News Another CyberPower UPS Goes Up in Smoke, Reader Reports

[Admin]

CyberPower UPS owner shares video and photographs of CP1500AVRLCD with smoke coming from it.

Another CyberPower UPS Goes Up in Smoke, Reader Reports : Read more

 

[bumrush]

How timely! Within the past couple of weeks, I also experienced some power event that caused my CyberPower CB1500PFCLCD to shut down entirely, as though there was no battery backup at all. I've owned this UPS since 2008 and with the exception of a single battery replacement a couple of years ago, I've had no issues whatsoever. In fact, I would say that ~14 years of trouble-free ownership for any UPS is pretty exceptional. Since that event, my UPS has appeared to have intermittent issues with recharging its battery (it was hovering around ~20% since then), to the point that I already ordered a replacement (same make/model). But today I updated the PowerPanel Personal software from v2.2.2 to v2.3.5 and I'm seeing marked improvement. The battery is actually charging now, albeit slowly, since I've been working on the PC all day. I'm going to keep an eye on things for a week and see if it turns around. If so, I might suspect that the software update has a positive impact somehow.

 

[Metteec]

I have owned my CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD UPS 1500VA 900W since November 2011. I have replaced the batteries on it once a few years ago and survived several power outages, including several for over an hour, with continuous operation. It has lasted over 10 years and has been a great investment.

 

[mavroxur]

What an idiotic article. ALL UPSes batteries go bad in time. That's why you replace them at the manufacturer recommended 3 year interval and don't run them until the internal resistance gets so high that they melt down. Brand doesn't matter and even usage has less to do with it than you'd think. They all float charge the batteries 24/7 and it's hard on them. Higher end UPSes (APC SmartUPS, Symmetra and the like) are much better about not cooking batteries, but, they all age out eventually. I replace hundreds of these batteries every year at work. Everything from desktop UPSes with 2 x 8Ah batteries to our data center UPSes with sleds that have 10 x 8Ah in each sled and dozens of sleds. It's as common for these batteries to go bad as sliced bread.

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

Nervously stares at his 6 year old APC that has worked perfectly through lots of things and temperature extremes

 

[digitalgriffin]

How timely! Within the past couple of weeks, I also experienced some power event that caused my CyberPower CB1500PFCLCD to shut down entirely, as though there was no battery backup at all. I've owned this UPS since 2008 and with the exception of a single battery replacement a couple of years ago, I've had no issues whatsoever. In fact, I would say that ~14 years of trouble-free ownership for any UPS is pretty exceptional. Since that event, my UPS has appeared to have intermittent issues with recharging its battery (it was hovering around ~20% since then), to the point that I already ordered a replacement (same make/model). But today I updated the PowerPanel Personal software from v2.2.2 to v2.3.5 and I'm seeing marked improvement. The battery is actually charging now, albeit slowly, since I've been working on the PC all day. I'm going to keep an eye on things for a week and see if it turns around. If so, I might suspect that the software update has a positive impact somehow.

The 2.2.2 software was really buggy. If you initiated a self test it would both fail and pass.

 

[spentshells]

I have owned my CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD UPS 1500VA 900W since November 2011. I have replaced the batteries on it once a few years ago and survived several power outages, including several for over an hour, with continuous operation. It has lasted over 10 years and has been a great investment.

What type of batteries are being used? Are they being used in other devices or I guess I should ask, what else are those batteries compatible with?

 

[edzieba]

The whole "bad glue" claim was good for a laugh but obviously not the source of the issue (not a surprise from youtube clickbait): there are so vastly many different compositions of adhesive that claiming to identify them purely from colour does not pass the smell test. Let alone claiming an insulating epoxy or silicone would somehow 'turn conductive' only in these specific UPSes and not in any other electronic hardware (would be like claiming the Capacity Plague would only affect digital alarm clocks and not any other devices with the same caps installed).

