UPS - Shutdown time seems random...

[NickMorganMSS]

Hi all, I am having a problem with a HP RT3000 G2 UPS.

It switches over to Battery power at least once a week due to high/excessive voltage. This isn't the issue, as there is nothing that can really be done to fix this at this time.

The issue lies where the UPS switches to battery power and reports the time remaining until the UPS starts shutting down servers.

As you can see from the above screenshots, the server is set to shutdown after 2500 seconds which is around 41

minutes. However, when the UPS switches to battery power it reports that it will initiate shutdown after x seconds,

where x is a time between 10 and 20 minutes.

The battery should last a lot longer than this, as there are only 2 small servers and a Cisco 877 router plugged into it.

Has anybody got any ideas as to why this is happening? 

Cheers, Nick.

*****EDIT*****

Forgot to mention that the battery run time is around 57 minutes, and I've never seen the load higher than 14%.

P.S. for your security, I have removed the serial number from your post above - that's information you probably don't want to make publicly available. - HP Forum Moderator

[TarunJain]

Check if firmware needs to be updated

[Ralf Seefeldt]

Hi,

as I can see from above,the battery seems to be charged 14% only.
The foll battery would last 57:53 minutes.

When did you perform your last battery check? It should be performed on a regular basis.
How old is the battery? Older than 2 years? That could mean it is getting old.

You have to get the load higher to get a longer runtime.
What about the firmware?

Bye
Ralf

[Bonovox]

Hi Nick

We've exactly this problem with a R5000 with two ERM. It's a complete X-File. Batteries are new (1 month)

Did you fix the issue ?

Thanks for your feedback.

[Lincy_Zachariah]

Hi,

What is the current firmware of the UPS, you can try updating the firmware.

Thanks,

[Bonovox]

Hi Lincy,

I think firmware is not a valid solution. Can you give us a new workaorund?

Current Firmware is last available   " 01.02.0026-01.02.0022 ".   30 Aug 2011.

Current Load 45%

Remain battery time about 100min

Shutdown Parameters: Entire UPS , if remaining backup time under 300 sec.

UPS R5000 support  following equipment  on our rack:

Only 3 HP Proliant uses HPPP client.

   =============
   2 SW PROCURVE             
   =============
   2 SW BROCADE
   =============
   3 HP Proliant G7
   =============
   HP MSL 2024 BACKUP
   =============
   HP LCD
   =============
   EMC VNX
   =============
   ERM 2
   ERM 1
   UPS R5000
   ==============

[madhuiss]

Hello,

In my view the issue is with the inappropriate(unmatching) available run-time indicated in two places of the UPS Network module logs. The causes could be:

- the UPS NW module & the UPS firmware are not at latest

- Ensure the UPS Batteries are charged before it was commisioned in production. 48-72 hours of charge of battery before getting it online is required to achieve proper run time. but the current issue is the reporting of run time is differing while the UPS NW module is doing a countdown.

- The above state could be due to the load on the UPS while shutting down as the shutdown load will be more  because of increased IO on the servers.

as a test try attaching one server & observe if the time remaining seen in the logs reduces more. If it remains same then the problem is incorrect reports of available time. BUt if it reduces then my theory applies of shutdown load going high such time. Please do monitor the varying run time while the servers are shutting down.

THank you

I am HP Employee

[iwolf]

Hi Nick,

please check if your UPS is creating a correct sinus-signal when it switches from powerline to battery.

The reason: The powerdevices of hp-servers are checking for power-errors by using an pfc-filter.

Some of UPS-devices cannot produce a clean sinus-signal when they switch onto battery-mode.

If the pfc-filter detects an unclean power-signal it wants to protect the server by sending the shutting down signal.

Check at HP if your used UPS is certified for using with your server.

Kind regards,

Ingo

[iwolf]

This appears random because the UPS switches for selftest onto batterymode at random times....

Good luck,

Ingo

[Willem van Empel]

The actual HP UPS range can work with the PFC PSU's, so that's not the issue here.

I don't have enough details to troubleshoot the originator's issue.

Check the power logs in HP Power Protector to see if there is an match between the UPS behaviour and the utility power.

I've seen very strange UPS input power signals at some sites.

Cheers,

Willem

Disclaimer: I am an HP Employee and my replies in this forum does not necessary reflects the opinion of HP.