Hello, everybody.

This is about a CyberPower UPS.

Specifications: 600VA/360W, Line-Interactive, LCD, 19"/1U (rack type), USB | OR600ELCDRM1U
Bought in: 2017

I replaced its 6V batteries once in 2020.

Recently it started beeping regularly. I powered it off and let it be. Some time later, I powered it back on, installed its software (PowerPanel), just so that I can access its logs etc.

The UPS reported what appears to be a phantom load, that quickly increased to over 100%, after which it started screaming.

So, I replaced its batteries again.

Both the old ones and the new ones were of type B.B. Battery HR9-6.

The new ones seem fine (6.39V without load). After some fiddling, their voltage (while disconnected) increased to some 6.4V.

This UPS never got heavily used, but bridged very short and very seldom power cuts for a normal office computer.

At the moment, the UPS does not supply power to any consumer (it protects nothing), but I connected it via USB to a computer.

The UPS starts normally with its typical two beeps and a short test. The computer recognizes it and its software (PowerPanel) reports everything to be fine. It boots with the following message:

- The battery test was successful, battery is healthy

Nevertheless, its Dashboard > Output > Load section keeps showing what appears to be a phantom load, which increases over some 1-2 minutes from about 48% to over 100%, after which the UPS starts screaming again.

It logs the following:
- Output is overloaded, the UPS will stop supplying power soon
- UPS has malfunctioned and is not working normally

The Dashboard > Battery section shows the following messages:
- Battery capacity is critically low.
- The UPS has stopped supply power.
- Capacity: 100%

Then it puts the computer to sleep.

The same happens under a light load (with a 220V LED lamp). So this thing happened both with the old batteries and with the new ones.

Questions

- Is this UPS dead?
- Is this situation common?
- How come these appliances have only a 3-year warranty?
- Can a user with basic electronic skills fix this?

To understand my level: I have a multimeter and an ancient oscilloscope, played around with it, like tinkering, but that's as far as I got in the area of electronics.

Thank you.

 

- Can a user with basic electronic skills fix this?

Most likely no. UPSes have big complex circuit boards inside that run firmware.

What's the point of even using this unit? It's designed for very short runtime. Basically between when power goes out and when the diesel generator spins up.

 

Most likely no. UPSes have big complex circuit boards inside that run firmware.

What's the point of even using this unit? It's designed for very short runtime. Basically between when power goes out and when the diesel generator spins up.

Thank you for looking into this. This UPS is meant to bridge whatever power interruptions may occur and give the protected computer time to go to sleep or shut down. So far, I noticed very short ones.

 

To check the actual capability of the UPS system, you can use some incandescent lights as an easy and safe test load. With the UPS powered , connect the lights and switch them on. The UPS should be stable for some time, and actually stay stable for days. That would be the second test, if it passes the first test, which will be simply disconnecting mains power while the lamps are lighted. There should be no blink, and the lights should stay at full brightness for the required backup time, usually five minutes.
IF the UPS system is supposed to send a shutdown command, or a power fail warning, that should happen. If it fails to backup , and the batteries have been at full charge, then it is time to replace the UPS.

 

To check the actual capability of the UPS system, you can use some incandescent lights as an easy and safe test load. With the UPS powered , connect the lights and switch them on. The UPS should be stable for some time, and actually stay stable for days. That would be the second test, if it passes the first test, which will be simply disconnecting mains power while the lamps are lighted. There should be no blink, and the lights should stay at full brightness for the required backup time, usually five minutes.
IF the UPS system is supposed to send a shutdown command, or a power fail warning, that should happen. If it fails to backup , and the batteries have been at full charge, then it is time to replace the UPS.

Thank you.

Is this kind of problem known and common?

 

Thank you.

Is this kind of problem known and common?

Yes, CyberPower is cheap junk.

 

Yes, CyberPower is cheap junk.

Thank you for driving the point home.

Is Riello any better? What brand of rack UPS would you suggest for a few servers?