The large pressure fractures in the battery housing make the failure of the battery pretty clear, but not the source of the failure. With the lack of obviously blown components on any of the (photographed) boards that would indicate a short across the terminals, I'd point the finger at a bad batch of batteries as the first line of investigation.

 

[TechLurker]

Pretty sure it's just improper maintenance and replacement schedules. I usually replaced my UPS or its batteries at whatever the recommended year mark was in the manuals. Some said 3, some said 4, and some said 5 years; most all of them said after 2-5 intermittent and extended brownout/blackout situations due to rapid discharge/recharge cycles wearing down the batteries in those instances. Eventually, I just replaced all UPS with a whole house battery feeding the essential lines, as those are more robust, and only take up space in the garage. Also, less standby electric heat in the rooms the UPS were in. Nice thing about whole house batteries is that they could be extended with another battery, or could increase line coverage at the expense of duration (or both).

 

[InvalidError]

This report sounds very similar to how my CP LX1500 died, minus the smoke: the UPS just overcharges the heck out of its battery pack because it seemingly cannot correctly read battery voltage and based on monitoring software, it appears to default to 24V regardless of actual battery state when that happens.

When I realized my LX1500 was cooking its battery, the battery pack temperature was 50C. Software monitoring reported 24V pack voltage, my DMM said 18V with the UPS pumping over 1.5A into the 24V pack. This must have been going on for a month or so - first time I came home to a dead PC, I shrugged it off as possibly an outage that exceeded the battery capacity. Second time though, I was at my PC when it immediately shut off on power outage.

 

[flagrantvagrant]

There's definitely something wrong with the higher tier CyberPower UPSes since at least 2016. over twenty+ years I've gone through several UPSes, the first high capacity one I got was the old gray-box CB 1500 something-or other in about '03 maybe. That one lasted through three lead acid battery swaps and gave up the ghost peacefully in '11 - the charge circuit simply failed and ceased to charge the batteries. So I got a CB CP1500AVRLCD at that time, and that one lasted through two battery swaps and gave up the ghost in '18, again peacefully. In that case I think the relays which switch from line power to the inverter failed, because the batteries were charged but it didn't audibly "clack" when switching from line power to the inverter output module. So I got a CB CP1500PFCLCD PFC in '18 to replace THAT one and that's when things went south. UPSes perform auto-self tests maybe once every 24-72 hours. If you hear your UPS mysteriously CLACK then five seconds later CLACK again that was an automated self diagnostic test. So naturally I was used to hearing the auto-clack every now and then (can't tune out the environment like most people). So around mid '20 it did an auto-self test and poof - computer shuts off. I'm like what the hell is going on. I pulled the batteries and checked them - nominal float voltage. Tossed a regulated 12VDC lead acid battery tester-charger on each battery. Both batteries past the check and didn't need charging. So I plug everything back in and do my own tests. Force check through the software - computer goes off. Pull plug from wall - computer goes off. Each test I clearly heard the relays "clacking" over, so the switching mechanism was functioning, and it's obvious the battery charger circuit was keeping the batteries at float, and the AVR (if one looks up a block diagram) comes before any of the other major components. So it had to be the inverter. Mine didn't blow it's top, but it's clear there is something defective with an inordinately high percentage of the inverters CB is using in these high capacity models, sometimes they die in a whisper, sometimes they blow up, but it's not a failure which can be caught with standard burn in tests, assuming they do some form of burn-in test at the factory (burn-in meaning allowing it to run through several cycles for at least a few hours under a nominal load). So I decided I'm done with CB after that, decided to fork out for an APC because my very first UPS was a dwindlingly small 300 watt gray box from like '99 or '00, and that thing lasted almost twenty years, went through at least five battery swaps, but obviously wasn't powerful enough for computers I started building a few years later. So long story short is buying a CyberPower is a bit of a crap shoot, you get what you pay for. APCs cost more for a reason, and it's probably quality control which involves time investment; one can't check the variable qualities of the unit in hand immediately with something like an UPS, they actually have to be ran through multiple cycles to whittle out defects.

