APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

[solo-act]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

please delete

[solo-act]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

Greetings All and great thread.

My unit is a BX1500 not a BR1500. Appears to be similar family and both are included in user manual. Not sure if repairs of this thread apply but I'll put this out there.

Board is 640-1019A_REV05

The box has never had to protect against a surge, no blown out components I can see, no visible trauma, just an older box I bought brand new.

I found C40 and C41.
C40 is a Jamicon 22uf 63v
C41 is 470uf 50v 80deg Celcius

There are 6 more 22uf 63v at C2, C3, C19, C20, C42, C71
There are 4 caps of 47uf 50v at C18, C21, C23, C60, C63

Clearly I could get quite busy replacing caps.

Do you recommend I focus only on C40 & C41?
Or should I expand that to replace all 22uf 63v caps?

Any other insights/advice?
Thanks!!

[rickbear]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

I have this unit also and found this post some weeks ago because I had the exact same problems. The UPS would only discharge and not go back to charge mode when the power came back.
I replaced the C40 and C41 and everything seems to work like a charm now. I only did it a few hours ago so I can't tell if it works permanently but given the other posts above I feel comfortable.
I can confirm equalizr458 on, that the former post picture of sundance has the C40 reversed.

[equalizr458]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

I just replace c40 & c41 & to my amazement it fixed the problem. Mine suddenly went to battery the other night even though it had ac power, and to think I have thrown at least 2 of this same model away over the last 2 years or so, wish I had know this sooner. FYI the cap installed in the above picture for c40 is backwards, (surprised no fireworks or blown) the polarity on the board is correct (the black edge on the old smt cap is negative)

[sundance]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

I also joined this board just to say "thank you"!

My RS 1500 is great and integrates perfectly with NUT on Linux. I bough over the years many other products from other manufacturers but none pleased me like this old APC.

Until one day... when is stopped to go online. I tried everything (circuit break, hardware reset the unit, software reset the front panel with NUT, set the tolerance to low, replaced batteries). Nothing worked. Even if plugged on AC power (230V) it wouldn't go online but on batteries. Sometimes was charging batteries (even if not going online), other times will discharge the batteries in the same conditions (plugged to AC). Some times it went online, but if AC power was lost and come back it will not go online again.

I monitored the parameters (with NUT) and saw that parameter "input.voltage" was erratically changing from 184V to 92V, 144V... etc. I mounted a meter and saw that the AC voltage was constantly 228V, so the UPS was a complete mess.

A nightmare. That is why I bought several other products... but not being satisfied I decided this Sunday to play with my old buddy.

And I found this thread! I opened the unit and saw that C41 was already manually replaced (with a higher voltage one). I bough the unit as new and nobody opened it ever. I replaced C40 and yupppyyyy! now everything works! I used a 50V one to prevent it from burning again too soon... maybe it helps.

I noticed that the marks for the polarity on motherboard are reverse to the ones on the capacitor (check attached). That is the "+" sign on the motherboard goes with "-" sign on the capacitor. I am not a specialist but I noticed this on the replaced one and I did the same.

I didn't had a hot air tube to heat the old damaged capacitor in order to remove it so I just cut it off with a clipper.

Thank you again for this common effort!

[johndhagan]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

I just joined the board to thank everyone who contributed the information on the failed C40 & C41 capacitor issue. After replacing them, I can report that three more APC Back-UPS RS 1500 units are back in operation!

Now I have to plan on replacing those sickly capacitors on three more APC Back-UPS RS 1500 units I have deployed and still working that haven't failed yet--but undoubtedly will soon.

Thanks again to everyone for saving us TONS of time finding the cause.

[cpumech]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

Also another thanks to you all, I used my Ungar heat gut to locate the caps last week, and Just wanted to confirm that you were right, when I heated the caps with the gun It works fine, cooling them off with the Freeze mist = Fail, So we are in agreement, thanks again. Peace

[sseverus]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

A common problem in the BR1500 model is that two surface mount aluminium electrolytic capacitors (C40 and C41) responsible for the -8v supply to the line sense circuit is marginal or failed . . . Replacing either or both of these should fix the on battery always or constant switching to battery.

