Bizarro Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Hi all, I have a rackmount old 3kVA APC smart-UPS 3000. I have the 920-0024E serial cable attached to the unraid box, but I don't know what "UPS cable" and "UPS type" to choose. None of the selections seem to detect the UPS. Maybe the serial port gets disabled when the UPS has a network card installed in it. I then tried to get it to talk to the network card using APCUPSD. But I can't see anywhere in the webpage to put in the IP address, username, and password? I'm assuming for that method, UPS cable is "Ether" and UPS type is "PCnet"? Has anyone managed to get this working before? Otherwise I have an Eaton 9130 in the rack also that I can monitor instead (USB or network available). Quote Link to comment
Frank1940 Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Two thoughts! First, is the MB serial port 'turned on' in the BIOS? Second, Have you considered using a USB-to-serial converter? (On Amazon, there are a lot of them listed for around $10. I even saw one from Tripp Lite...) Quote Link to comment
bubbaQ Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 The serial port on the UPS is totally unrelated to the network card in the UPS. The network interface is accessed with a web browser. The serial port connection requires that you use a proprietary APC cable. Since you have the SMART UPS, you should use a SMART cable, and select SMART as the cable type. SMART cable gets you more data... plain serial gets you the shutdown signal but not much more. You can roll-your-own cable by searching for the pinouts on the Internet. Quote Link to comment
Bizarro Posted August 7, 2016 Author Share Posted August 7, 2016 I have the proprietary 920-0024E cable attached between the Unraid box serial and the UPS, will need to check BIOS to see if the port is enabled but I've never seen it otherwise. Setting UPS cable to "Smart" and UPS type to "APCsmart" results in no communication to the UPS. I'd prefer the network option ideally as the UPS has a network card, is there a trick to make that work? Quote Link to comment
bubbaQ Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 UnRAID cannot use the network card to communicate with the UPS (other than SNMP and you don't want to go there). Reset the network card to defaults, connect it to a switch, and check your DHCP assignments to get the IP address. Then open a browser to that IP address. As for the serial interface, check your BIOS. Set up a laptop with a serial port and a null modem cable, and see if you get terminal access. Or, as other pointed out, get a $10 USB-to-serial adapter. Quote Link to comment
Bizarro Posted August 7, 2016 Author Share Posted August 7, 2016 The network card is attached to a switch and is configured with a static IP, browse-able etc. Is there a way to get it to work with Unraid? The windows servers can talk to the card in the UPS fine. I'll try the serial option with a laptop when I get home. I'll have to look up the baud, I think it was 2400. I just have a suspicion that the network card disables the onboard serial in the UPS as it uses the same method to talk to the UPS. Quote Link to comment
bubbaQ Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 I just have a suspicion that the network card disables the onboard serial in the UPS as it uses the same method to talk to the UPS. No, it doesn't I have used APC UPSes for decades, with the network management cards. They do not affect the serial port. In fact, I have one on an unRAID server right now (Smart-UPS 1000 XL) that uses the serial port and has a network card. Quote Link to comment
Bizarro Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 OK you were right, serial ports were disabled in BIOS and I have now enabled them. No effect though. So for UPS cable I choose "Smart" and for UPS type I choose "APCsmart". Is that the only 2 fields I need to use? Quote Link to comment
digitalfixer Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 OK you were right, serial ports were disabled in BIOS and I have now enabled them. No effect though. So for UPS cable I choose "Smart" and for UPS type I choose "APCsmart". Is that the only 2 fields I need to use? You will also need to fill in the device field. Mine is /dev/ttyS0 Kevin. Quote Link to comment
wgstarks Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 I'll have to look up the baud, I think it was 2400. Probably 2400 8N1. Seems to be common for APC serial cables. I tried for a while to get mine working without success. Never figured out how to configure the port within unRaid and then life got in the way. Quote Link to comment
digitalfixer Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 I'll have to look up the baud, I think it was 2400. Probably 2400 8N1. Seems to be common for APC serial cables. I tried for a while to get mine working without success. Never figured out how to configure the port within unRaid and then life got in the way. I think these settings are part of apcupsd config. I've never configures a serial port for it before, it just works. Kevin. Quote Link to comment
wgstarks Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 I'll have to look up the baud, I think it was 2400. Probably 2400 8N1. Seems to be common for APC serial cables. I tried for a while to get mine working without success. Never figured out how to configure the port within unRaid and then life got in the way. I think these settings are part of apcupsd config. I've never configures a serial port for it before, it just works. Kevin. The APCUPSD Users Manual suggests using a 3rd party app to configure the com port. I doubt this would be necessary if they were able to do it via a .conf file. Just my guess though. Quote Link to comment
Bizarro Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 OK you were right, serial ports were disabled in BIOS and I have now enabled them. No effect though. So for UPS cable I choose "Smart" and for UPS type I choose "APCsmart". Is that the only 2 fields I need to use? You will also need to fill in the device field. Mine is /dev/ttyS0 Kevin. Thanks Kevin that was the missing item! Now being detected Thank you everybody for your help! Quote Link to comment
wgstarks Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Notice that several people recommended the USB to serial adapters. If you use one of these adapters, how do you determine which USB port to configure in the device field? Quote Link to comment
bubbaQ Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Notice that several people recommended the USB to serial adapters. If you use one of these adapters, how do you determine which USB port to configure in the device field? You use /dev/ttyUSB0 ... Linux sees the USB-to-Serial adapter as a USB TTY port. Quote Link to comment
wgstarks Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 You use /dev/ttyUSB0 ... Linux sees the USB-to-Serial adapter as a USB TTY port. So it's not necessary to specify which USB port number? Quote Link to comment
bubbaQ Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 You use /dev/ttyUSB0 ... Linux sees the USB-to-Serial adapter as a USB TTY port. So it's not necessary to specify which USB port number? You don't seem to understand... you specify a LINUX DEVICE name, not a USB port. Quote Link to comment
wgstarks Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 You're right. Didn't understand. I thought it would be setting the location of the device. Quote Link to comment
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