(Been doing quality control on industrial electrical and electronic equipment for over twenty years.)

 

[InvalidError]

BTW, the image shows that the SLA battery got partially exploded. The most likely cause for that is gross over-charging generating excess electrolysis out-gassing (battery electrolyte has catalysts to re-combine the amount of hydrogen-oxygen that gets split during normal charging) followed by an internal spark lighting up the small amount of explosive mix that hasn't vented out.

 

[az_r2d1]

How interesting. I JUST changed the battery on this model 2 days ago. I had a power outage a couple weeks ago and it failed to keep powering my SAN. Checked the battery charge in my san's software and it showed the battery (of the ups) was only 50% full. Manually tested it by pulling the power and it instantly quit... It never fully charged. So I ordered a new battery pack and installed it 2 days ago. When I removed the old battery pack the old batteries felt VERY hot to the touch. Didn't seem normal to me. After installing the new pack it started charging it to full power and SAN now reports 100% charged. The case also feels cool to the touch.

These issues are probably because the battery is bad and the ups keeps trying to charge it and the battery doesn't like it. It gets VERY hot. I guess ultimately it causes a fire.
thoughts?

 

[az_r2d1]

What type of batteries are being used? Are they being used in other devices or I guess I should ask, what else are those batteries compatible with?

these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ACPBXK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[mikeebb]

Now you have me looking over my shoulder at a bare-bones 900AVR that's been quietly powering my Uverse gateway for many, many years. It originally was used with my desktop, the the battery died and I inherited my wife's even older APC 1500 that got resurrected with new batteries. When the latest gateway showed up, it had no backup battery, and AT&T wanted several $hundred for a tiny thing good for maybe 15 minutes. I got some Amazon batteries and plugged in the Cyberpower, and it's worked fine, with 4 hours runtime last time I had a real outage (most of ours are momentary). Now I have my fingers crossed...

APC has a trade-in program for old APC UPSes. Which I might use next time it needs a battery (this is at least the 3rd battery pack in it, and it runs pretty hot at times). Appears to apply for any APC UPS, regardless of how old. Basically, you buy a new one, ship the old one back after the new one arrives in the box they supply, and get a core charge credited to the card you used for purchase.

Does Cyberpower have anything similar?

 

[InvalidError]

These issues are probably because the battery is bad and the ups keeps trying to charge it and the battery doesn't like it. It gets VERY hot. I guess ultimately it causes a fire.thoughts?

When battery cells fail shorted, it drags the battery pack voltage down and without per-cell voltage monitoring, the UPS has no way of knowing that one of the cells has died, so it just keeps pumping charging current. Once the surviving cells are charged as much as they can be and once there, the excess charging electrolyzes the battery until it either dries out possibly explode along the way when the oxygen and hydrogen being release by over-charging gets ignited.

The UPS should still be able to figure out it has a dead battery when its voltage show no little to no progress after several minutes.

The battery in my little 90VA APC UPS running my LAN stuff recently died and the UPS was making quite the racket about it. CyberPower UPSes seem to just overcharge the heck out of their dead batteries instead of letting you know the batteries are actually dead.

 

[Vanderlindemedia]

I'm never touching UPS devices again. The sole reason is when those battery's are about to go, they release a toxic fume that can kill you. Esp in a closed room such as an office, which was my case, i coud'nt understand why my eyes where burning and why i suffered suddenly from all weird sorts of senstations. Then i realised, the battery's went bad in such a light way that you cant smell the typical rotten egg but enough to give you some serious complications.

Carefull people; UPS battery's can go bad and when they do they are toxic as f.

When battery cells fail shorted, it drags the battery pack voltage down and without per-cell voltage monitoring, the UPS has no way of knowing that one of the cells has died, so it just keeps pumping charging current. Once the surviving cells are charged as much as they can be and once there, the excess charging electrolyzes the battery until it either dries out possibly explode along the way when the oxygen and hydrogen being release by over-charging gets ignited.

