PC Peripherals APC BR1000-IN 3rd replacement gone kaput again

sam000 · Oct 7, 2009

I bought a APC BR1000-IN 13 months ago its been replaced 3 times till now .The last replacement was done just 2 months ago.Now the UPS says it has developed some internal fault so i shut down the PC removed the plug etc
even charged it for 8 hrs then in plugged it in.The fault message has disappeared but after just a couple of mins. in battery mode it crashes my PC even the UPS goes BLANK(no lights)

.When i restart the PC powerchute says 28mins of backup is their i confirmed the backup time by switching the mains off for a few seconds even then it shows the same 28mins.Every now and then when i switch on the UPS it goes into overload but if i switch off the ups and power it back again the overload warning vanishes:S.

I booked a complaint on 5th the guys called me today morning and said
they are bringing the replacement again.But i have to admit APC rocks in after sales service my house is over 100kms from chennai they are bringing the ups all this way on a bike:hap2:.

Why is this happening again and again i called the electrician and checked everything its all good.Is that particular model defective(i think they have stopped this model):huh:

Emperor · Oct 7, 2009

Ask them to provide you some higher capacity model or other model with same capacity. Think what will you do if story continued after expiry of warranty?

adder · Oct 7, 2009

well the reason u may had that many apc going kaput,is probably due to the voltage fluctuations,high spikes etc which electricians rarely even look for or these didn't occur when he visited.get a multimeter and check for voltage fluctuations
since that is quite a lot of replacements.
and no this model ain't defective,since there are 1000s of happy apc users.

sam000 · Oct 7, 2009

Emperor said:
Ask them to provide you some higher capacity model or other model with same capacity. Think what will you do if story continued after expiry of warranty?

They just came and gave me the same model as the replacement.their was a long white paper inside the box it says"quality assurance test" and lists a long list of tests that have been carried out and it says passed.Yah even i am scared as only 9 months of warranty is left the guy said their is AMC i can go for one when i asked about the price for the same he said like RS 2000 for a year approx.

.

adder said:
well the reason u may had that many apc going kaput,is probably due to the voltage fluctuations,high spikes etc which electricians rarely even look for or these didn't occur when he visited.get a multimeter and check for voltage fluctuations

since that is quite a lot of replacements.

and no this model ain't defective,since there are 1000s of happy apc users.

You are correct lot of fluctuations here

will a stabilizer do any good should i invest in one:huh: cause the guy who delivered the ups advised me to get one.

Thanks adder & emperor for your valuable replies:clap:

kishore.chander · Oct 7, 2009

Why would you require a stablizer? what is the UPS for? this particular model can very well handle 175-295 volts.

you should have questioned the APC guy why would u need to get a stablizer when the UPS has a voltage regulator.

The problem is the APC guys replace a refurbished unit to u when its under warranty. All refurbished units are nothing but units which would have had problem in some or the other way & which has been rectified at their service centres

So always choose for repairing your internal component than a replacement. Since the refurbished unit may have been used extensively than the current unit you have.

Infact i have a SUA1000UXI and its voltage regulator failed within 90 days of purchase and I asked them either to provide a brand new one or rectify the problem in my own unit. They bought a new PCB and changed it in front of my eyes at my home.

So the next time if you face problem ask the APC folks to rectify the problem in the present unit and do not ask for replacement. The replacement units are not new and the PCB's are not new, only the parts which has problems are changed and the other parts which would have served to its life time would fail at some point in time.

Sorry for the long reply, but i thought this would help you how to deal with warranty issues as far as APC is concerned

sam000 · Oct 7, 2009

kishore.chander said:
Why would you require a stablizer? what is the UPS for? this particular model can very well handle 175-295 volts.

you should have questioned the APC guy why would u need to get a stablizer when the UPS has a voltage regulator.

The problem is the APC guys replace a refurbished unit to u when its under warranty. All refurbished units are nothing but units which would have had problem in some or the other way & which has been rectified at their service centres

So always choose for repairing your internal component than a replacement. Since the refurbished unit may have been used extensively than the current unit you have.