 

Looks decent:
https://www.riello-ups.com/products/1-ups/44-sentinel-pro
https://www.riello-ups.com/products/1-ups/124-sentinel-rack

Eaton or APS online units are what I normally used at work.

I also have a few of these for home use, taken from old semi production machines. Bullet-proof.

 

Thank you. I appreciate your efforts.

 

Hello, everybody.

This is about a CyberPower UPS.

Specifications: 600VA/360W, Line-Interactive, LCD, 19"/1U (rack type), USB | OR600ELCDRM1U
Bought in: 2017

I replaced its 6V batteries once in 2020.

Recently it started beeping regularly. I powered it off and let it be. Some time later, I powered it back on, installed its software (PowerPanel), just so that I can access its logs etc.

The UPS reported what appears to be a phantom load, that quickly increased to over 100%, after which it started screaming.

So, I replaced its batteries again.

Both the old ones and the new ones were of type B.B. Battery HR9-6.

The new ones seem fine (6.39V without load). After some fiddling, their voltage (while disconnected) increased to some 6.4V.

This UPS never got heavily used, but bridged very short and very seldom power cuts for a normal office computer.

At the moment, the UPS does not supply power to any consumer (it protects nothing), but I connected it via USB to a computer.

The UPS starts normally with its typical two beeps and a short test. The computer recognizes it and its software (PowerPanel) reports everything to be fine. It boots with the following message:

- The battery test was successful, battery is healthy

Nevertheless, its Dashboard > Output > Load section keeps showing what appears to be a phantom load, which increases over some 1-2 minutes from about 48% to over 100%, after which the UPS starts screaming again.

It logs the following:
- Output is overloaded, the UPS will stop supplying power soon
- UPS has malfunctioned and is not working normally

The Dashboard > Battery section shows the following messages:
- Battery capacity is critically low.
- The UPS has stopped supply power.
- Capacity: 100%

Then it puts the computer to sleep.

The same happens under a light load (with a 220V LED lamp). So this thing happened both with the old batteries and with the new ones.

Questions

- Is this UPS dead?
- Is this situation common?
- How come these appliances have only a 3-year warranty?
- Can a user with basic electronic skills fix this?

To understand my level: I have a multimeter and an ancient oscilloscope, played around with it, like tinkering, but that's as far as I got in the area of electronics.

Thank you.

Hi,

Sounds like something is overheating, but you'd have to check for that and replace whatever part is causing that.

Could be something as simple as electrolytic capacitors. You could check for leaking around the capacitor bodies or on top.
This is common in many switching power supplies.

 

Thank you.

 

Thank you.

Hi again,

You're welcome

Another thing is if you suspect a part is overheating when the fault condition occurs, you can get some Freeze Spray and spray the part. If the condition goes away, then you can think about replacing that part. If it is something like the transformer though you may have to find out what is causing that because the transformers usually don't go bad, although anything is possible.
If the part is overheating and you spray it the condition almost always goes away if that is the bad part. There could be more than one though.

 

Thank you.

 

CAUTION!!!! In servicing a lot of different varieties of equipment, usually it is not the part that is overheating that is the one causing the problem. When a correctly sized fuse fails it is seldom the fuse that is bad.
I frequently grab discarded UPS packages to correctly recycle the battery packs. I have not yet come across an OK battery pack. The primary apparent cause of failure has been an excessively high constant charging current. That is to be expected, BECAUSE of the intention to provide a rapid recovery after supporting a system load support session discharging the battery.
Apparently the goal is to be able to handle rapidly repeated power outages. That seems unreasonable to me. Most power outages have been either a few seconds, or long enough to require "an orderly close and shutdown" , with power restored some time later.

 

Thank you. I think understand the gist of it.

 

And I am quite serious as to trying to service any equipment. If One part is overheating, very often it is some other part that has failed and is causing the overload.
With UPS systems there are indeed a whole lot of parts, and quite a bit of software, that must all work together perfectly. The bad news is that with many UPS packages, even if you were shown just which part had failed, getting a replacement could be a big challenge.

 

Thank you.