The UPS should still be able to figure out it has a dead battery when its voltage show no little to no progress after several minutes.

The battery in my little 90VA APC UPS running my LAN stuff recently died and the UPS was making quite the racket about it. CyberPower UPSes seem to just overcharge the heck out of their dead batteries instead of letting you know the batteries are actually dead.

Exactly. Battery's in pair simply are rated for up to 24.4V or so. So the UPS will just charge untill the set voltage is reached. When you have one bad cell or one bad battery, it will just continue to charge and not look per cell independent. It's always advised to swap out BOTH battery's and not just one because you think the 2nd battery is still good. Yes good for another application perhaps but not for UPS use anymore.

 

[digitalgriffin]

I would say 10:1 these are sealed lead acid battery problems and not having adequate circuitry to protect against battery failure.

In USA you have only a couple lead acid battery mfg. 99% of auto mfg use the same company in the USA. However as soon as you go China and India there are THOUSANDS of mom and dad shops all with varying quality. (All because environmental regs are so much lower there) And as with most mass consumer non durable goods, it goes to lowest bidder whom can make supply demands.

 

[digitalgriffin]

When battery cells fail shorted, it drags the battery pack voltage down and without per-cell voltage monitoring, the UPS has no way of knowing that one of the cells has died, so it just keeps pumping charging current. Once the surviving cells are charged as much as they can be and once there, the excess charging electrolyzes the battery until it either dries out possibly explode along the way when the oxygen and hydrogen being release by over-charging gets ignited.

The UPS should still be able to figure out it has a dead battery when its voltage show no little to no progress after several minutes.

The battery in my little 90VA APC UPS running my LAN stuff recently died and the UPS was making quite the racket about it. CyberPower UPSes seem to just overcharge the heck out of their dead batteries instead of letting you know the batteries are actually dead.

Very astute. Batteries can float voltage at 12V with a failed cell. But very quickly drop in voltage under a test load.

As it takes several hours to charge. I would say during the charge cycle, check temp and every hour or so check the load voltage drop as it charges. While it will take longer to charge it, such two safeties will prevent these kind of failures.

It could be a win win design. Including new sticky pad temperature sensors with a battery pack increases safety and encourages users to buy oem replacements.

 

[InvalidError]

I would say 10:1 these are sealed lead acid battery problems and not having adequate circuitry to protect against battery failure.

From the way my CP UPS failed with the battery shorted down to 17-18V (no bouncing back from that) and the software still reporting 24V even when the battery is removed and battery wires are floating at 27V, I'd say CP had a systemic issue with battery monitoring and reporting.

BTW, my CP LX1500 was purchased around the same time as the ones in these burning UPS reports as well.

And now that I think back on it, I do remember hearing a popping noise some time before the UPS first failed to hold and I couldn't find what quit working. May have been one of the cells' pressure relief vents popping.

Edit: also, if a cell is failed with relatively high impedance (ex.: plate sulfation, which is how my APC batteries usually die), although the rest voltage may 'recover' to 12V, the battery simply doesn't take a charge current. You crank the charging voltage to 15-20V on such a 12V battery and may still not be able to push more than 100mA through.

 

[dannlh]

Looks like a typical AGM battery failure due to lack of properly maintaining the UPS. Charging system dried up the electrolyte, case was probably already cracked on the battery before the smoke failure, and when the power went down and the UPS failed to kick in should have been a huge red flag to not let it power back up again.

I've seen the same on APC, Vertiv, Tripp-lite, Eaton and other brands. Why do people seem think the battery will last forever? Or they swap them with crap generic chinesium batteries and think they will last past 12 months.

But let's blame the UPS shall we?

 

[Metteec]

What type of batteries are being used? Are they being used in other devices or I guess I should ask, what else are those batteries compatible with?

