397C Battery Charger unit/ KS-21906 Battery

[G3SIMaint]

Hello everyone,

I recently had a Power alarm on my G3SI that i started to troubleshoot. The error pointed to the charger /battery on my system. My system was installed back in 1991. So its been around for a while now. I found the documents to check battery levels etc. It indicated i need to deenergize the charger before taking a voltage reading at the test point. So thats what i did. As you might have guessed, when i hit the power stitch, nothing happen when i attemped to reenergize the charger.. No red status light indicationing it was charging again.
I checked the 120V input and that was good. Am i missing something??. Which leads me to my next question... If this charger has truly failed, Where can i get a replacement. I'm also looking for three new or refurbed batteries to install along with the charger..

Any help would be greatly apreciated.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[phonesrus]

There is a possibility that the charger has failed, but I would go with an open/failed battery pack. The packs are 48 volts each composed of 24 2-volt batteries connected in series. In A MCC cabinet there are 3 of these packs which connect in series for a total of 144 volts. With the 397a off you can unplug and remove the packs for testing. These packs only act as a holdover for a short time to keep the processor carrier from crashing during a powerloss/brownout, they do not sustain the entire switch. If you have your system on a UPS system you should be protected.
I recently had a similar customer issue, We are having the packs custom made by the original manufacturer, you can Google them for info. I am sure Avaya has them, but I'll bet the price can be beat by the mfg., and be assured of a fresh product. As for the 397a it should't be too hard to find, if you need one.

 

[G3SIMaint]

I just checked all my battery packs seperately. 2 of the are around 47 volts and one around 40. With that said, It doesnt appear i have a shorted or open pack??

If i leave the batteries unplugged, Should the charger turn on???

 

[phonesrus]

The charger has specific limits regarding the batteries voltages, and generates alarms if exceeded +/-, Leaving the power off may generate an alarm (minor) on the system, if you have any maintenance with Avaya it will report to them, but I believe that power supply also delivers cooling fan power, so it might be wise to leave it on.
The 397 should, if I remember correctly,not show a power light when turned on,and functioning correctly, but will if the batteries are bad, or disconnected.
The alarm is raised if the charger has been charging for 30 or more hours. I am referencing the maintenance docs for an 8.2 si system, which are downloadable from Avaya Support.

 

[mikeydidit]

I had this same problem last year. Below is a description.

During the power down procedures for the B-SPE the processor came back up with a power alarm. After a few minutes the alarm resolved itself. It appears that battery backup for the processors are getting old and weak. ( A single battery pack in the bottom of A Cabinet) Tier 3 told me that when the switch is behind a UPS the batteries are not necessary. The battery only keeps the EPN’s up 5 seconds and the processors 5 minutes.


This is what I did to resolve the problem.


The procedure would be to turn off the battery charger (397c power unit) and then unplug the set of 3 batteries. Next you would remove all 3 and replace all new batteries and replace the plugs. It may take 30 hours for these to recharge.




Mikey