Need some help with a RCT UPS >> is mine kaput?

[Cassady]

Hello all,

Bought this from Takealot (RCT 2000va), about 2 weeks back.
Hoped to have it keep my little home server and RAID external alive, plus maybe the modem during loadshedding.

Plugged it in the 1st night and charged it. Next morning, power went out, and plugged in my modem and phone line - and apart from the constant beeping, worked a charm.

Disconnected all, and kept it plugged in.

Since then, we've hardly had loadshedding. The once or twice we were hit, I wasn't at home, so couldn't really check things.

This morning - it hit, and the UPS didn't kick in at all.
Disconnected everything.

Plugged it into mains, and realised that my old kettle-plug input, was very finnicky. A slight knock, and it shifts where it connects to the UPS input, and then doesn't charge.
I'm now thinking that the UPS has been uncharged for a while?

So when I plug a tiny radio into the back, with the Mains on>UPS>Radio, all works.
Switch off mains, and UPS + Radio dies....

Installed the software. This is what I see:



On the front of the unit, the AC Mode light is constant (as opposed to flashing, to indicate battery).
The top light, which indicates the AC Mode Load level is on low (which makes sense, since nothing is plugged in).

As soon as I kill the input switch, the unit dies.
Am I correct in surmising it simply isn't charging?

Is it faulty, or am I (more likely) missing something eye-wateringly face-palm-required obvious?

 

[rrh]

According to the jpg the battery isn't charged: "Battery capacity = 0%"

 

[ITCynic]

Battery capacity displays 0% ?

Seems like there is no charge held in the batteries.

Is the batteries @ 12V or 24V ?

 

[Cassady]

According to the jpg the battery isn't charged: "Battery capacity = 0%"

Battery capacity displays 0% ?

Seems like there is no charge held in the batteries.

Is the batteries @ 12V or 24V ?

Ja - that's what I'm thinking. It's simply not charging? Everything else appears to be functioning as expected - makes all the rights noises and things when plugged in - but zip when I unplug.

Checked my order history - received it on 17 July. Should I bother with anything else, or arrange a return with Takealot?

 

[LazyLion]

Ja - that's what I'm thinking. It's simply not charging? Everything else appears to be functioning as expected - makes all the rights noises and things when plugged in - but zip when I unplug.
Checked my order history - received it on 17 July. Should I bother with anything else, or arrange a return with Takealot?

Unplug everything else and only charge it for 24 hours. Do that one more time before you try to return it.
The fan should be running while it is charging or discharging, no? That's what my Eaton does.

 

[Cassady]

Unplug everything else and only charge it for 24 hours. Do that one more time before you try to return it.
The fan should be running while it is charging or discharging, no? That's what my Eaton does.

Will leave it plugged in now, till tomorrow.

No red light giving an error or anything. Not sure what the 'Self-Test' in the software is supposed to do, but ran it a couple of times with nothing funny happening.

The fan definitely worked the first time I tried it - but since then, nothing. Doesn't run plugged in to the mains.

 

[Cassady]

Battery capacity displays 0% ?

Seems like there is no charge held in the batteries.

Is the batteries @ 12V or 24V ?

This thread suggests 2x 12V 9Ah batteries?

 

[Zuner]

i have the mecer 2kva unit running teh same software.
Firstly self test is for when running on ac power and you want it to test itself disconnecting the ac and running a few seconds on battery to see if all is well.

i would think its the batteries, while the kettle cord was disconnected it probably ran the battery down, and if its anything like my mecer unit once the battery is too low it refuses to charge it. i was messing around with some old batteries trying to get the ups to act as a charger since i don't have a separate charger for my spare batteries and when the voltage was too low it didn't kick the charger on, i bypassed this by having the dead batteries plugged into the ups and having a charged pair of batteries and using some cable just attached my spare to the ups in parallel for a few seconds so the charger would activate and get up some voltage then when i disconnected the charged batteries it continued to charge.

so if you have some spare batteries you could try it, it should harm the ups as long as its connected in parallel ie 24v.

