this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
37 points (97.4% liked)

Selfhosted

40183 readers
655 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
ruud@lemmy.world
Loki@lemmy.world
CannaVet@lemmy.world
devve@lemmy.world
HybridSarcasm@lemmy.world
HybridSarcasm@lemmy.hybridsarcasm.xyz
37
APC UPS switches to battery 50 times a day (lemmy.trippy.pizza)
submitted 1 year ago by dosse91@lemmy.trippy.pizza to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hopefully this is the right place to ask.

I have an APC Back-UPS XS 1400U that I use to keep my home server running 24/7.

It was purchased in 2015, batteries replaced around 2020, everything was fine until around June 2023 when it started randomly switching to battery for a few seconds for no apparent reason once or twice a day.

The UPS is connected to my home server via USB so I can get some readouts. It says "Unacceptable line voltage changes", but it's configured to switch when it's outside the 160-280v range and it gets nowhere near those thresholds, the voltage fluctuates in the 224-234 range.

I connected an oscilloscope to the mains to see if there were transients when the problem occurred but I don't see anything out of the ordinary and the problem has been getting worse, now it switches an average of 50 times a day.

The UPS still works, it can keep the server up for hours if I unplug the power, so the batteries should be good. What's going on?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] dosse91@lemmy.trippy.pizza 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I tested live to ground, live to neutral, both in and out of the UPS, and I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

The input signal isn't a clean sine wave but it's not dirty either, I'd say it's sine with some extra harmonics and a little bit of noise. There were no sudden peaks or meaningful variations even while the UPS was switching furiously.

I don't have CFL bulbs, only LEDs. I can't think of anything else that could be causing interference. I'll try contacting the power company as suggested by @glimse@lemmy.world

Thanks for all the replies.

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just for shits and grind, how about neutral to ground? They should be bonded together in the breaker box (and nowhere else), but if there is a fault, you might see some significant potential across them.

You've tried different outlets?

[–] dosse91@lemmy.trippy.pizza 4 points 1 year ago

From neutral to ground there seems to be just some noise and a bit of DC.

Yes, I tried different outlets, doesn't make a difference. I checked the wiring inside the plug too, the connection seems solid.