ERROR from battery with new UPS

[ilpixelmatto]

Hi everyone, I bought this new UPS from Amazon 3 days ago: APC Back-UPS BX1200MI.

I turned it on and unraid immediately recognized it, the problem is that occasionally, I get the notification of battery problems, but I don't see any errors.

I tried to run the UPS self test and it didn't give any errors.

I tried connecting it to a Windows PC and running the test from its proprietary software and it didn't give any errors.

I tried turning off the power and it worked fine for the first 4 minutes, then in unraid it alarmed again and made unraid shut down.

I then tried to turn off the power and connecting the USB to the Windows PC to monitor with the proprietary software and it didn't give any type of error for more than 20 minutes. When it reached around 50% battery I turned the power back on.

Anyone have any ideas? Could it be due to the date of the batteries which is reported as 2001-01-01? If the product is new and never used, is this a problem? Can I simulate a battery replacement today by telling the UPS that I changed them to see if the error was caused only by the old date? Can it be done from unraid or do I have to use its software?

I add that the battery always remains at 99% after 3 days and does not reach 100% so I cannot do the calibration from apctest.

Thanks

[Vr2Io]

1 hour ago, ilpixelmatto said:

Could it be due to the date of the batteries which is reported as 2001-01-01?

Not relate. You should got a mfg test report in package, check the mfg date.

 

Your problem likely because "low line voltage" and have 417 times transfer to battery. This also may be the reason why battery does not reach 100%. 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Vr2Io

[ilpixelmatto]

6 minutes ago, Vr2Io said:

Not relate. You should got a mfg test report in package, check the mfg date.

 

Your problem likely because "low line voltage" and have 417 times transfer to battery. This also be the reason why battery does not reach 100%. 

 

 

I didn't understand the thing about the mfg test report in package, where can I find it?

Now the low line voltage is at 23

[Vr2Io]

A paper slip inside the package.

 

11 minutes ago, ilpixelmatto said:

Now the low line voltage is at 23

 

23 ?

 

LOTRANS was 145v, so if line voltage below that, it will switch to battery.

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Vr2Io

[ilpixelmatto]

18 minutes ago, Vr2Io said:

A paper slip inside the package.

 

 

23 ?

 

LOTRANS was 145v, so if line voltage below that, it will switch to battery.

I don't have any sheet with tests performed on the UPS, perhaps they aren't performed in Italy, or they aren't included on Amazon.
The 23 referred to the value of NUMXFERS. I tried setting the sensitivity to low, to see if it switches to battery less often. 
My only doubt is to understand if it is a faulty UPS or not, APC's powerchute software does not detect any problem, it runs the selftest and passes, by turning off the power on unraid it says "running on batteries" and it only happens for an instant "Batteries have failed on UPS" then goes back to running on batteries without giving any more errors. However, this is enough to trigger the shutdown.

If I turn off the monitoring from unraid, the UPS holds up without visible errors (from the LEDs) for over 20-30 minutes.

[Vr2Io]

25 minutes ago, ilpixelmatto said:

UPS holds up without visible errors (from the LEDs) for over 20-30 minutes.

Base on that, it doesn't like UPS nor battery have problem, suggest turn off APCUPSD and install NUT for troubleshoot why APCUPSD will interpret the battery were fault and shutdown immediate. ( NUT can setting don't shutdown, so you can further troubleshoot ** pls stop array for safe ** )

 

After you disable all UPS monitoring, you can in command prompt type APCTEST to set battery date or perform selftest.

 

And you need fix why NUMXFERS so often !!!  ( Of cause, it may UPS fault )

Edited October 23, 2023 by Vr2Io

[ilpixelmatto]

Hi, a little update, I switched to NUT as suggested, the problem was partially solved, now doing some tests, I stopped the array, turned off the power and the UPS kept the system on for over 30 minutes, once reached 25% battery, it turned off as scheduled.

Sometrimes the "battery have failed" error is triggered but it disappears immediately afterwards. All self tests continue to pass without problems.

However, I discovered why NUMXFERS is so high, the voltage in my house should be 220 volts, but often it is 240-245 volts, this unfortunately causes the UPS to regulate the voltage which I think is the reason why it doesn't reach never 100%. I'll try keeping the UPS on charge with nothing connected, to see if it gets to 100%.

[tommyb10]

@ilpixelmatto any updates on this?

 

I have bought the APC Back-UPS BX750MI and am experiencing the same battery failed error in Unraid. Will post details screenshot shortly.

[ilpixelmatto]

3 hours ago, tommyb10 said:

@ilpixelmatto any updates on this?

 

I have bought the APC Back-UPS BX750MI and am experiencing the same battery failed error in Unraid. Will post details screenshot shortly.

Hi, after all these months since I created the post, I continue to have the problem, although more occasionally. It happens to me once every 2-5 days.

However, with management via NUT I solved the problem relating to premature shutdown.

NUT gives a notification, but does not shut down the server. Mine is a somewhat particular case perhaps and these notifications are probably also caused by my home current which is 245V and not 230V, but so far I have never had any problems or sudden shutdowns.

