APC SmartUPS Setup


SavellM

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Hey guys,

I just got a APC SMC1500I-2U Smart-UPS C 1500VA.

Its plugged into my unRAID box vis USB.

I have details i.e Battery Charge and Runtime, but its missing, Nominal Power, UPS Load & UPS Load %

 

I've seen some screenshots where its got that info, any idea how I can get it?

Also UPS Settings is set to USB, see screenshots.

 

I guess I need to use APCSmart but not sure what to put in the Device box.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

2018-09-17 00_04_05-Loki_UPSsettings.png

loki-diagnostics-20180917-0005.zip

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Since not one else has jumped in, I will try to get you started.  First thing, is how old is this UPS.  (APC model numbers are virtually useless as when I google using one, I always get several obviously different units from a physical package standpoint!) 

 

I seem to recall that both older and newer APC UPS's have separate issues.  Not all models, but enough to make life really difficult in solving problems.  If you look in the upper right hand corner of the screen capture, you will find a link to the Online Manual.  Be sure to use it.  A quick glance at it showed that there are two settings that you could try in the "UPS type" 'dropdown' box---   'APCsmart' and  'ModBus' .   The 'ModBus' one is for some of the newer units.  Be sure to click the "Help' on in the GUI as it will provide a lot of help in what each setting does!!! 

 

Remember that Google is often your best friend in these types of problems.  If you use      unraid       as one of the terms in the search bar, you will find that it will do a much better job of searching this forum than the built-in search engine.  

Edited by Frank1940
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55 minutes ago, SavellM said:

I cant figure out what to put in Devices to test out ModBus or APCSmart.

First read the General Configuration Directives section of the manual found here:

 

       https://manpages.debian.org/testing/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf.5.en.html

 

                     (Found with our friend Google) 

You say the UPS is brand new, I would think that it would be the ModBus one...

 

If that does not work, I am not real sure to go next but looking at your Diagnostic file, I found this in the lsusb.txt file

 

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 04f2:1181 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 051d:0003 American Power Conversion UPS
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0781:5571 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Fit
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Note  line that has UPS in it.  it indicates that Device 3 is assigned to the UPS device.  That is where I would start.  You can't really break anything by a trial-and-error approach...

 

 

Edited by Frank1940
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1 minute ago, hocky said:

Is it sth that can be fixed or is it just the way it is?

If the key is not present, there is no way to show its value unless there is an equivalent key, which I don't know.

2 minutes ago, hocky said:

However, the load percentage is available but also not displayed in the UNRAID status.

The load is calculated based on the nominal power (to convert percentage to Wattage), which isn't present.

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3 minutes ago, bonienl said:

The load is calculated based on the nominal power (to convert percentage to Wattage), which isn't present.

Ups, sorry. I was a bit confused (didn´t have my second coffee yet). Load percentage is displayed, UPS load is missing.

 

6 minutes ago, bonienl said:

If the key is not present, there is no way to show its value unless there is an equivalent key, which I don't know.

OK, not a problem. I don´t need it in UNRAID anyway.

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Look at my UPS Details below and compare to yours:

Capture.thumb.JPG.3e27794b0126d0ad5c0874458de35d9a.JPG

 

You are missing the NOMPOWER and LOADPCT parameters.  Your UPS is  not providing this information back to the apcuspd plugin.  These two parameters are used to calculate the UPS Load value.   See this post from @bonienl in this thread.

 

You can try to play around with the various UPS types and see if one of them will provide these two variables.  Beyond that you are probably out-of-luck...

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If (for what ever reason), your UPS will not deliver these parameters to apcuspd, there is nothing display as two of the display items are the NOMPOWER and LOADPCT parameters and the third one is calculated by the product these two.  

 

If you look in the Apps page of the GUI and search for   NUT   plugin, it does basically the same thing as apcuspd, and possibly, it might be able to do what apcuspd can not do.  If your UPS does not generate those parameters, then nothing is going to generate the values out of thin air.  

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  • 1 month later...

hi, I have the same problem many of us are having with apcusbd.  I'm using an APC Smart-UPS X 2200VA to protect my Unraid server, HTPC, TV, network gear, etc. and, of course, to gracefully shut down my Unraid server during a power outage. 