Infact i have a SUA1000UXI and its voltage regulator failed within 90 days of purchase and I asked them either to provide a brand new one or rectify the problem in my own unit. They bought a new PCB and changed it in front of my eyes at my home.

So the next time if you face problem ask the APC folks to rectify the problem in the present unit and do not ask for replacement. The replacement units are not new and the PCB's are not new, only the parts which has problems are changed and the other parts which would have served to its life time would fail at some point in time.

Sorry for the long reply, but i thought this would help you how to deal with warranty issues as far as APC is concerned

Ok i wont buy a stabilizer:ashamed:.
You are correct who knows how this replacement was used.I will follow what you said diligently from next time onwards:hap2:.

Thanks kishore for the advise

.

adder · Oct 7, 2009

kishore.chander said:
Why would you require a stablizer? what is the UPS for? this particular model can very well handle 175-295 volts.

well the apc cannot power the pc via mains when the voltage goes above 260 to 270v,it will switch over to back up and will remain in that state upto 320v after which it goes kaput.
if u use a stabilizer like V-guard DIGI it will output 245v when the input from the mains is 295v,their by ur ups will still run from mains,without switching to battery mode.since i get lots of high voltages at night,i use a stabilizer.

sam000 · Oct 7, 2009

^^my ups goes into battery mode like 20 times everyday do i need a stbalizer?

adder · Oct 7, 2009

sam000 said:
^^my ups goes into battery mode like 20 times everyday do i need a stabilizer?

well even when there is power,if so it indicates high low to high voltage fluctuations so u will need to get a stabilizer.

sam000 · Oct 8, 2009

UPDATE the replacement they gave me yesterday is telling me this AGAIN:S:

Can i demand my money back:huh:

kishore.chander · Oct 8, 2009

adder said:
well the apc cannot power the pc via mains when the voltage goes above 260 to 270v,it will switch over to back up and will remain in that state upto 320v after which it goes kaput.
if u use a stabilizer like V-guard DIGI it will output 245v when the input from the mains is 295v,their by ur ups will still run from mains,without switching to battery mode.since i get lots of high voltages at night,i use a stabilizer.

i guess this might stand true for normal UPS, but not with APC, APC tries to regulate the power to give an output of 220Volts even when the voltage his high and might go to back up mode only when it exceeds the specified limit,, i have a smart series UPS and i have seen the UPS doing its job by reducing the voltage when its high

kishore.chander · Oct 8, 2009

sam000 said:
UPDATE the replacement they gave me yesterday is telling me this AGAIN:S:

Can i demand my money back:huh:

i feel that this has nothing to do with your UPS....I guess this is more to do with the communication between the computer and the UPS.... please let us know whether the system shuts down automatically after this message???????

This keeps happening often, sometimes my powerchute software does not open up in vista...... when i try to monitor the input voltage... after a few mins if i try to open it, it does respond.. but it does not show message like this in between... The VISTA shows some scrap message saying the application did not respond and do u want to check solution online or not..... i just dont bother about it.... as long as the UPS does its job....

try updating your powerchute software and see whether the problem persists

SumitB · Oct 8, 2009

I too feel that there is something wrong with either:

a. The data cable connecting the UPS to the computer.

b. The installation of the PowerChute software.

Try using the cable on some other computer which has another APC ups connected to it to eliminate the doubt regarding the cable.

adder · Oct 8, 2009

kishore.chander said:
i guess this might stand true for normal UPS, but not with APC, APC tries to regulate the power to give an output of 220Volts even when the voltage his high and might go to back up mode only when it exceeds the specified limit,, i have a smart series UPS and i have seen the UPS doing its job by reducing the voltage when its high

it does do voltage regulation.but only upto a certain point,i too have a APC ups.

sam000 · Oct 8, 2009

kishore.chander said:
i feel that this has nothing to do with your UPS....I guess this is more to do with the communication between the computer and the UPS.... please let us know whether the system shuts down automatically after this message???????

