Ups Clicking Sound

[chevykanteve]

I notice periodic "clicking" sounds from some UPS equipment I have used. What are these sounds indicative of? Voltage- stabilization efforts or.... what? Just curious.

[Crossy]

Probably the output relay as the unit switches briefly to battery power to bridge over a brown-out. Some units also perform a self-test by regularly switching to battery power for short periods.

[chevykanteve]

Probably the output relay as the unit switches briefly to battery power to bridge over a brown-out. Some units also perform a self-test by regularly switching to battery power for short periods.

Makes sense. Much appreciated, Crossy!

[Daffy D]

Some days we get a lot of that other days it is fine. It’s the fluctuation of the electric supply, proves the UPS is doing its job.

Daffy.

[Stabbo-Lad]

My UPS clicks when the aircon compressor kicks in. Or at leat it did until the other day when it burnt itself out.

Just bought a new one and that does'nt work at all!!

SL.

[Guest Reimar]

It's the builtin stabilizer which nis switching to battery power if the main power sorce delivers to low or even to high power! Nothing wrong with the UPS but may with your electriciry!

[pattyboy]

I'm glad I ran across this post. I've wondered about that clicking sound I've been hearing.

While we're on the subject of UPS's, mine doesn't always kick in when needed. I experience fairly regular power outages in my condo, but my UPS only keeps the computer running about 60% of the time -- has to reboot the other 40%. I don't think it's being caused by an old battery as this situation has existed for a long time. Is it something I'm doing or not doing, or did I simply buy a dog of a UPS?

[Crossy]

While we're on the subject of UPS's, mine doesn't always kick in when needed. I experience fairly regular power outages in my condo, but my UPS only keeps the computer running about 60% of the time -- has to reboot the other 40%. I don't think it's being caused by an old battery as this situation has existed for a long time. Is it something I'm doing or not doing, or did I simply buy a dog of a UPS?

Sounds like your PC is not bridging the switch-over time of the UPS.

This could be caused by a dodgy UPS (slow to change to battery) or you PC power supply being overloaded/faulty and thus unable to keep the output stable for the 25-50ms or so that the UPS takes to switch.

PC power supplies are not expensive, so the first place I'd go is a new and conservatively rated PSU.

Also check that the UPS is not being overloaded by the stuff you have plugged into it.

If you have regular outages or low mains voltage the batteries may not be getting fully charged which would also lead to problems. Get a cheapo multimeter and check your mains voltage (care) if it's less than 210V you should invest in a voltage regulator (AVR) to boost the power to 220V before feeding to the UPS.

EDIT Interesting reading here sbs_ups_tutorial.pdf

Edited January 8, 2008 by Crossy

[Daffy D]

I'm glad I ran across this post. I've wondered about that clicking sound I've been hearing.

While we're on the subject of UPS's, mine doesn't always kick in when needed. I experience fairly regular power outages in my condo, but my UPS only keeps the computer running about 60% of the time -- has to reboot the other 40%. I don't think it's being caused by an old battery as this situation has existed for a long time. Is it something I'm doing or not doing, or did I simply buy a dog of a UPS?

I had a similar problem some time ago, the UPS would only work some of the time depending how the electric went off. If the electric went off completely or for testing I pulled the plug the UPS it would work fine and the computer would stay on, but if the incoming electric supply just gave a hiccup or twitched or blinked for a moment the computer would automatically reboot. Very annoying.

I put a new battery in the UPS but that did not solve the problem. I then bought a new UPS and that did not solve the problem either. In the meantime I tried both UPS’s on the TV and they worked fine.

So no real answer to your problem, exept that the problem went away after I installed a new Motherboard with new power supply so I’m guessing it was one of them.

Daffy

[pattyboy]

Thank you Crossy, Daffy D, and Reimar. You've all provided some good info.

I was assuming that it was a crappy UPS, but you've given me some other possibilities to consider before running out to buy a new one. I suspect my PSU is likely being pushed to the limits, so I'll try replacing it with one that has more capacity and features. It seems that would be the fastest, cheapest and easiest thing to try first.

Edited January 8, 2008 by pattyboy

[Guest Reimar]

I'm glad I ran across this post. I've wondered about that clicking sound I've been hearing.

While we're on the subject of UPS's, mine doesn't always kick in when needed. I experience fairly regular power outages in my condo, but my UPS only keeps the computer running about 60% of the time -- has to reboot the other 40%. I don't think it's being caused by an old battery as this situation has existed for a long time. Is it something I'm doing or not doing, or did I simply buy a dog of a UPS?

I had a similar problem some time ago, the UPS would only work some of the time depending how the electric went off. If the electric went off completely or for testing I pulled the plug the UPS it would work fine and the computer would stay on, but if the incoming electric supply just gave a hiccup or twitched or blinked for a moment the computer would automatically reboot. Very annoying.

I put a new battery in the UPS but that did not solve the problem. I then bought a new UPS and that did not solve the problem either. In the meantime I tried both UPS's on the TV and they worked fine.

So no real answer to your problem, exept that the problem went away after I installed a new Motherboard with new power supply so I'm guessing it was one of them.

Daffy

It's the Power Supply!

Depend on the spec and devices of your Computer, you'll need with todays computer a stabilized PW with stable 300-350 Watts output. The "normale", chinese PW's, which are signed as 450 Watts, delivering just as liyyle as 200-250 Watts stable and that isn't enough.

As long as the PW is used at the edge of it's capacity, the PW internal Capaciter are discharging not within milli second but within micro second and that is to fast for any UPS to switch to Battery power! The time a UPS need to switch is about 5-15 ms depend on Brand and Model.

The delay of startup has nothing to do with the quality of the Batteries. But you should keep in mind that the Batteries Lifetime is about 2 years to keep constant min. 60% of it's normal capacity. And that 60% is needed by the UPS.