APC Matrix 5000 question(s)

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1

Hi:

I've had this APC Matrix 5000 with 3 XR battery packs for almost 6 years
now, and it's generally been rock solid, with lots of uptime when
needed...the average laod is only around 24%, which probably helps.

At around 1am last night, my network had a power event which brought
everything down...everything came back up on its own except a customer's
colo server, which has a dead power supply and one of my servers, which
had a dead drive in its RAID 1 (the other was ok).

I looked at the UPS menus...status, etc and everything looked 100%, with
"BAD BATTS 0", 12 hours+ of est runtime, etc. I then decided to run a
battery test, which I stupidly did without going into bypass mode first
(kinda thought it would do that automatically), power was interrupted and
the alarm started beeping with a "BAD BATT" light, after which power came
back on and it eventually quieted down and looks the same as it did
before...still "zero bad batteries" in the status menu, 100% etc.

Any clues what the problem is here? Is it the UPS itself, or one of the
battery packs? If the latter, is there a way to find out which one?

TIA!

James Smallacombe PlantageNet, Inc. CEO and Janitor
up@3.am http://3.am

2

Hi,

i am very sure that the batterys are dead. APC recommends to change the
batterys every 3 to 5 years. I'd change them every 3 years to be sure.
Its very unlikely that your 6 year old packs are still fully functional.
I had the same symptoms at a customers APC (3000VA) and the battery
packs were dead. Try to locate the packs on ebay, can save quite a bunch
of money (but beware of low quality packs).

Regards,
Jonas Frey

3

Hi,

i am very sure that the batterys are dead. APC recommends to change the
batterys every 3 to 5 years. I'd change them every 3 years to be sure.
Its very unlikely that your 6 year old packs are still fully functional.
I had the same symptoms at a customers APC (3000VA) and the battery
packs were dead. Try to locate the packs on ebay, can save quite a bunch
of money (but beware of low quality packs).

http://stores.ebay.com/Gruber-Power-Services

I've used them multiple times and been very happy.

Malcolm

4

up@3.am writes:

I've had this APC Matrix 5000 with 3 XR battery packs for almost 6 years

As others on the list have noted, your batteries are almost certainly
ready to head off to the battery recycler.

In terms of what to put inside the XR packs, they're Group 24 AGM
batteries, 12v, 75 AH, and if my recollection is correct they have lug
style terminals not threaded studs like a marine battery (verify
before you buy). Others (hi, Steve) have reported success with the
PRC-1290S. If you are handy enough with a wrench to change the
battery in your car, you can change the batteries in the UPS too
(powered off, of course).

You can get these from your local industrial battery supplier (in the
yellow pages under "batteries"). If you have them shipped to you,
you'll earn the emnity of your UPS man (no pun intended) since their
shipping weight exceeds 60 lbs and you need a bunch of them. If
you're an amateur radio operator be sure to mention this to the guy at
the battery store; a lot of the proprietors seem to be hams and since
hams are big battery users they'll often give fellow hams a discount.

                                        ---rob

5

up@3.am writes:

I've had this APC Matrix 5000 with 3 XR battery packs for almost 6 years
    
Do you have the little telephone cables connecting the battery packs properly connected? Does the UPS think is has three cells? If no to these questions, it could indicate why the UPS doesn't show bad batteries.

There are also little red "bad battery" lights on each cell that are powered by the telephone cable.

Also one other thing. There is a special procedure for resetting the bad battery lights on the cells. Its a real pain.

Roy

6

up@3.am writes:

I've had this APC Matrix 5000 with 3 XR battery packs for almost 6 years

As others on the list have noted, your batteries are almost certainly
ready to head off to the battery recycler.

In terms of what to put inside the XR packs, they're Group 24 AGM
batteries, 12v, 75 AH, and if my recollection is correct they have lug
style terminals not threaded studs like a marine battery (verify
before you buy). Others (hi, Steve) have reported success with the
PRC-1290S. If you are handy enough with a wrench to change the
battery in your car, you can change the batteries in the UPS too
(powered off, of course).

[non-operational anecdote AKA: Looking for any excuse to avoid writing documentation]
Be careful when doing this...

A few years ago I was working for a company that had a small enterprise datacenter. We ran out of space and so got a new, better space made and then started migrating into the new space. We shut down the UPS in the old space, pulled all the batteries (so we could move it) and moved all the bits on a pallet-jack to the new space. I showed someone how to hook up a battery and slid it into the bay closest to the ground (no fool I!), then let him get on with reinstalling the rest of the batteries while I cabled up the network gear.

After a while I hear some cursing and turn around -- he has managed to get the one of the sets of DC cables between the battery casing and the sheet metal and is sitting on the floor trying to force the battery in with his feet! Before I can say anything he pushed really hard and the sheet metal casing slices through the insulation, shorting out the battery.... I never did figure out how much current the battery could supply into a direct short (a good car battery can supply 1000 CCA), but it was enough to vaporize a chunk of metal around 8" x 8" from the side of the UPS, blow a large piece of plastic out of the side of the battery and warp the plates....

Also from the same place:
Pointy Haired Boss type reads an article in NetworkWorld on physical security and hires some consultant who comes in and sells some really expensive proximity card reader system. They install the PC that runs the whole system (running Windows 98!) inside the new datacenter space -- entry to with is protected by, you guessed it, the proximity card system.....

After a few months, the proximity card machine locks up... Of course, by then no-one can find the keys to the lock on the door ("Why would we keep that? There is a proximity card reader on that door.."). Apparently there was an option for a master card, but it was "too expensive"....

There are countless more similar stories from this particular place....
W