This keeps happening often, sometimes my powerchute software does not open up in vista...... when i try to monitor the input voltage... after a few mins if i try to open it, it does respond.. but it does not show message like this in between... The VISTA shows some scrap message saying the application did not respond and do u want to check solution online or not..... i just dont bother about it.... as long as the UPS does its job....

try updating your powerchute software and see whether the problem persists

Nope the pc does not go off after message pops up the ups the green light is ON its not even goes into battery mode.I pulled the mains to see if the APC hibernates my pc after 5 mins it puts my pc into hibernation correctly.

The last piece did throw up the same message after a week of the message popping up the APC crashed my pc regularly when in battery mode for more than 3 mins:no:.So i think this message is true not some communication fault

.I talked to their chat support people the guy said me to contact thier escalation department.They gave me this email id i have mailed them dont know what else to do:ashamed:.

SumitB said:
I too feel that there is something wrong with either:
a. The data cable connecting the UPS to the computer.
b. The installation of the PowerChute software.

Try using the cable on some other computer which has another APC ups connected to it to eliminate the doubt regarding the cable.

Is this cable avail;able in the market:huh: and i reinstalled the powerchute software.

One more thing if the power is cut and i shut my pc off and turn off the ups
and then try to power on the ups it goes into overload and screams

.This also happens when their is low voltage the light becomes dim ie.. if i try to power ON the ups in this situation it goes into Overload.

Thanks everyone :hap2:.

SumitB · Oct 8, 2009

sam000 said:
One more thing if the power is cut and i shut my pc off and turn off the ups
and then try to power on the ups it goes into overload and screams .This also happens when their is low voltage the light becomes dim ie.. if i try to power ON the ups in this situation it goes into Overload.

Thanks everyone :hap2:.

Is the earthing at your place okay? Also, please check that the phase is not reversed, i. e. that Live is in place of the Neutral.

sam000 · Oct 10, 2009

SumitB said:
Is the earthing at your place okay? Also, please check that the phase is not reversed, i. e. that Live is in place of the Neutral.

Checked those things no problems their.I have another problem my Pc hangs at the ABIT logo screen i am using IP35-e with VX450:no:.I dont know why its the reason for my late reply. The APC guys are coming on monday again I have told them firmly get me a new piece

.

I have assembles the Pc outside the cabby reseated the CPU,connected just 1 GB ram,My 4850,HDDand the samsung DVD drive ran Memtest for 3 passes no errors.Is this a Mobo fault:huh:.

neojjjk · Oct 10, 2009

oh i replaced my rs 1100 ups once...they will replace whole set with a new refurbished one.
apc products are good....
but price and life span is not so good:hap5:

Rahul · Oct 10, 2009

Even my BR800 was replaced 6-7 times in 3 year warranty period, and after the warranty was over it went kaput 3 months later and i had to throw it away coz they were asking some absurd amount to repair. anyways APC replacements are really good .....

sam000 · Oct 12, 2009

Rahul said:
Even my BR800 was replaced 6-7 times in 3 year warranty period, and after the warranty was over it went kaput 3 months later and i had to throw it away coz they were asking some absurd amount to repair. anyways APC replacements are really good .....

What short life span:huh: and replaced 7 times :O.These two post nearly gave me a heart attack:no:.Anyway the service eng. came today and checked everything on my side like the wiring etc he told me my side is clean:chair:.He opened the UPS and checked all the connections.Then he tried to start the ups with the mains off it immediately goes into Overload ie.. red light blinking continuosly he was like What the @#$%:crash:.Once he switches on the mains it does not go into overload

.He called someone and they gave me a mail ID again said they will forward it to their R&D whatever department and get back to me in 48Hrs:bounce:

I got this from the APC site:

Note: It is normal for the Overload Led to briefly illuminate when turning the

UPS on with the equipment connected. When using the UPS as a "master on/off"

switch, the Overload Led will illuminate briefly when the connected equipment

powers up at the same time that the UPS does.

If the Overload Led is flashing CONTINUOUSLY, this may indicate an internal

fault with the UPS. If this is the case, please contact APC's Technical

Support. :bangin: