SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

[pentium]

I grabbed this out of the loading bay of the place I work. The battery had gone south and they just replaced the whole UPS so I got the battery-less unit.
First thing I noted and fixed was that the ribbon cable connecting the system to the front panel had been back and forth so much that the cable snapped in two.
I did my best to cut and resolder the wires correctly but when I closed it up and pressed the power button I got nothing.
I checked he fuses and the breaker on the back and they were all fine.
What did I screw up?

[hardwareguy]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

Most likely, nothing is screwed up at all. The APC UPS units will never start without a battery installed. If the battery is too flat (ie, beyond hope of charging) the unit will fail to start as well.

I think it's an excellent safety feature. It prevents a damaged battery from being charged.

[Per Hansson]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

Yes, it needs a battery to power on (behaviour will be the same with a dead/shorted battery)

Be very careful with the APC-700, the heatsinks have live DC when the battery is pugged in so if you short the heatsinks to ground you will burn out everything on the PCB (I did this myself...)

The APC-700 is not intended to be user serviceable...

My fault was trying to wiggle loose a cable stuck under the heatsinks with a screwdriver, as soon as I hit the casing everything shorted in it, burned the traces off the PCB and cracked every mosfet attached to the heatsinks...

[hardwareguy]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

The Smart UPS 700 that I know is intended to be user serviceable. You take the front panel off (it just snaps on) and remove two screws to open the battery door. The heatsinks are not readily accessible this way.

If one does short on the heatsink, the unit is pretty much dead, as the above poster mentioned, the HS is live with respect to ground. I hate live heatsinks..... my engineering professor hates them more!

[Per Hansson]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

Hmm, maybe I was confusing it with an older Smart-UPS then

[pentium]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

Oh, so I just need a battery.
I know for certain that the heatsinks were not shorted to ground.
Something like that sounds like you would see (and smell) something not right.

[hardwareguy]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

Hmm, maybe I was confusing it with an older Smart-UPS then

Yes, this is correct the really old Smart UPS units were not "dumb tech" friendly. I think they stopped making the non user swappable units around 1993-1994 or somewhere around there.

[Per Hansson]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

Think it was a Smart-UPS 600 after looking at some old pictures

Now that I see it again I don't mind that it blew up lol

[Tom41]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

I had some old APC UPS units at work; retired when the battery failed (cheaper to get a whole new UPS). Even when plugged into the mains, the UPS would not respond to the power on button - I assume this is because the battery was dead or defective.

Another UPS (different manufacturer, I forget which) was also in the 'graveyard' at work. When I pressed the power button, the alarm buzzer inside started making a faint but distinct beep, and I couldn't get it to stop! After it driving me crazy for an hour, I finally tried opening it up and disconnecting the battery... beautiful silence

[Rainbow]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

The batteries are cheap - as long as you don't buy them from APC.

[Pyrotech]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

Hi, APC won't power up if batteries are missing or too low on voltage. The relays are powered by battery. Its cheaper to replaced the batteries, that why they are replaceable. The UPS comes with lifetime equipment insurance policy, so just replace the batteries. I get SLA batteries on Ebay, 12V 7.2AH for $11 plus $5 shipping. Not made in Asia either.

[Krankshaft]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

I agree on the dead batt cutoff. I just purchased a (won't power on) APC dirt cheap and saved it with a new battery.

Just go on e-bay or anywhere but APC for some new batts.

APC batteries are nothing more then ordinary batts with cheap stickers on them.

IMO it probably isn't that expensive for APC to get their name imprinted on them from the factory but I'm sure they're changing OEMs for the cheapest crap batteries so often that stickers are easier. So far I've seen them use Long, CSB, and Vision brands.

Just keep the plastic terminal shields and jumper wire and install it on the new battery.

If your unit has two batts then tape them together with packing tape at each end to make a solid unit. It's easier to insert and remove them this way.

