APC Back-UPS CS 650

PapaBear wrote:
AdrianM - it should not affect your NAS in any way for normal operation.

Hi PapaBear. Assuming that the UPS is healthy, what I was really hoping for was a definitive description of RAIDiator's response in the case of "out of spec" being displayed in the status panel, when an actual power-outage occurrs. Under these conditions I see two possible outcomes - hopefully, further genuinely polled reports would reveal the situation and a safe shutdown would be initiated before the battery was exhausted - or alternatively, maybe RAIDiator behaves as though there was no UPS connected. I can readily see it behaving like this while it continues to report the UPS as being "out of spec" in the status panel.

As to running the UPS on a PC using PowerChute for diagnostics, thanks for the pointers and while I might end up doing so eventually, my initial findings (combined with reports of others here) suggest it may not be very informative. I've got a lot of history with power electronics and batteries, so the first check I always do with a Lead-Acid is for its internal impedance. Even a "brand-new" battery like the one in the UPS can be useless if it was left discharged (which is why they're supplied with one terminal disconnected). A tip - before connecting a freshly purchased battery, take a simple voltage reading with a multimeter and make sure it's not under 12V. If it is, then it's probably been stored for too long and won't ever hold a full charge again.

According to the long printout it came with, My UPS was tested last August and the battery is in excellent health. This is in agreement with the front panel status LEDs on the UPS which I and the others have been able to see in front of us when the error was announced. Nothing shows on these indicators, which doesn't necessarily mean that polling via USB might give a different answer - but it makes it very unlikely, and points very heavily towards the error being other than a genuine reflection of a battery in need of replacement.