UPS System Service FAQ

Learn more about common UPS services and how Mitsubishi Electric can support you in properly maintaining your mission critical equipment throughout the entire UPS lifecycle.

UPS System Service FAQ

Learn more about common UPS services and how Mitsubishi Electric can support you in properly maintaining your mission critical equipment throughout the entire UPS lifecycle.

 

Planning & Project Support

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Our team includes dedicated Project Application Engineers and Project Managers who plan, manage, and support your critical power projects.

 

This includes:

  • Reviewing product specifications and individual needs
  • Recommending the right equipment for your business
  • Developing customized solutions up until our service team is enlisted to support installation, startup and subsequent maintenance.

Yes. Part of our planning and project support services includes managing the project timeline to keep you informed through the process and ensure your project is completed on time.

Our team can evaluate whether this is possible and assist you in planning. To discuss a potential project, contact our team!

 

 

Testing & Startup

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UPS Startup

UPS startup focuses on powering up the UPS and running it through a series of checks and balances, including infrared scanning of electrical equipment and initial onsite tests.

 

After UPS installation, an authorized technician will perform UPS startup to confirm the system has been installed properly.

 

This is the best way to enact proper procedures and ensure adherence to warranty protocols. It's also an additional benchmark for performance data and an opportunity for onsite training.

 

Commissioning

Commissioning typically includes additional testing such as UPS battery testing, load-bank testing and burn-in testing. UPS Commissioning also often involves a higher level of testing known as Integrated System Testing

 

This measures not only the performance of your UPS system, but also how it affects and integrates with the other equipment in your facility, including:

  • Generator, grounding system and breakers
  • Automatic transfer switches (ATS)
  • Power-distribution units (PDU)
  • Cooling systems

 

 

 

Technicians verify the proper installation of your equipment.

 

This can vary depending on the customer, location, type of UPS, etc. Technicians are responsible for any testing that verifies that the UPS system will perform. This includes infrared scanning of electrical equipment and other initial onsite tests.

 

Refer to our Pre-Startup Checklist for a complete list of what is required for an effective and safe startup.

Every UPS is tested prior to shipment and furnished with a signed factory test report.

 

Additional factory UPS testing, such as load bank testing or an optional factory witness test can also be performed virtually or at the Warrendale, PA facility with the end user present.

 

Standard testing includes measurement of steady state characteristics, measurement of transient response, output transfer testing, UPS overload testing, and AC input failure recovery.

 

Mitsubishi Electric can also offer support on commissioning testing and integrated systems testing.

At a factory witness test, customers can expect to see their equipment go through simulated load conditions to test and verify performance in all possible conditions, especially adverse scenarios.

 

Pre-testing in our lab environment enables necessary last-minute tweaks possible at the factory and eliminates on-site troubleshooting.

 

Learn more about why you should invest in a factory witness test.

Mitsubishi Electric provides UPS training for end users called First Responder Training, which is geared towards day-to-day UPS operation and properly assessing the system’s performance and trends - Contact us!

Equipment should be stored in environmentally controlled and conditioned spaces.

 

Water or condensation could lead to corrosion, risk of shock, shorts on circuit boards, or unplanned outages/ load losses. Without proper environmental control, there is a risk of foreign material contamination.

 

Some best practices include refraining from storing the UPS or batteries in areas open to the elements and following all storage requirements listed for each piece of equipment.

 

Storage requirements vary between UPS models so be sure to consult your specific model’s owner’s manual or refer to our Technical Support line if you have any questions.

 

An improper storage and installation environment will deteriorate the insulation, shorten component life, cause corrosion and equipment malfunctions, as well as potentially void your warranty.

 

 

UPS Maintenance & Repairs

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UPS preventative maintenance is vital to ensure that your UPS system performs at its highest reliability and efficiency.

 

While Mitsubishi Electric UPS systems are the most reliable UPS on the market, the only way for truly uninterrupted operation is to enroll in regularly scheduled maintenance visits.

 

With our support, preventative maintenance becomes routine and an integral aspect of overall system reliability. Staying up to date on lifecycle parts replacements and monitoring the health of your equipment is also essential to achieve maximum uptime and prolong the life of your equipment.

There are many factors that could cause a UPS failure, such as a lack of maintenance and your UPS's load factor.

 

Maintenance

Maintenance is the most common cause of UPS failure. Periodic maintenance visits ensure that your system is functioning at its highest reliability and has a healthy service life.

 

During visits, authorized technicians perform visual inspections and other tests to identify any potential problems and mitigate repair. Lifecycle part replacements are also incredibly important to keep in mind, especially as your UPS ages and parts reach the end of their design life.

 

Service from Mitsubishi Electric ensures timely replacement and management of these updates.

 

UPS Load Factor

Adding more loads to your equipment or operating at a higher load capacity could have adverse effects on your UPS. This is why application engineering is so important.

