Hi,

 

I have recently invested in an APC Smart UPS unit which comes with PowerChute, I have tested the software on my windows machine and really like it, I noticed that it has an option to install both a client and a server. Is there a way I can set up unRAID with a power chute client so that it shuts down when the UPS battery gets low? Or can this only be done with the in built apcupsd functionality? The reason for my enquiry is that the UPS is capable of powering both my desktop and my server, thus I would like it to be able to command both systems to shut down if I am away when a power outage happens.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance you may be able to provide.

First thing you should do is to determine exactly how long your computers will run on that UPS once the power goes out.  I would suggest that you do this by getting the data from the APC specs, not the reading on the UPS panel (if so equipped).  (The closer you get to full load, the shorter the period. And I seem to recall some high VA units with figures like five minutes at full load because they use the same battery pack as lower rated units!)

 

Then consider setting the time-on-battery to a fairly low figure (like 30seconds to a max of a couple of minutes).  The reason is that you really don't want to deep-discharge that battery.  Each time you do that you shorten its life and available run-time. 

 

Plus, it takes hours to recharge that battery.  So if the power comes back on and you restart the computers before the battery has had a period of eight to twelve hours to recharge, it may not be last long enough to shut the systems down a second time!

You cannot use PowerChute on unRAID, but you can use apcupsd on Windows and get them to talk to each other over the network so both can use the same UPS and be shutdown. This has been discussed many times on this forum. See search tips in my sig.