 

[Zuner]

I can now hit swap battery packs while the device is running and it charges all batteries connected, be it at a slower rate. I also beefed up the fan inside so it can handle the longer run time. I have 2 ups like this.

 

[Cassady]

i have the mecer 2kva unit running teh same software.
Firstly self test is for when running on ac power and you want it to test itself disconnecting the ac and running a few seconds on battery to see if all is well.

i would think its the batteries, while the kettle cord was disconnected it probably ran the battery down, and if its anything like my mecer unit once the battery is too low it refuses to charge it. i was messing around with some old batteries trying to get the ups to act as a charger since i don't have a separate charger for my spare batteries and when the voltage was too low it didn't kick the charger on, i bypassed this by having the dead batteries plugged into the ups and having a charged pair of batteries and using some cable just attached my spare to the ups in parallel for a few seconds so the charger would activate and get up some voltage then when i disconnected the charged batteries it continued to charge.

so if you have some spare batteries you could try it, it should harm the ups as long as its connected in parallel ie 24v.

Thanks a bunch for your detailed reply. I'm thinking that might be my problem. Will leave it plugged in overnight (have a new kettle-plug installed), and see what happens.

I might have some batteries from either the house alarm or garage door openers that I could try and MacGyver - but to be honest, not something I'm really comfortable doing....


Beginning to wander if it wouldn't just be wiser to return it, and try again?

Anyone know of any sort of "hard-reset" option on these things that could be tried?

 

[Zuner]

Thanks a bunch for your detailed reply. I'm thinking that might be my problem. Will leave it plugged in overnight (have a new kettle-plug installed), and see what happens.

I might have some batteries from either the house alarm or garage door openers that I could try and MacGyver - but to be honest, not something I'm really comfortable doing....


Beginning to wander if it wouldn't just be wiser to return it, and try again?

Anyone know of any sort of "hard-reset" option on these things that could be tried?

not aware of any hard resets, returning it and getting a new one would probably be the best choice since you'd get new batteries with it, but i don't like the waiting, the easiest thing i would guess is if you have 2 good batteries, just put the good batteries in the ups (should be very very easy - plug and play) and fire it up then see what the software says, if it actually starts charging then the old batteries are too low, if it doesn't then something else is buggered.

 

[savage]

18.3V on a 24V battery bank? Your batteries are toasted - more than likely too low to re-charge.

You'll need a rather good charger to get live back into those batteries. Even if you DO manage to recharge it, your runtime, and lifetime from your batteries will be significantly reduced, I suspect the batteries may have been seriously damaged already by this time.

 

[Cassady]

18.3V on a 24V battery bank? Your batteries are toasted - more than likely too low to re-charge.

You'll need a rather good charger to get live back into those batteries. Even if you DO manage to recharge it, your runtime, and lifetime from your batteries will be significantly reduced, I suspect the batteries may have been seriously damaged already by this time.

Saw that. You have confirmed my suspicions. Could this seriously have happened from one "trial-run", and it then slowly(?) running down over a week?

I think this thing was faulty from the get-go. Best best appears a return.

 

[mmacleod]

Saw that. You have confirmed my suspicions. Could this seriously have happened from one "trial-run", and it then slowly(?) running down over a week?

I think this thing was faulty from the get-go. Best best appears a return.

Depending on the type of battery, yes, leaving them sitting completely empty for any lengthy period of time (or even just letting them get completely empty) can completely kill a battery.

 

[Cassady]

Depending on the type of battery, yes, leaving them sitting completely empty for any lengthy period of time (or even just letting them get completely empty) can completely kill a battery.

Sure. But this shouldn't have been flat in the first place, not from the bit it did initially. Something weird happened, or maybe I just pulled a dud. Hopefully, Takealot will come to the party, and the next one will be work as expected.