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UPS goes to battery power when mains are on

Hi everyone,

Just a newbie searching for some answers. I have a brand new UPS - came
4 days ago. No name brand, bought to survive 3 second power failures.
650 VA, 390 Watts. The comp has a 400 Watt power supply and there was
nothing else on the UPS. Don't expect it to be a full load situation.

After running for a few hours, suddenly the UPS switched to battery
power. I shut down the computer as soon as I could. The mains were on,
everything in the room was fine. The UPS is behind a surge protector
and everything else on the surge protector was working fine - not a
glitch.

I checked the UPS on other sockets, and nothing doing - it just kept
going to battery power. After a few hours of mucking around, letting
the UPS sit, trying it on other outlets, etc - decided that I had blown
40 bucks, and needed to get a better UPS.

Tonight, came back, and checked again. Now the UPS works fine - shows
mains are on. Seems to be charging the battery when switched on.

I am confused. Is the UPS working? What happened? Tried restarting the
UPS on a different mains socket with no load so can not be an overload.
Let it sit for an hour before restarting - can not be overheating.
Brand new UPS that worked fine for 12 - 15 hours over 2 days or so.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I would prefer to use the UPS
then to throw it out. But I don't want it to quit on me if the power
does go out for a few seconds - I would hate to lose some work because
of a power failure. Need to be able to save documents and shut down -
nothing more than that.

Your help is MUCH MUCH appreciated. Thanks. Have a good weekend.

Anirban
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I would prefer to use the UPS
then to throw it out. But I don't want it to quit on me if the power
does go out for a few seconds - I would hate to lose some work because
of a power failure. Need to be able to save documents and shut down -
nothing more than that.

Keep it. It may have gone through a charging state where it switched over.
It should be fine after a day or two of soaking up power.
 
J

James Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi everyone,

Just a newbie searching for some answers. I have a brand new UPS - came
4 days ago. No name brand, bought to survive 3 second power failures.
650 VA, 390 Watts. The comp has a 400 Watt power supply and there was
nothing else on the UPS. Don't expect it to be a full load situation.

After running for a few hours, suddenly the UPS switched to battery
power. I shut down the computer as soon as I could. The mains were on,
everything in the room was fine. The UPS is behind a surge protector
and everything else on the surge protector was working fine - not a
glitch.

I checked the UPS on other sockets, and nothing doing - it just kept
going to battery power. After a few hours of mucking around, letting
the UPS sit, trying it on other outlets, etc - decided that I had blown
40 bucks, and needed to get a better UPS.

Tonight, came back, and checked again. Now the UPS works fine - shows
mains are on. Seems to be charging the battery when switched on.

I am confused. Is the UPS working? What happened? Tried restarting the
UPS on a different mains socket with no load so can not be an overload.
Let it sit for an hour before restarting - can not be overheating.
Brand new UPS that worked fine for 12 - 15 hours over 2 days or so.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I would prefer to use the UPS
then to throw it out. But I don't want it to quit on me if the power
does go out for a few seconds - I would hate to lose some work because
of a power failure. Need to be able to save documents and shut down -
nothing more than that.

Your help is MUCH MUCH appreciated. Thanks. Have a good weekend.

Anirban
You are suppose to let it charge overnight before connecting to a system.
It charges the battery and some will switch to battery power to selftest.
You can test it yourself to see how well it works. Just connect a couple
desk lamps to it, and then unplug it from mains to see how well it runs the
lamps.
 
W

William R. Walsh

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi!
After running for a few hours, suddenly the UPS switched to battery
power. I shut down the computer as soon as I could. The mains were
on, everything in the room was fine.

Powerline voltage can vary without causing noticeable differences in
brightness of lighting or functionality of appliances and other electrical
devices. What I suspect happened was a drop or increase in line voltage that
went far enough to trip the UPS.

Better UPS units have two ways of dealing with this problem. The first
method, found even in some cheaper units, is adjustable voltage transfer
points. If the unit trips too often, or doesn't react quickly enough, you
can reprogram the voltage levels (within a couple of volts) so that it will
work properly. The second method involves using a transformer that can boost
or cut voltage without going to battery power.
The UPS is behind a surge protector and everything else on the surge
protector was working fine - not a glitch.

The UPS has surge protection built in. I would recommend plugging it right
into the wall and not through an outlet strip or other surge protector.

You should also allow any new UPS (or one that has had its batteries
replaced) to charge for 24 hours with no load attached.

William
 
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