DC light and alarm on old UPS?

Fusion Voice service, features and help.
6 posts Page 1 of 1
by kai » Fri Sep 04, 2020 8:34 am
I got my Fusion service 4 or 5 years ago. I still use the same UPS that was originally installed with it. My phone never works when the power goes out, so I've been thinking the UPS battery has been drained for years. We're in the process of getting me a cell phone so that I have something to use when the power goes out and my landline won't work

A few months ago I realized I could be more energy conscious around the house and began turning off most of my power strips at night except for the one my landline is plugged into so I could receive calls at night if someone needed to reach me at night in an emergency.

This morning, I was woken up by a beeping sound. I got up and discovered that it was the UPS. The DC light on it was flashing. It took me a long time and some furniture rearranging so I could get my head close enough to it to be able to read the writing on it with a magnifying glass. I also noticed that the Fusion UPS is plugged into one of the power strips that I've been turning off at night. When I turned it back on, the beeping stopped (yay), but I'm afraid that didn't solve any "problem".

I have so many questions that I don't even know where to start, like "Why hasn't my UPS ever beeped before?" and "Why suddenly this morning?" and "Should my landline be working when the power goes out?" and "Is the UPS battery still good?" and "If so, why doesn't my phone work when the power goes out?" and "If the UPS is still working, why is it doing so when it should have needed to be replaced years ago?", etc. Can anyone help me understand what's happening and what to do about it? I'm on the autism spectrum and sometimes have difficulty understanding things that other people understand easily. Please don't be mean to me.

My current, but borderline insane, theory: The UPS has never worked correctly, so never came online when the power went out - leaving the landline unusable and the battery near full. The UPS began working correctly for some unknown reason this morning and properly alerted me (for the first time ever) that it was on battery power when it had no DC current powering it.
by dct » Fri Sep 04, 2020 9:20 am
My best guess is that turning off the power strips consistently drained the UPS, as that is the newest variable in your homes setup.

During power outages, does your ONT stay on? That's the primary purpose of the UPS, as without the ONT, there won't be any dial tone being sent to your phones. What kind of phones do you have, and how are they connected? If your phones require a power source, and they're not on their own UPS, that would explain why your phones don't work during an outage. If your phones don't require power - they operate off of the voltage from the telephone lines - then I'm not quite sure why they wouldn't work during an outage.

An easy way to determine the reason for the UPS beeping at you is to either turn off that strip again, and let the battery drain, or leave the strip on, and see if the beeping reoccurs. Let us know what happens!
Dan T.
Community & Escalations Manager
707-547-3400
@Sonic
by ngufra » Fri Sep 04, 2020 9:40 am
UPS typically beep for 2 reasons:
  • they sense they lost a power source. to tell you you need to power down safely your equipment.
  • the battery is low
As written previously if your phone needed power but was not on the UPS it would not work. this is the case of all cordless phones. Corded phone usually work without power or at least have one of the lines working without power (in case of multi line phones).

It is also true that UPS battery only last so many years so whether it was cycled or not, it may be time to replace either the battery or the whole unit, especially if you need to power your cordless phone and the voltage does not match that on the UPS output and you need a ups with a 110 V AC output.
by kai » Tue Sep 08, 2020 10:11 am
I have a princess phone that I plug in when the power goes out. It has never worked when the power goes out.

When the power goes out (or I turn off the power strip that the UPS is plugged into) the UPS doesn't warn me that it has no DC power. It has only warned me once - the other morning, previously mentioned.

The only thing I can come up with is that the UPS is defective or the installation wasn't performed correctly, leaving the UPS non-responsive to power outages. It sounds like I need to contact Sonic about a house call.

Any further comments or troubleshooting suggestions before I do so?
by ngufra » Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:04 am
So you have a power strip plugged into the wall outlet.
The UPS is plugged on this power strip.
The ONT or ATA is plugged behind the UPS for power and into the fiber or cable for data.
The corded phone does not have any other power source and the RG11 is plugged in the ONT or ATA.

Do you have any other device in the mix, provided by sonic or otherwise? These may need to be plugged on the UPS.

Is the UPS switched on ?
You reported the phone works if the power strip is energized and does not work when the power strip is off.
Can you share a picture of your setup?
Sonic may have a record of what they installed and may be best qualified to assist.
by kai » Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:25 pm
Thanks for all your help. No camera. Will contact tech support.
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