APC Back-UPS 650 Won't Restart After Power Is Restored

[Ratsima]

My APC Back-UPS 650 works fine in short outages. But, if there is a long outage which causes the Back-UPS to shut down it won't restart when the power is restored. This makes it pretty useless if the power goes out while I'm away from home.

Here I'm quoting from the APC page: Will my APC Back-UPS Automatically restart following the return of utility power?

"When adequate power is restored to the UPS (and is within the operating voltage range of the UPS) it will restart in online operation."

According to the page, the information applies to: "All APC Back-UPS"

But, it doesn't work with my Back-UPS 650. After an extended outage I have to manually turn it back on. When I got home yesterday to find the UPS turned off I checked the voltage at the transformer that supplies my neighborhood. It was 240 (I live in Thailand) which ought to be enough to start the UPS. It was certainly enough to run the fridge and a couple of air conditioners.

I have written to APC support, but have yet to receive a reply.

What am I missing here?

 

[chscag]

I'm wondering if the condition of the UPS battery is such that it's preventing a restart after long outages? It certainly sounds like that might be the problem since the unit works okay during short outages. Is there any way you can test the battery?

The last APC UPS that I had needed a replacement battery after 2 years which I thought was rather short lived. The newer APC UPS that I currently have is doing much better as far as battery life goes.

My current APC unit is a model 700.

 

[Ratsima]

Good point. Puzzled though as to how the battery would keep the UPS from starting.

Battery life during an outage is actually quite good. It keeps my 17 inch iMac, assorted hard drives, Apple router, Raspberry Pi and optical "modem" going for between 20 and 30 minutes. I wouldn't expect a bad battery to be that lively.

According to the manual, the battery is supposed to last three to five years. I received this UPS in December of 2017, so not even 18 months. Even with reduced life due to the hot environment it should be good to go; especially since it has had very few recharge cycles.

=====

Hmm. I see it has a two year warranty which should still apply….

 

[Ratsima]

I never heard back from APC via email so I decided to "chat". It was not a fulfilling experience.

I gave the guy the case number right away. It took him ten minutes to find it. Shouldn't be something like: copy the case # from the chat window and paste into the case management system? Oh, well. I guess my expectations are always too high.

Here's how the chat went:

Ross (5/16/2019, 5:57:09 AM): Actually our backups units, does not automatically turn on, in battery power, but it will automatically charge the battery.

Me (5/16/2019, 5:57:32 AM): The manual says that it will automatically turn on.

Ross (5/16/2019, 5:58:04 AM): I apologize for the confusion. You can check out this link for more info: Will my APC Back-UPS Automatically restart following the return of utility power?

Me (5/16/2019, 6:01:08 AM): Here's what it says: "When adequate power is restored to the UPS (and is within the operating voltage range of the UPS) it will restart in online operation."
Me (5/16/2019, 6:01:18 AM): It says right there that it will restart.

Ross (5/16/2019, 6:02:29 AM): It means it will restart if there is already adequate charge in the battery. In the event that the battery was completely drained it will not restart until the battery has an adequate charge

Me (5/16/2019, 6:03:42 AM): OK. So, the power at my house was off for less than an hour. 24 hours later the unit still had not restarted. Isn't 24 hours enough time to charge the battery?
Me (5/16/2019, 6:05:15 AM): As soon as I manually turned it on it resumed normal operation. So, it seems that even with an adequate battery charge it doesn't "restart".

Ross (5/16/2019, 6:05:34 AM): Ok let me just get clarification on this

At that point I had to go. He promised an email "in a few minutes".

I never heard from him.

But, it astounds me that APC would design a small UPS like this that doesn't turn back on after power is restored.

That means that if there is an outage long enough to deplete the battery, none of my stuff will be ON until I get back home. That means no remote login, none of my HomeKit security devices will work, the lights won't turn on at night, my WebCam won't work, etc.

I mean, really, what use is an UPS that works like this?

 

[chscag]

I completely agree with you. My APC 700 is likely not going to last much longer and I have been shopping around for a newer unit. I intend to stay away from APC UPS units after the last two that I have owned were disappointing.

