February 6, 20179 yr Hello All. I've searched threads on UPS Support, but have not really found an answer, or even a potential indirect lead, on a tough question. I'm building an unRAID box for a general contractor who will be purchasing a UPS of his choosing...not necessarily APC. He is asking me for a list of manufacturers he can shop against that are compatible with the soft-shutdown service within unRAID. Now, I understand that the official line for unRAID is that is it "APC compatible." I would also assume that APC is a standard-setter the same way that Cisco was with switches...just about every decent managed switch "speaks Cisco" in regards to setting up VLAN control. So, the question is, does anyone know what manufacturers "speak APC" in regards to power status messaging via USB? BlueVolt? TrippLite? Anyone else? Thanks for any leads or insights anyone may be able to provide.
February 6, 20179 yr The two most common brands I see on here are APC and Cyberpower, but generally speaking any UPS that has a signal cable and comes with software that allows it to be shutdown should work. APC is the generally recommended brand though.
February 6, 20179 yr unRAID is actually using APCUPSD which is open source. You might get more info there.
February 6, 20179 yr Unfortunately UPS support isn't great. To my knowledge only APC (and only most APC models at that) completely support all the features of apcupsd that unraid uses as an interface. Cyberpower comes closest, but if a cyberpower UPS is commanded to power down after the server is done shutting down, the UPS doesn't shut down properly. Power failure and charge level work fine though, so the server should shut down ok. Like wgstarks said, you will need to get more comprehensive support info from the authors of APCUPSD. I think your contractor buddy is in for a rude awakening if he is expecting appliance type duty from unraid. It's really more of a hands on tinkerer home server than a set it and forget it NAS.
February 8, 20179 yr Hijacking your thread a little bit but does anyone know if this model will work with unRAID? http://www.apc.com/shop/th/en/products/APC-Back-UPS-500-230V/P-BK500EI It says it has a USB Port but doesn't appear to from the photos... It's the cheapest APC unit I've come across.
February 8, 20179 yr Hijacking your thread a little bit but does anyone know if this model will work with unRAID? http://www.apc.com/shop/th/en/products/APC-Back-UPS-500-230V/P-BK500EI It says it has a USB Port but doesn't appear to from the photos... It's the cheapest APC unit I've come across. Should work. If it doesn't have usb you can always use the serial port. Just make sure there is a port available on your motherboard.
February 8, 20179 yr It says it has a USB Port but doesn't appear to from the photos... It's the cheapest APC unit I've come across. The USB connection is the lone RJ45 jack in the upper corner. APC is bad about using proprietary cables, so don't lose the cable that comes with it.
February 8, 20179 yr It says it has a USB Port but doesn't appear to from the photos... It's the cheapest APC unit I've come across. The USB connection is the lone RJ45 jack in the upper corner. APC is bad about using proprietary cables, so don't lose the cable that comes with it. Clone cables are available on eBay, I believe. I bought a spare a couple of years ago, which I tested with no issues.
February 8, 20179 yr I've got literally a pile of APC cables from all the ups's i've bought over the years. And on most of the newer higher end APC models you can just use any old generic USB cable (one with a normal end on it as opposed to the apc rj45 usb) It doesn't have to specifically be a APC usb cable.
February 8, 20179 yr Be careful with the RJ45-style APC cables. I mixed two up by accident and the UPS blew up (magic smoke got out) as soon as I plugged in the USB.
February 9, 20179 yr Be careful with the RJ45-style APC cables. I mixed two up by accident and the UPS blew up (magic smoke got out) as soon as I plugged in the USB. Personally I hope you are wrong because I must have gotten lucky because I have swapped cables without a problem before. Have to be more careful now.
February 9, 20179 yr Interesting but hopefully just a coincidence. I'm pretty sure i've swapped around cables in the past before. One thing is APC cables have part numbers on them so you can definitely run the numbers before using to make sure they're compatible with the ups you are using.
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