I purchased Cyberpower genuine replacement batteries: CyberPower RB1280X2B UPS Replacement Battery Cartridge, Maintenance-Free, User Installable, 12V/8Ah https://a.co/d/2mmJP62

I am not sure what other units they are compatible with but it was an easy replacement process.

 

[InvalidError]

Why do people seem think the battery will last forever?

But let's blame the UPS shall we?

The battery exploding because the UPS failed to detect that the battery has gone bad and kept overcharging the heck out of remaining cells is entirely the UPS' fault for not monitoring the battery's working state and this is how you explode SLAs like what appears to have happened here. If you pump 2A into a 24V 10Ah battery for 10+h and it is still at 18V due to shorted cells yet the UPS just keeps charging forever, you've got a problem and this is exactly what my CP LX1500 did.

 

[az_r2d1]

When battery cells fail shorted, it drags the battery pack voltage down and without per-cell voltage monitoring, the UPS has no way of knowing that one of the cells has died, so it just keeps pumping charging current. Once the surviving cells are charged as much as they can be and once there, the excess charging electrolyzes the battery until it either dries out possibly explode along the way when the oxygen and hydrogen being release by over-charging gets ignited.

The UPS should still be able to figure out it has a dead battery when its voltage show no little to no progress after several minutes.

The battery in my little 90VA APC UPS running my LAN stuff recently died and the UPS was making quite the racket about it. CyberPower UPSes seem to just overcharge the heck out of their dead batteries instead of letting you know the batteries are actually dead.

Yes, the core issue here seems to be the UPS doesn't detect a faulty battery. That's a big error by Cyberpower. These should be recalled. In the mean time, keep an eye on the battery quality. As soon as battery doesn't charge to 100% anymore it should be replaced (battery).

When battery cells fail shorted, it drags the battery pack voltage down and without per-cell voltage monitoring, the UPS has no way of knowing that one of the cells has died, so it just keeps pumping charging current. Once the surviving cells are charged as much as they can be and once there, the excess charging electrolyzes the battery until it either dries out possibly explode along the way when the oxygen and hydrogen being release by over-charging gets ignited.

The UPS should still be able to figure out it has a dead battery when its voltage show no little to no progress after several minutes.

The battery in my little 90VA APC UPS running my LAN stuff recently died and the UPS was making quite the racket about it. CyberPower UPSes seem to just overcharge the heck out of their dead batteries instead of letting you know the batteries are actually dead.

Yes, the core issue here seems to be the UPS doesn't detect a faulty battery. IT does detect when a battery isn't fully charged , I had mine sit at 50% for quite a while. That's a big error by Cyberpower, they could have easily built in some alarm if it can't charge to 100% after a certain amount of charge time.. These should be recalled. In the mean time, keep an eye on the battery quality. As soon as battery doesn't charge to 100% anymore it should be replaced (battery).
Cyberpower, do the right thing before you get sued.

 

[az_r2d1]

I'm never touching UPS devices again. The sole reason is when those battery's are about to go, they release a toxic fume that can kill you. Esp in a closed room such as an office, which was my case, i coud'nt understand why my eyes where burning and why i suffered suddenly from all weird sorts of senstations. Then i realised, the battery's went bad in such a light way that you cant smell the typical rotten egg but enough to give you some serious complications.

Carefull people; UPS battery's can go bad and when they do they are toxic as f.



Exactly. Battery's in pair simply are rated for up to 24.4V or so. So the UPS will just charge untill the set voltage is reached. When you have one bad cell or one bad battery, it will just continue to charge and not look per cell independent. It's always advised to swap out BOTH battery's and not just one because you think the 2nd battery is still good. Yes good for another application perhaps but not for UPS use anymore.

"it will just"......
It does that because that's how it is programmed in the models in question here.
The ups DOES detect that the battery isn't charged to 100%, it shows on the front panel. All it needs to have is a time out that detects when a battery not getting charged to 100% within x amount of time. Then it should set alarms off and eventually just shut down all together. Simple solution. It just can't believe Cyberpower didn't include this.