 

Using the included PowerChute Business Edition software on my Windows 10 VM (in UR), I get full functionality, including "Nominal Power", "UPS Load", and "UPS Load %".  So I know the UPS is sending out that info via the USB interface.

 

When the APC Smart-UPS is connected to the Unraid server and managed with Settings/UPS Settings it performs a clean Unraid server shutdown and a couple of minutes later shuts itself off, as expected.  So it is performing its main task.

 

Some would say that the lack of "Nominal Power", "UPS Load", and "UPS Load %" is purely cosmetic but I think they provide important information and it would be nice to see them working again (or have them removed from the menu ;))

 

Thanks to the contributors of this forum!

Carlos

apcusbd-1.png

apcusbd-2.png

Edited by cluengas
typo
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1 hour ago, cluengas said:

When the APC Smart-UPS is connected to the Unraid server and managed with Settings/UPS Settings it performs a clean Unraid server shutdown and a couple of minutes later shuts itself off, as expected.  So it is performing its main task.

 

I observed (in your settings capture) that the version of apcupsd is well over two years old.  I just checked and that is the most recent version available!  (I suspect that development has ceased...)   You might want to try the NUT plugin (available through the Apps plugin) and/or generate a thread in the Staple Release section of Bug Reports sub-forum stating that apparently the newer APC models are having issues with this old apcupsd software.  If NUT works, you might suggest that it be used instead...

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Thanks for the prompt reply.  I should have mentioned that I had already tried NUT with similar results.  That is, it shuts down Unraid and the UPS but it fails to display any values for "Nominal Power", "UPS Load", or "UPS Load %".  So I uninstalled the NUT plugin and went back to the builtin UPS app.

 

Another interesting point is that I can configure the "UPS cable:" settings to UPS, Simple, Smart, and even Ether and the UPS status goes back to "Running/Online".  Only selecting Custom and leaving the cable type blank results in Status: "Stopped"

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  • 3 months later...

I have an APC1500 tower model, which is exhibiting same symptoms.  It works on USB mode minus the aforementioned fields.  I 'assume' by poking around that if lsusb reports my device like this: 

Bus 005 Device 002: ID 051d:0002 American Power Conversion Uninterruptible Power Supply

then the device string is like this:

/dev/usb/hiddev2

But don't know the format in Unraid yet (just had a quick poke for anything in /dev that looks like usb).  However with this, no other settings than USB work.

Interestingly something I did has broken the option that worked which looks like it will require a restart to resolve which might have been throwing off my results.

 

**Can anyone chime in at least with 'yes, that's where Unraid lists it's usb devices'?**

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  • 1 month later...

So I had the same issue but the solution made me feel like an absolute idiot....spent a good 20-30 minutes trying to figure this out but eventually got it:

1. Enable advanced config options on your UPS via the on screen display
2. Open configuration options and scroll down until you find ModBus

3. Change ModBus to Enabled.  It is disabled by default on all APC UPS units.

4. In unRAID UPS Setting menu, set the "UPS Cable" to USB and set "UPS Type" to ModBus.  No additional settings like /dev/tty** are required.  It may take a minute or two for the info to load but it will.

***Make sure you use the USB-A to USB-B cable to connect your UPS to the server, not the RJ-45 to USB-A.  ModBus does not seem to work with the RJ-45 port on the UPS***

Screen Shot 2019-04-10 at 4.42.25 PM.png

Edited by Aegisnir
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16 hours ago, Aegisnir said:

So I had the same issue but the solution made me feel like an absolute idiot....spent a good 20-30 minutes trying to figure this out but eventually got it:

1. Enable advanced config options on your UPS via the on screen display
2. Open configuration options and scroll down until you find ModBus

3. Change ModBus to Enabled.  It is disabled by default on all APC UPS units.

4. In unRAID UPS Setting menu, set the "UPS Cable" to USB and set "UPS Type" to ModBus.  No additional settings like /dev/tty** are required.  It may take a minute or two for the info to load but it will.

***Make sure you use the USB-A to USB-B cable to connect your UPS to the server, not the RJ-45 to USB-A.  ModBus does not seem to work with the RJ-45 port on the UPS***

 

Interesting and useful, my age APC not same type ( no any local display and RJ45-USB only )

Edited by Benson
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  • 3 weeks later...

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