I measured 27 volts on one pack. Each pack is made up of two standard 12V lead-acid batteries in series. There are two packs in the UPS, presumably also in series. 24V nominal x 2 = "48V". Sorry I wasn't clear about that.
All the old battery packs I've pulled out (from the main unit and from the external battery pack units) read 25-26V on the meter. So I don't know where PowerChute gets 27.02V. It keeps saying 27.02V even when all the packs are unplugged and removed. POS.
A no-go battery is supposed to light up an orange "Bad Battery" light with a battery and an "X" through it symbol. This never lit up. I doubt any of the batteries were "bad" per se... probably had much less capacity than when new but still enough to power the thing for a while.
The thing is definitely "broke," but the interesting question is how. That flashing lowest-battery-level light MEANS something, but they reference NOTHING in their documentation and the tech support guys were like, "Internal Fault, dude, no other choice but to fork over another $1000 and "upgrade" so we can do this to you all over again."
I have it nearly pulled apart now. I'm going to look for the obvious -- blown secret internal fuse that "never blows," self-disemboweled electrolytic caps, baked resistors or other charred giveaways, etc. Barring anything glaring like that, then I'm going need more intelligence about the thing.
That refusal to go into battery mode, complete shutdown of the output & refusal to go back into online mode, and the blinking bottom battery light are a DEFINITE SYMPTOM OF SOMETHING DETERMINISTIC IN THE FIRMWARE. I'm screwed by the typical tech-support shuffle. We live in a confederacy of dunces.
User Manuals: I can't get a direct link, but you can easily go to
http://www.apcc.com/tools/mytools/in...&category=user, and then type in "SU1400RMXL".
RichardO: Thanks for the tip. Most of what he has are 24V units, but there were a couple of nice 2200VA RM units that may work. Shipping is $70 but it still may be a better way (and/or the only way) to go. I'm going to see if I can find something repairable in with a couple of hours of work before I give up. All this was unbudgeted and we're really in tight cash flow right now.
I really appreciate the effort that people are putting in trying to help. I'll continue to supply more information if you request it, and if I figure out anything I'll post it at least for posterity.
- The Inspector