Problem Summary:

I am experiencing an issue with my APC Back-UPS ES 850G2 when it is connected to my Unraid server via USB. The UPS is configured to shut down the server after 3 minutes of being on battery power, and after the server shuts down, a command is sent to the UPS to power it off. Despite the server’s power consumption being well within the UPS’s capacity (36W-64W out of 520W max*(includes everything on the USP)), the UPS shuts down unexpectedly when the power is lost, making a long beeping sound. To restore functionality, I need to plug the UPS back into power and press the power button twice.

I have tried using both Unraid’s built-in UPS management software and the NUT plugin, but the issue persists. Interestingly, if I do not use the USB connection to manage the UPS from my server, the UPS operates normally during a power outage. However, without the USB connection, I lose the ability to monitor the UPS, manage shutdowns, or send the shutdown command to the UPS to conserve battery power, which is crucial for my energy-saving setup both at home and remotely.

I contacted APC support regarding this issue, and they mentioned that the beeping and the UPS not kicking in are usually indicative of an overload problem. However, after going through the steps to confirm that the UPS is not overloaded, they recommended downloading the official APC software to manage the UPS. This presents a challenge because I am running Unraid, which is not directly compatible with the APC software, designed for Linux Red Hat or Windows environments.

 

Any suggestions or others experiencing this issue?

I assume you have "Turn off UPS after shutdown:" set to no in the UPS settings page built into unraid?

In most case, problem come from battery, pls apply similar loading and further test the UPS to confirm.

 

Below are one example

 

 

Agreed, sounds like a bad battery.

On 8/25/2024 at 2:09 PM, Gragorg said:

I assume you have "Turn off UPS after shutdown:" set to no in the UPS settings page built into unraid?

I have set it to “Yes”, does this cause issue with config ?

22 hours ago, Vr2Io said:

In most case, problem come from battery, pls apply similar loading and further test the UPS to confirm.

 

Below are one example

 

 

Thank you for this, could be possible, I understand that this can still occur but the battery is new and no cycles from APC. And is interesting how it works perfectly without being connected through a usb 

18 hours ago, Mxoio said:

Thank you for this, could be possible, I understand that this can still occur but the battery is new and no cycles from APC. And is interesting how it works perfectly without being connected through a usb 

I overlook you have said if disconnect USB control then it work normal.

 

On 8/25/2024 at 9:01 PM, Mxoio said:

and after the server shuts down, a command is sent to the UPS to power it off.

Do you mean another equipment sending this command ? Or still come from Unraid.

 

I think you should try disable UPS shutdown after server shutdown function. It look like UPS perform something wrong and enter error stats.

 

Edited August 27, 20241 yr by Vr2Io

It’s only connected from the USB to the server, seems like there is an issue possible with the way Uraid is communicating with the UPS. What I might try is connecting a laptop with the USB cable and running APC software to see if this is the case.