[sonicrider]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

I had the same issue that the SMART-UPS 700 would not turn on after a shutdown, pressing the poweron switch had no effect. You could however see that the LED from the serial port was on, so when you access the serial interface with either the APCTEST ( from apcsupsd ) or by hyperterminal (It's standard RS-232 serial communications at 2400 bps/8N1). De command to remote poweron the APC is ^N ^N ( 2x with 1.5 sec delay in between, you might give it a few tries, because it sensitive for the 1.5 sec delay)

From openSuSe11.2 with apcupsd-3.14.7 installed:

athlon:/ # service apcupsd stop
Shutting down UPS monitoring:
done
athlon:/ # apctest


2010-06-15 10:21:56 apctest 3.14.7 (1 August 2009) suse
Checking configuration ...
Attached to driver: apcsmart
sharenet.type = DISABLE
cable.type = CUSTOM_SMART

You are using a SMART cable type, so I'm entering SMART test mode
mode.type = APCSMART_UPS
Setting up the port ...
Hello, this is the apcupsd Cable Test program.
This part of apctest is for testing Smart UPSes.
Please select the function you want to perform.

1) Query the UPS for all known values
2) Perform a Battery Runtime Calibration
3) Abort Battery Calibration
4) Monitor Battery Calibration progress
5) Program EEPROM
6) Enter TTY mode communicating with UPS
7) Quit

Select function number: 6

[JEWilson]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

Funny, I have a smartUPS-700
I got this off eBay cheap (like the rest of us it seems).
The unit, when rec'd, was physically ok
When powered on it did not come to life.

I open it up and one of the batt. leads had been disconnected.
Once reattached, the unit started wailing, consistent with
a low bat alarm. I have tried to charge this batt. but have
been unsuccessful.

Result - batt. needs replaced.

I opened up the unit and checked for signs of thermal damage and
the like as a preventative measure. All appears ok with one exception.

As referred to in the first post, the ribbon cable on this particular unit
is for the most part intact, but has one wire on the ribbon broken about
halfway along its length.
The termination at both ends of the ribbon appear to be otherwise ok.

Is this a fault or is it by design?

Please advise.

Thanks for your consideration.

[cb92]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

Concentrating on UPSes, I would like to know what is most likely to fail when the battery fails from age. This is the most likely fault to happen, you would think safeties would be built in, but maybe no, sell new ones.
I collect these victims. Upon visual examination I don't see any blown diodes, burnt traces, or any easy visual clues. The transformer is usually not burnt or too smelly (what's the rule, no smell, a little smell ok?).
Currently I'm looking at a Cyber Power 625 AVR, new battery, seemed to work, but came back from customer failed, beeping. Three beeps. There was some evidence of heat around a voltage regulator, I checked it off board, seems to be ok, but gets real hot, and then the unit trips off, beeps. I pulled all but the smallest caps, AOK.
One thing I have learned is that small UPS units don't like printers on the battery driven outlets. Apparently printers draw too much. I'm going to advise my customer to move her printer to the surge-only side. Makes sense, these are only 300 watt or so units. A big HP inkjet printer and a big Mac may be too much.
With all the power failures here, UPS units are necessary. Any help from the group would be greatly appreciated.

[stj]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

if the regulator gets too hot, it's probably overloaded - see what it's output is connected to.
and replace any input caps incase it's getting hot because of ripple current.

[Billyk]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

1st post!
Thought it might be useful. Lasers and copies use a LOT of current, those fuser rollers basically melt the plastic powder, AKA toner to the page. They are not good candidates for a UPS!

I have used Refurb-UPS for many years for batteries and used APC stuff, nice folks good prices.

[kc8adu]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

here is my ups battery!

[seanc]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

UPSes do not like laser printers!!

Checked for any hidden fuses? The printer may have damaged the UPS.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: SmartUPS 700 will not turn on

One thing I have learned is that small UPS units don't like printers on the battery driven outlets. Apparently printers draw too much. I'm going to advise my customer to move her printer to the surge-only side.

My Belkin UPS didn't like my Phillips 107S monitor, anytime I degaussed it!

It would complain of an overload if I degauss my Phillips 107S when in a battery outlet.