user should have access to a AC Outlet Tester to ensure the wall outlet is properly wired and grounded to Earth ground. I recommend one with a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupt) indicator as it can be used to test bathroom and kitchen outlets (outlets near water) too. These testers can be found for your type and voltage outlet, foreign or domestic, (like this one for the UK, or this one for German outlets) at most home improvement stores, or even the electrical department at Wal-Mart. Use it to test all the outlets in the home and if a fault is shown, have it fixed by a qualified electrician.

Also, if the UPS senses a fault in the mains (to include an abnormally EXTREME surge or spike - such as when a lightning strikes "near" you), the UPS will, to protect itself and the connected equipment, shut down. That may seem counterintuitive, but it is better than burning down the house.

I will add that having a good UPS with AVR is not so you can continue working. It is so you have sufficient time to "gracefully" save all your open files, exit your programs, shutdown Windows and power off the computer.

My "guess" here is that lightning strike was just a little too close and the UPS shut down as a safety precaution. My second guess is one of your battery's cells is bad.

Do you have PowerChute installed and the USB cable connected? If so, does it pass self test? And how much runtime does it say you have now?

So, When I said I tested it .. I just unplugged It from the wall when it was running A game. It kept everything running.

It does past the PowerChute self test.

PC is 5900x, (RTX 3060 right now, 3070ti is RMAed right now) Evga G6 850w.

When event happen. their was No load on PC. Closed out everything I could, Paused Handbrake, put PC in to power save mode. ( wanted to give BBU as much time as I could in case).

The wall out is good (grounded) .. own this Outlet Tester

As far as the event (Lighting, Hit Very near ). I was near the computer. I could tell the PC reset, right after it. (one of my monitors beeps when it is turn on) And could hear the fans ramp up.

The odd part was ... nothing in my house .. Kitchen Oven, other computer lost power. (kitchen oven clock always has to set back after power loss) ... So I did not lose power.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I promise you, if this were me, I would be upset too. I am a HUGE proponent of UPS and strongly believe all computers should be on a good UPS with AVR. That UPS should have reacted in time, either by compensating (AVR) or cutting over to battery.

I ask again, how much runtime does PowerChute say you have?

At this point, we just don't if this was a one-time fluke, or there is a fault with that specific unit. I would probably remove the battery and test the cells. But I have a big 10Ω 100W ceramic resistor I use to test audio amps that also works great for testing those cells. I put the resistor across the battery, then watch my multimeter. For a 12V cell, it should start out around 12.2V then very slowly drop. If fully charged and it quickly drops several volts, it likely is a bad cell. Note that resistor will get too hot to hang on to!

That said, your UPS is under warranty. And APC bundles their cells. So you don't want to void the warranty by breaking up the battery pack. If you have a couple standard incandescent lightbulbs, you can test your UPS with them. With 2 x 60W bulbs, I would expect you to get at very least, 20 minutes.

 

[neko77025]

I ask again, how much runtime does PowerChute say you have?

Under runtime tab .. its set to keep my computer on as long as possible (5mins)

Estimated battery time is 30mins (right now, thats with chrome tabs, Power mode balanced , Youtube video going) ... so at the time it should of been 30Mins +.

I was thinking ... I did not lose power (because Oven clock did not reset, All my smart lights did not come on) .. I was assuming this UPS failed to surge protect.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I was assuming this UPS failed to surge protect.

That is what it sounds like to me too. But like I said, if the anomaly was extreme (because that strike was very close), it may have simply shut down - which "IS" the correct action, in that scenario.

Remember, nothing can protect our equipment from a direct lightning strike. NOTHING! So if this was "very close" as you noted, shutting down was probably the safest best.

You may be stuck with no other choice but to wait for the next storm.

Your other alternative is to contact APC tech support and if you are lucky (and it does not sound like you are! ) you will get a level 1 tech who is actually worth more than the minimum wage he is probably getting AND is allowed to deviate from the troubleshooting checklist they are normally allowed to follow. Good luck with that!