 

If you are considering increasing the load on your UPS or adding new equipment to your system, you should consult with our team to evaluate.

There is some overlap between both types of preventative maintenance, but here are the main differences:

  • Major preventative maintenance is often synonymous with annual preventative maintenance and is typically more thorough. The UPS must be taken offline and transitioned into maintenance bypass to test functionality. 
  • Minor preventative maintenance is often synonymous with quarterly/semi-annual and typically involves visual inspections for anomalies/irregularities and a review of event or fault history.

While N+1, catcher systems, and other configurations add layers of redundancy to the design, a UPS system still requires maintenance to ensure optimal performance.

 

It is not ideal to be in a situation where a critical load is transitioned to another UPS or set of UPS systems when an issue occurs, as it reduces redundancy of backup power.

 

The down UPS(s) will then need to be repaired, and while being repaired, the redundant UPS systems are the only ones holding the critical load.

 

If an issue then occurs with the redundant UPS, the critical load(s) could be dropped. Regular maintenance ensures that the entire UPS system remains in top condition to limit the potential for issues to arise.

  1. Note the Serial Number and any active alarm/fault codes on the UPS screen.
  2. Call Technical Support (1-800-887-7830, option 1) with this information. Our Technical Support Engineers can either guide you through resetting the UPS or taking appropriate next steps.

 

Mitsubishi Electric also provides first responder training available for those who manage sites with our UPS. This training equips them to understand and perform some basic troubleshooting techniques.

UPS software is verified during startup and preventative maintenance.

 

While software updates are not a common need, regularly performed preventative maintenance ensures that your system’s software is up to date.

Regular preventative maintenance visits is the best way to ensure your software is up to date.

 

You can also call Technical Support (1-800-887-7830, option 1) to guide you through verifying if your UPS has the necessary software updates.

 

If a UPS software update is needed, then a service technician can be dispatched to your site for installation.

 

 

UPS Battery Services

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UPS battery maintenance is heavily dependent on what type of batteries your UPS system utilizes. Mitsubishi Electric can provide maintenance on VRLA, VLA (wet cell), Pure Lead, flywheel, and lithium-ion batteries.

 

Different chemistries have varying characteristics and life spans that need to be planned for accordingly.

 

Mitsubishi Electric’s battery maintenance services include annual and quarterly /semi-annual maintenance visits, battery monitoring and replacement services.

Thermal runway begins when the heat generated within a battery exceeds the amount of heat that is dissipated to its surroundings.

 

As excessive heat reaches critical limits, the battery system will encounter events that will lead to an uncontrollable self-heating state.

 

There are many contributing factors that could lead to this: ambient temperature, age of the battery, excessive float charging voltage, and overcharging.

 

Being on alert for other battery anomalies can only further prevent thermal runaway. To prevent it, invest in regularly scheduled maintenance for your batteries and a battery monitoring system that will ensure that you are always aware of the condition of your batteries.

The expected lifespans for each UPS battery chemistry we offer are:

 

VRLA

3-5 years

VLA (Wet Cell) & 20-Year VRLA

up to 15 years

Pure Lead

up to 7 years

 

Lithium-Ion

15-25 years

 

When your batteries reach their end of life, Mitsubishi Electric is readily available to offer complete UPS battery replacement services on existing systems. Contact us to learn more!

Deciding between a like-for-like replacement and an upgrade greatly depends on your business’s needs, such as a more sustainable battery type, longer life span, or a lower TCO.

 

It is important to evaluate your viable battery options and select the best chemistry for your application.

 

Mitsubishi Electric can guide you through this process and equip you with the knowledge you need to make an informed decision. From that point, we can manage and execute an efficient installation whether you are replacing your batteries with the same technology or an upgrade.

Yes! Mitsubishi Electric offers various UPS battery monitoring solutions for VLA, VRLA, and VRLA Pure Lead batteries. This includes systems that monitor individual batteries and those that monitor characteristics of the cabinet.

 

Our experienced team members are here to help determine which UPS battery monitoring system would be best for your installation - Contact us!

 

 

Mitsubishi Electric's Field Service Team

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Customers receive a 1-year warranty for their equipment. The warranty period is 12 months from startup or 18 months from shipment, whichever occurs first.

 

Please contact us regarding any warranty questions you may have.

 

After your warranty expires, we recommend enrolling in an EverPower™ Maintenance Contract to promote the health and longevity of your equipment.

Partnering with Mitsubishi Electric for UPS and battery maintenance gives you unrestricted support from our expert team and limitless resources.

 

Our Field Service Technicians are thoroughly trained to be experts on Mitsubishi Electric equipment and are connected to the rest of our organization, making us the ideal service provider for your UPS system.

 

A direct partnership with us gives you preferred access to OEM parts, technical support, priority scheduling, engineering support, and quicker resolutions in response to emergency situations.

 

Want to learn more? Contact us!

