UPS Repair Warning

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W6SJK

Senior Member
We have a 2200VA APC UPS that is out of warranty. The fan died. Its a 24VDC brushless fan, not exactly a stock unit at RS or computer stores. I called APC and they don't sell parts, except replacement batteries. They also don't sell service manuals citing proprietary design.

They referred me to a service shop, but they don't sell parts either, and want an unbelievable $500 to replace the fan. They'll also throw in new batteries, a two year warranty and return shipping.

That's an expensive fan! Buyer beware. Time to check out Jameco or equal!

Anyone know of a source for a schematic, for future use? Thanks!

Steve
 
rick hart

rick hart

Senior Member
Location
Dallas Texas
Manuals, no. APC won't turn loose unless they have more to lose to a LARGE buyer of UPS.
But try electronics houses like Mouser.com for the part.
 
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petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
Why would one need a schematic to replace a fan or a part number for the fan in the first place? These are not exactly rocket science type parts.

It might turn out to be most cost effective to dispose of the unit in the nearest round file and buy a new one.
 
tom baker

tom baker

First Chief Moderator & NEC Expert
Staff member
Location
Bremerton, Washington
Occupation
Master Electrician
Try Graingers for your fan.
I had a Best Ferrups UPS and took it to a service depot and they had a replacment fan for it, it was an aftermarket fan.
 
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W6SJK

Senior Member
petersonra said:
Why would one need a schematic to replace a fan or a part number for the fan in the first place? These are not exactly rocket science type parts.
Click to expand...

I said it was for future use. Just being prepared. Yes, its not rocket science. The fan even has a plug in connector. But I'm against paying $500 for a $20 part.

Thanks for the reponses.
 
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charlie tuna

Senior Member
Location
Florida
the manufacturer is in business to "manufacture" --- and the liability he exposes himself to by selling you or the owner a fan is too large.. so he refers you to service shop --- the service shop knows that after a year or so the ups batteries are questionable depending upon how they were used (or abused). so they want no "call backs" and if the unit is functioning with new batteries -- he's safe!!! i would explain this to your customer and recommend the installation of a good(ball bearing) equipment fan in place of the factory fan. and let the customer ride out the rest of the ups unit's battery life --- then he's faced with replacing the unit.

i once had a firm go "bottoms up" while owing me about three thousand dollars. i had a good relationship with the building manager and found out they had left their ups unit in the computer room. it was only a year old and cost about fourteen thousand. i did the legal thing -- that cost me another $500.. and got permission to lean the business by confiscating the ups unit. the whole time i'm thinking i'm gonna make money on this deal!!! before i could re-sell it i had to have it serviced -- and thats when i realized that extra money was going into the service shop's pockets!! all the ups companies we have dealt with are the same and some of them are really sorry!!! they don't ever react when the units is under warrentee!!
 
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zbang

Senior Member
Location
Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
I work on APC and sometimes other UPSs. The fan should be readily available from Digi-Key, Mouser, Newark, or any of the other large electronics distributors. Don't "cheap out" on that fan, get an exact replacement if at all possible. (BTW, the fans sold to manufacturers are designed/built for much higher MTBF than the generic fans at radio shack... the same is true for computer hard disk drives.)

Also, for the smaller UPSs (<5k), digi-key has just about the best battery prices I've seen. Replace the batteries every 2-3 years and PM the systems yearly and most of those UPSs will last forever.
 
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W6SJK

Senior Member
Followup: I forgot to mention that the UPS would not run at all, no output from the inverter. I thought investing in a fan would be worth the gamble but never expected the UPS to shutdown if a 2 wire fan failed! So the boss decided to buy another UPS rather than spend $500 on repairs. They gave the UPS to me.

I got a fan from Jameco, soldered the leads to the connector from the old fan and plugged it in and the UPS powered right up! Apparently the UPS monitors fan current and shuts down if out of range. In any case, it was a $15 repair, not $500! So now I have a $15 2200VA 30min UPS for only $15. Thanks for the replies.
 
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megloff11x

Senior Member
Lead acid batteries are supposed to last five years if properly charged and discharged, and most UPS devices use high tech IC chips that do the proper charge sequence. But as with everything else, it doesn't always last as long as you'd like. My computer UPS store bought blocks die about every two years, and it's cheaper to buy a whole new one than just the battery.

Matt
 
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