I'll keep up with this thread with what I've come up with. B&H Camera and Photo (a large NY supplier) had a sale on some CyberPower units not too long ago. At the time, I hadn't thought about buying a newer unit.

Here's a listing of recommended UPS units. I notice that an APC unit is first on the list.

The 7 Best Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS) of 2019

 

[Ratsima]

Thanks for that. The only brands on that list that seem to be available here are APC and CyberPower, of which many are available. The 480 watt CyberPower is about US$45. Not bad. And it says: "Auto-Restart/Auto-Charge"

 

[Bignose2]

I know old ish thread but I have a back ups ES550 UK. Does the same thing, I think my battery is perhaps a little old but runs OK for many minutes.

Loss of power PC auto shuts down after 1 min. As soon at the PC shuts down the UPS has continuous shrill, beep.

There is still power to the other sockets from the battery as I have my modem on this.
I restore power straight away & nothing on UPS, no leds or power) apart from the very annoying loud screetching beep.
Press power on, beep stops & PC powers up automatically.

Power chute says I have 22 minutes left so quite a bit of battery (although does say 40 minute before power off so not quite right.)

Anyway, Is crazy as I was away yesterday, power cut for 2 minutes only but PC off all day & no communications with house as I think UPS did turn off completely as modem stopped also, I guess used up remaining power.

 

[chscag]

It sounds like you're in the market for a new UPS. You might want to check Amazon UK for prices and perhaps other stores known best to you. Around here in my area when we get severe thunderstorms I don't depend on my UPS. I just shut everything down and remove them from the power sockets. I've experienced a close lightning strike before that took out a lot of my equipment. Expensive lesson.

 

[RH7]

My APC Back-UPS 650 works fine in short outages. But, if there is a long outage which causes the Back-UPS to shut down it won't restart when the power is restored. This makes it pretty useless if the power goes out while I'm away from home.

Here I'm quoting from the APC page: Will my APC Back-UPS Automatically restart following the return of utility power?

"When adequate power is restored to the UPS (and is within the operating voltage range of the UPS) it will restart in online operation."

According to the page, the information applies to: "All APC Back-UPS"

But, it doesn't work with my Back-UPS 650. After an extended outage I have to manually turn it back on. When I got home yesterday to find the UPS turned off I checked the voltage at the transformer that supplies my neighborhood. It was 240 (I live in Thailand) which ought to be enough to start the UPS. It was certainly enough to run the fridge and a couple of air conditioners.

I have written to APC support, but have yet to receive a reply.

What am I missing here?

I know this is and old thread but I don't believe APC has any models of UPS with battery independent restart like TrippLite does. Battery Independent Restart will start providing power to the outlets after a long power outage where the battery is drained completely. It will also provide power to the outlets even if the battery is bad. Not all TrippLite models have this feature. We use SU1500RTXLCDN at work in our server/switch racks because we have remote sites that can lose power in the middle of the night and we don't have to worry about going on-site to press the button to turn the UPS back on. I've been replacing our APC UPS' with TrippLite as the APC Batteries die. Most of the APC UPS are 10+ years old anyway.

 

[danbentch]

I know this is and old thread but I don't believe APC has any models of UPS with battery independent restart like TrippLite does. Battery Independent Restart will start providing power to the outlets after a long power outage where the battery is drained completely. It will also provide power to the outlets even if the battery is bad. Not all TrippLite models have this feature. We use SU1500RTXLCDN at work in our server/switch racks because we have remote sites that can lose power in the middle of the night and we don't have to worry about going on-site to press the button to turn the UPS back on. I've been replacing our APC UPS' with TrippLite as the APC Batteries die. Most of the APC UPS are 10+ years old anyway.

My experience is that APC *SMART* Ups *does* power back on when power is restored. I have used Back Ups before and had to hit the power button to restore systems, not what I need. I just recieved 3 BACK Ups instead of the Smart Ups I ordered. I looked at this thread because I want to be sure before I send them back... The manual does say when power is restored, but I have systems I don't want to have to drive 40 minutes to power back on after extend power failure. It would be nice if someone at Schneider that knows teh hardware would respond, not someone that just knows what's in the manual...