Mitsubishi Electric offers EverPower™ Maintenance Contracts in three tiers - Gold, Silver, and Bronze. These plans can be tailored to your business’s specific needs and feature benefits such as priority response times, after-hour emergency services, and discounts on parts and labor.

Mitsubishi Electric Field Service Technicians are located all over the country across three regions - East, West and Central. We can also dispatch technicians to any area as needed. Contact us to learn more.

Whether through preventative maintenance, battery services, or emergency response, our Field Service Technicians are committed to ensuring your business doesn't go dark.

 

Our team members come from diverse and experienced backgrounds in electrical and/or UPS training, and many have been in critical power for years. We pride ourselves on choosing the best people to service our customers to ensure that you get the most out of your equipment.

 

We are also committed to thoroughly training our Field Technicians on Mitsubishi Electric products and peripherals to ensure that they are expert at servicing our customers, especially in highly critical applications and emergencies.

 

Our Mitsubishi Electric instructor conducts UPS training onsite at our factory. Each technician must:

  • Complete at least 20 hours of training per UPS model. Training also covers troubleshooting, startup, and maintenance.
  • Pass the training exam with a 90% or higher
  • Complete a 40-hour shadowing of a Mitsubishi Electric-certified Field Technician before working alone onsite

 

 

Technical Support

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Call 800-887-7830 and select option #1. For less urgent services, you can also contact us via our online form.

Technical support can answer your questions regarding your equipment or services needed. They can also help you troubleshoot and/or dispatch a certified technician to your site.

All UPS systems in the Active Support phase of their lifecycle are compatible with our CS141 communications card, allowing communication between the equipment and network.

 

Mitsubishi Electric installs this card and makes sure that it communicates with your system and pulls the right information to be accessed by your network.

 

You can then manage alerts, emails, and other notifications. You can log into an internet browser and update the various points that you are monitoring and establish the protocols for communicating with your network.

 

Below are additional resources for various communication cards:

 

Mitsubishi Electric offers First Responder Training, which covers the basic functions and protocols that should be followed in the event of a potential issue. This also encompasses menu navigation and troubleshooting.

 

If further assistance is needed, gather the below before calling Technical Support:

  • Serial Number(s)
  • Active or recent fault/alarm codes
  • Notes on what has occurred at the site

Our team drives you to a resolution, which may result in dispatching a field service technician to your site if needed.

While Mitsubishi Electric Uninterruptible Power Supplies are industry-leading, it is vital to perform regular preventative maintenance on your system. This includes its batteries, peripherals, and evaluating when you may need an update or replacement.

Yes, you can! Technical support is accessible to you up until your UPS has reached the Obsolete phase of its UPS lifecycle.

 

If your UPS has reached this phase, then it is best to contact us immediately to discuss a proper UPS replacement.

All documentation for Mitsubishi Electric equipment can be found on our Technical Documents page.

 

 

Product Lifecycle Management

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The average life expectancy of a Mitsubishi Electric UPS is generally 15 years, but this is greatly dependent on how well the equipment is being maintained, its load factor, and its environmental conditions.

 The UPS lifecycle support phases are Active Support, Sustained Support, Best Effort Support, and Obsolete.

  • Active Support: UPS system has full technical support, and all replacement parts are available. The product is currently in production and available as new.
  • Sustained Support: UPS system has full technical support, and all replacement parts are available up until the announced end of support date.
  • Best Effort Support: UPS system has limited technical support, and field services and replacement parts are available until the announced end of support date.
  • Obsolete: UPS system’s end of support has passed, and technical support and replacement parts are no longer available.

Replacing lifecycle parts in your UPS is a natural part of maintaining your equipment; each part has a design life that must be honored to maximize reliability.

 

Our resource on common UPS repairs can help you gain a better understanding of the frequency at which you should be replacing certain parts. If wondering whether you should replace lifecycle parts or the full system, check out this quick read.

 

An EverPower™ Maintenance Contract is the most timely and effective method to identifying any potential problems that call for a replacement.

 

For example, when technicians do a visual inspection of capacitors, they can check for damage like cracks, splits, or leaking fluid. If they find any issues, they can perform a replacement.

UPS lifecycle parts that commonly need replaced include batteries, fans and capacitors.

  • UPS battery replacements vary depending on the specific chemistry’s design life.
  • UPS fan replacements typically occur every 5 years
  • UPS capacitor replacements occur every 15 years.

Learn more about common UPS repairs.

If you choose to keep your current UPS system, you will still have access to Technical Support and replacement parts until the announced end of support date.

 

It is recommended to consider replacing your legacy UPS equipment with a current UPS model to ensure that you are staying in the preferred Active Support phase for UPS lifecycle support.

 

For each legacy product, there is a potential replacement UPS.

 

However, it is important to re-evaluate your application’s needs and explore our various uninterruptible power supplies systems before deciding on a replacement. Our UPS planning and project management team can support you throughout the process.