Connecting APC UPS

[grunter]

I recently purchased an “APC Easy UPS On-line SRV 1000va” UPS (Model SRV1KI).  This UPS comes with a serial and a UPS cable.  I can’t use the serial cable as the pc doesn’t have a serial port (I haven’t tried a serial-USB adapter yet).  The USB cable is Type-B at the ups end and Type-A at the pc end.  There is no 10-pin RJ50 plug on this UPS unit.

 

The UPS is connected to the UNRAID box and is providing power but no management tools can be configured either with the built in tool or NUT plugin.

 

From scouring this forum, it seems I may need to have “modbus” mode set on the UPS unit but haven’t tried to configure that as there is no menu system on the ups interface (maybe can do it if I connect to a pc with the supplied software?)

 

Is there anybody here using one of these APC UPS’s with UNRAID that may be able to assist?

 

Many thanks

Grunter

Edited April 28, 2021 by grunter
paragraph spacing

[S80_UK]

The UPS software in Unraid is based on apcupsd, and does not generally need Modbus enabled in order to operate correctly.  All that Modbus offers is a much more detailed view on the parameters in the UPS relating to power usage, battery and so on.  However, I note that your UPS includes what APC describe as "Basic UPS signalling" and I have seen reports that suggest their may be problems in making this work with the apcupsd software.   I have not been able to find out what "Basic UPS signalling" really means, but I suspect it may be a very limited protocol, and perhaps only working with APCs own software provided for these units.  I suspect also that the Modbus option is not a feature in your unit.

 

I am sure you already looked, but I could not find other references to this type of UPS on this forum

 

 

[grunter]

Mmmm... after reading a few more posts, it looks like I should have got a different model APC UPS like "APC Back-UPS CS 1000kv" which has the "standard" USB Type-A and RJ50 (10pin plug) at the UPS end.  Most people seem to be able to get them to connect to UNRAID.  I have an old "APC Back-UPS 750kv" but no "standard" cable.  I will try to resurrect that UPS with a cable ordered on-line.  It may take a few weeks to get here though.  We seem to be having a few lightning storms here lately so I think a decent UPS is really important - it also needs to be able to shut down the server when there is a power cut.  That's what I cant get my new UPS to do. 

 

PS. Anybody in Cambridge, New Zealand, want my brand new APC 1000kv UPS that I cant connect to UNRAID?

Edited May 6, 2021 by grunter

[grunter]

Really annoyed about this UPS problem with UNRAID.  I also found that the supplied software CD and its Powershute software insists that flash is used although I did find a newer non-flash version in the Internet.  I wonder why APC would mess with their connection standards on different consumer UPS models?

[nihues]

I've got it working (SRV2KI-BR) but used the serial cable (and a serial-usb converter), with the USB it didn't work.

Here is the steps:

 

1) ONLY CONNECT SERIAL CABLE, don't connect both (usb port) or it won't work.

2) Connect ups to server/pc, you can use a serial-usb converter

3) look the /dev/tty (dmesg will show) in my case: "usb 2-1.3: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0" so it will be /dev/usbttyUSB0

4) Not sure why default UPS Settings didn't show as connected, it works if I use acptest from cmd, so I tried NUT (install from apps).

5) Settings for USP Settings: UPS cable: smart, UPS type: APCsmart, Device: /dev/usbttyUSB0 (or the one you got from dmesg)

6) Settings for NUT - UPS Driver: (CUSTOM) apsmart, UPS Port: /dev/usbttyUSB0 (or the one you got from dmesg)

7) Profit, after that it worked!

 

 

[grunter]

Thanks for the reply, but I still cant get it to work!  Are you able to post a screen shot of all of the NUT setting in Unraid?  I get the same UPS port from dmesg using my Serial-USB cable but some of the other settings are a mystery.   I have attached a screen shot of the NUT settings screen in Unraid. (Please note: some of my settings in the screen shot are me trying unsuccessfully other values...).  I look forward to your reply as I am really keen to get this UPS working.  Many thanks, Grunter.

[VegChan]

On 3/4/2022 at 1:11 AM, nihues said:

I've got it working (SRV2KI-BR) but used the serial cable (and a serial-usb converter), with the USB it didn't work.

Here is the steps:

 

1) ONLY CONNECT SERIAL CABLE, don't connect both (usb port) or it won't work.

2) Connect ups to server/pc, you can use a serial-usb converter

3) look the /dev/tty (dmesg will show) in my case: "usb 2-1.3: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0" so it will be /dev/usbttyUSB0

4) Not sure why default UPS Settings didn't show as connected, it works if I use acptest from cmd, so I tried NUT (install from apps).

5) Settings for USP Settings: UPS cable: smart, UPS type: APCsmart, Device: /dev/usbttyUSB0 (or the one you got from dmesg)

6) Settings for NUT - UPS Driver: (CUSTOM) apsmart, UPS Port: /dev/usbttyUSB0 (or the one you got from dmesg)

7) Profit, after that it worked!

 

 

Thank you, it seems to work in the default UPS-Settings for me.

[grunter]

Many thanks for this input, I will have a go with my UPS and report back.  It would be great to get that UPS working with Unraid.