APC UPS tech support response views

Capt Doufos

Capt Doufos

Capt Doufos

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Location
Nr Colchester, Essex
Hi people,

Just wondering what your view on an APC response to a UPS issue I had. Little back story is a bought a 700VA ups to use just to give my server a chance to shut down when power was lost as we were getting a lot of power cuts, this is rated to around 450W max.

The server has a 650W PSU purely because that is what I had lying around, it runs a low power CPU and a few Hard Drives at 11W max each. It was working fine for about a year (no alarms), until one day poof it would no longer turn on.

I contacted APC support and they said I was at fault because I overloaded the UPS. I called shenanigans but they won't have it as they say they base their sizing on the max possible draw but to me that is a load of rubbish. I had no way of testing the draw /load at the time.

I purchased a 1000VA replacement which is rated to 650W, however this one is more clever and reports the load. So at idle it draws 102W and the max I could get it too by thrashing the disks and running a CPU stress test was 180W Still less than half the original 700VA rating. I responded to APC with my findings and they are adamant they are still correct and it's my fault the UPS died.

I am tempted to push harder as the UPS shouldn't have failed, but am I in the wrong here? Should I have not connected up a 650W PSU to that UPS?

What do you think?
 
I don't know a lot about UPS's but just because a psu is rated for 650w doesn't mean that it will pull that much all of the time. It will only draw as much power as is being demanded from it. I just think they are fobbing you off to try to make you go away.
 
They are talking rubbish, as you would spend a ridiculous amount sizing e.g. a server room for maximum load, when you have lots of lightly used servers.

UPSes don't go wrong because of an overload anyway - sure they are rated to a certain capacity but they all have overload protection, and normally trip at ~110% load to prevent damage.
 
They should shutdown before they blow themselves up. Even the most rudimental design will have a way to know when it's having too much drawn through it.
 
have you called them or just emailed ?
I normally find I get a better response via phone.
but also find that find companies try to hide their number from you
 
If it breaks from overload then UPS definitely has fault in itself or bad design.

Was model that UPS was?
This kind models have poor design already for cooling with that closed heat inside insulating plastic box:
http://www.apc.com/shop/uk/en/products/APC-Power-Saving-Back-UPS-700VA-230V-BS1363/P-BE700G-UK


MassiveJim said:
but also find that find companies try to hide their number from you
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Don't they nowadays even try to hide their support email address often behind some "support" forms and such you have to fill?
 
Is this one of the Backups BX (I think) units - the tower shaped one not like EsaT lined to?

I've had some eventful stuff with those units :s about half of them will malfunction in completely random ways from the smallest of impacts - even just not supporting them entirely all the way to setting them down say letting go with half a centimetre still to drop, etc. the other half though seem fairly good.

EDIT: Even though their support is talking rubbish the normal customer services probably have zero room to move on that - it'll be what is in the script regardless and you'd have to escalate to a proper technical person to get anywhere - you are better off talking in terms of the max load you are placing on the unit than the hardware rating, etc. in these contexts.
 
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I've had plenty of APC upss and the only thing that stops them turning on that i've found is if the battery is absolutely useless. Have you tried changing the battery? I've got a APC Smart UPS 2200i 2U and it needs new batteries or else it won't power on.
 
Keep on at them, if you E-Mail them show this thread and they'll see that I was considering buying APC but I like decent support, hence why I buy EVGA stuff when possible.
[Darkend]Viper said:
I've had plenty of APC upss and the only thing that stops them turning on that i've found is if the battery is absolutely useless. Have you tried changing the battery? I've got a APC Smart UPS 2200i 2U and it needs new batteries or else it won't power on.
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That might not be a bad idea but if he buys the battery and the UPS is dead then he'll be out of pocket, not only that but if it's still under warranty APC should cover it right?
 
Why are the apc smart ups so expensive, even the 1500va ones are like £400 or more? I have just bought a 2000va/1800watt powerwalker online ups for £400 and the only problem with it, is that the batteries cant be changed on the fly and no surge protection.. But the surge protection is a bit of a gimmick in ups's as they wear out anyway, so its best using a separate surge protector anyway..

I have my ups plugged in to a 4000 joule surge protector, but surge protection on ups's are only in the hundreds....... I did some research about this ages ago and apparently a surge isnt a instant thing, they gradually intense, well not gradually but its not instant. So a ups usually can deal with surges with the AVR, so this why the joule ratings are not very high in a ups. But its still a good idea to use a surge protector to protect the ups. Plus you cannot replace the surge protection bits in a ups once they have warn out.
 
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Also the powerwalker manufacture that my ups is made by, well their customer support is superb, as they have a live chat week days, all day.... I have put quite a few questions to them over the last few weeks and they have answered them all
 
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