 

You can try doing the test and see how long it lasts on, but please stop the array before doing so.

[tommyb10]

16 hours ago, ilpixelmatto said:

Hi, after all these months since I created the post, I continue to have the problem, although more occasionally. It happens to me once every 2-5 days.

However, with management via NUT I solved the problem relating to premature shutdown.

NUT gives a notification, but does not shut down the server. Mine is a somewhat particular case perhaps and these notifications are probably also caused by my home current which is 245V and not 230V, but so far I have never had any problems or sudden shutdowns.

 

You can try doing the test and see how long it lasts on, but please stop the array before doing so.

 

Strange, I am getting essentially the same battery error, but 2-3 times per day at the moment.

0 NUMXFERS and 100% battery.

This screenshot is from a few minutes after one of the notifications.

  

[zsoltsuhajda]

i just bought a new BX1200MI, and has the same issues. As I have tested, battery fail reports only if usb attached to Unraid, attached to a Win laptop, through Powerchute, I cannot reproduce the error, neither self test fail. I have tried too the apctest, but self test fails, calibration fails, but through Powerchute, succeeds, without issue. Seems like a communication issue with this serie of ups with Unraid??? (have the same outcome with NUT too) 

 

 

I am running out of ideas, because ups works fine, not sure if it should be returned or just ignore the errors it gives to Unraid.

 

**Update** I have connected the UPS to Powerchute and disabled the warning for battery, then connected back, I am still getting the errors

Edited February 13 by zsoltsuhajda

[LSL1337]

I just got BX 750, and I have the same issue...

[ogr]

Same here with a BX1600MI. Decided to just ignore the errors

[RZR911]

I also have problems with BX750MI reporting battery fault condition, maybe some incompatibility with the BX line up.

Brought 2 new units in spring sale, 1 is connected to QNAP464, Other to new Unraid Server

QNAP seems happy with it and reports no issues 100% battery, Unraid flagging its one multiple times a day and shows 99% battery.

When I finally finish transferring all my data I might swap them over see where the fault follows.

[wulperdinger]

On 2/2/2024 at 4:56 PM, zsoltsuhajda said:

i just bought a new BX1200MI, and has the same issues. As I have tested, battery fail reports only if usb attached to Unraid, attached to a Win laptop, through Powerchute, I cannot reproduce the error, neither self test fail. I have tried too the apctest, but self test fails, calibration fails, but through Powerchute, succeeds, without issue. Seems like a communication issue with this serie of ups with Unraid??? (have the same outcome with NUT too) 

 

 

I am running out of ideas, because ups works fine, not sure if it should be returned or just ignore the errors it gives to Unraid.

 

**Update** I have connected the UPS to Powerchute and disabled the warning for battery, then connected back, I am still getting the errors

any updates? getting the same errors lol

[ilpixelmatto]

Update:

I actually never solved the problem. I used NUT to manage the UPS, every 1-3 days I am notified of the error but I don't notice any problems. If the power goes out, the server follows the directions I set without errors.

[Rysz]

The APC BX series seems to have a firmware (or compatibility) issue affecting both APCUPSD ("UPS Settings") and NUT. Symptoms of this issue include common low battery notifications, despite the UPS being online/fully charged, as well as frequent battery replacement notifications and increasing NUMXFERS. The situation on APCUPSD seems more severe as unwanted shutdowns have been reported by affected users as well.

 

It is therefore recommended to use NUT for this affected UPS series, where the problem also appears but is seemingly limited to wrongful low battery and battery replacement events being reported in the SYSLOG but the UPS functioning normally otherwise (including on battery notifications and graceful shutdowns from power events). It is possible to disable battery replacement notifications in NUT's settings, so the falsely reported events would be limited to the SYSLOG and a minor annoyance rather than a deal-breaker rendering the UPS entirely unusable on Unraid.

If you have been using NUT before: It is recommended to first "Reset Config" in the NUT Settings before setting up NUT again, as an existing configuration might be stored on your USB still. This ensures starting with a fresh configuration where this issue has been taken into consideration, as opposed to older legacy configurations reporting such false low battery events through Unraid's notification services often.

 

The respective issues can be found here:

• https://sourceforge.net/p/apcupsd/mailman/message/58740970/ (APCUPSD)
• https://github.com/networkupstools/nut/issues/2347 (NUT)

Edited April 4 by Rysz

[wulperdinger]

Guys, I just had a "Lost connection to UPS" notification on Unraid. Then I put the USB cable from a 3.2 port to a 3.1 port. The connection has been reestablished afterwards.

 

Also, the battery charge went from 99% to 100%, and I am not getting the "Battery have failed..." notification anymore (Got them like 10 times a day). Additionally, the NUMXFERS count stays at 0 now, it went up beyond the 1000s before.

 

Please try switching the USB cable to a different or lower USB port. Maybe that will work for you guys too

 

@ilpixelmatto@tommyb10@Vr2Io@zsoltsuhajda@LSL1337@ogr@RZR911