Thanks. My APC was immediately switching to battery whenever turned on. I replaced C40 & C41 as you suggested and it now works fine. Thanks again.

[andmars]

I know this topic is a little bit old but I think this could help. A common problem in the BR1500 model is that two surface mount aluminium electrolytic capacitors (C40 and C41) responsible for the -8v supply to the line sense circuit is marginal or failed. On mine, they read correct 22uF value but fail on ESR test. Replacing either or both of these should fix the on battery always or constant switching to battery.

I also have a PDF of the schematic for the board model 640-0253E. I don't know about this forum's policy though. APC has shut down sites providing schematics in the past.

Had to register just to say thanks, you were absolutely spot on!

For the last six months i had noticed any time my RS 1000 was powered off it took multiple attempts to start up before it would switch to AC power. Over the last few weeks it had started rapidly switching to battery and back very quickly. Always in the middle of the night you would hear a clickity clack, clickity clack, clickity clack from the next room and i would have to get up and power it off. Then power cycle it multiple times the next day before it would switch to AC.

I tried replacing all the regular electrolytics which made no difference, but it was probably no harm in doing them anyway. Then i found your post and changed the C40 and C41 SMD's as per your recommendation and it worked perfectly. Just to future proof it i replaced the other SMD's, so thank you, a combination of your wisdom and my stubborness it should serve me well for another decade or so.

P.S. Would love a copy of the schematic if you could PM me a copy?

[cassava]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

just change the battery and it will work

[fzabkar]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

Isn't eserviceinfo.com a Bulgarian site? Would the Bulgarians give a damn? Maybe we could see if they have the schematics ...

There are a few schematics at ElektroTanya also ...

[runderwo]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

Back-UPS XS 1500 was repaired by replacing all 22uF SMD electrolytic caps. There are five of them and they were reading anywhere from tens of ohms to infinite ESR. Symptom was failure to charge battery and eventually failure to power on at all emitting only a chirp on attempt.

[Zorix]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

I know this topic is a little bit old but I think this could help. A common problem in the BR1500 model is that two surface mount aluminium electrolytic capacitors (C40 and C41) responsible for the -8v supply to the line sense circuit is marginal or failed. On mine, they read correct 22uF value but fail on ESR test. Replacing either or both of these should fix the on battery always or constant switching to battery.

I also have a PDF of the schematic for the board model 640-0253E. I don't know about this forum's policy though. APC has shut down sites providing schematics in the past.

[budm]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

Hmmm That sort of confirms my suspicions ..
Its definitely not supplying a charging voltage..

I've had people tell me to just buy another set of batterys , but it seems to have killed the last set of new ones and buying more seems like a waste of money ..

Whats the most likely thing to fail in the charge circuit ..?
I'm getting to the sad conclusion it may be an "ex-Ups"

Good clear pictures of inside the unit and the boards?

[CapLeaker]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

How long where the old set of batteries in for?

[jaykcee]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

about 20% higher than the battery's are rated at.
so about 28v i suspect.

Hmmm That sort of confirms my suspicions ..
Its definitely not supplying a charging voltage..

I've had people tell me to just buy another set of batterys , but it seems to have killed the last set of new ones and buying more seems like a waste of money ..

Whats the most likely thing to fail in the charge circuit ..?
I'm getting to the sad conclusion it may be an "ex-Ups"

[stj]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

about 20% higher than the battery's are rated at.
so about 28v i suspect.

[jaykcee]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

Not wanting to appear stupid ( which I can easily manage ) ..
In troubleshooting these APC Ups .. what voltage should I be seeing across the charging leads /battery terminals with zero load if its healthy .. ?

( 2 x 12volt 20amp batterys , 1250VA Ups )

[shovenose]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

I have the version with LCD and its currently not in use so if it can be of assistance...

[eelliott]

Re: APC Back-ups RS 1500 Dead

Any ideas?

No ideas. I was unable to locate a service manual or even a schematic. And because none of the caps were bulged/discolored the solution was not clear in the case of my board.

I replaced the unit with an APC SMC1500. BTW, I wasted time exploring APC's swap program (I've forgotten APC's name for that program) but it was less expensive (and less hassle) to buy a new unit from a retailer rather than dealing directly with APC. (USA. I don't know if that holds true for other countries.)