I have an APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 connected to and configured on my Unraid server. The UPS is now reporting that the battery has "failed", even though it looks like it's working fine. As a result, my Unraid server is pinging me every 9 hours about the failed battery.

 

Is there any way that I can disable this notification from happening, while keeping the other notifications intact?

47 minutes ago, Caldorian said:

it looks like it's working fine

How have you tested it?

Why not replace the battery?  That message usually means that the battery has failed the UPS's self test, and cannot supply its rated amperage anymore.

 

But, I have found that on some APC UPS systems that completely powering off the UPS and disconnecting from the mains and then reconnecting will delay the warnings for another week, but the warning is probably correct.  Batteries do not last forever

I replaced the battery pack less then a year ago. It's failing the self test, but the estimated run-times are still plenty high.

If this was a production system, I'd do something more, but given it's just my home server, I'm more concerned about the line conditioning and dealing with brown-outs, which it's handling fine.

Is it actually failing a test, or does the UPS just think the battery is too old because it doesn't know you replaced it?

No way on the UPS to tell it that the battery was replaced. Only thing you can do is run the self test. After a couple of self tests on the new battery, the alerts on the UPS went away. Been running without issues for about 10.5 months now. It's only recently started alerting me about the battery again.

 

Planning on replacing the UPS as a whole in the future, as there's better options out there now for cheaper. But getting back to my original question: Is there a way I can get Unraid to stop alerting me about this? I don't need the reminder every 9 hours.

I think all of the user replaceable APC UPS have a software interface where you update the battery install date.

I never had one plugged into a windows machine, so I'm not sure about that, but I was able to update one of mine before using the apctest (?) command which is part of apcupsd software package. Higher end ones, just require you to telnet into the management IP and a menu is there for resetting the date. 

14 minutes ago, ken-ji said:

I think all of the user replaceable APC UPS have a software interface where you update the battery install date.

I never had one plugged into a windows machine, so I'm not sure about that, but I was able to update one of mine before using the apctest (?) command which is part of apcupsd software package. Higher end ones, just require you to telnet into the management IP and a menu is there for resetting the date. 

The apctest command is documented in the APCUPSD User Manual, which you can access from a link in the Unraid webUI in Settings - UPS Settings.

Tried the apctest stuff. First attempted to run the batter calibration, and it wouldn't run. Next up, I checked the battery date, and it was properly reporting that it was replaced on 2/2/2018. Then tried to run a self test, which failed.

 

So then I decided to go for it, and I pulled the plug from the wall, and let it run off the battery for 10 minutes. No issues there. Plugged it back in, and re-ran a self-test manually from the UPS (holding the power button for 6 seconds). Self test passed and the alarm has cleared.

 

Still, would have been nice if you guys could have addressed my original question at some point an say if there was a way or not to silence the notification in unraid.

8 hours ago, Caldorian said:

Still, would have been nice if you guys could have addressed my original question at some point an say if there was a way or not to silence the notification in unraid.

No, at least not without some hacking and I don't know how. If you go to Settings - Notifications you can see the granularity you have control over there. All alerts are handled the same, for example.

 

You could just go to UPS Settings and disable APCUPS daemon.

I would suggest shutting the server down.  Plug in about 300W of light bulbs in the 'on-battery' plugs and turn them on.  Now pull the power plug and see how long they last on only the battery.  

On 1/27/2019 at 11:55 PM, Caldorian said:

Still, would have been nice if you guys could have addressed my original question at some point an say if there was a way or not to silence the notification in unraid.

There is no configuration option to disable this via the gui.  The apcupsd plugin notify is a simple bash script that sends anything coming from the apcupsd as an alert.  Have a look at /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/dynamix.apcupsd/apcupsd.notify.

 

So to disable it you can copy that file to /boot/config/ and then modify it like so:

#
# Send system notify message from apcupsd
#
read MESSAGE
if [[ $MESSAGE != *"Change them NOW" ]]; then
  /usr/local/emhttp/webGui/scripts/notify -e "Unraid Server Alert" -s "UPS Alert" -d "$MESSAGE" -i "alert"
fi

then add this into /boot/config/go before the `/usr/local/sbin/emhttp &` line

# disable apcupsd change battery alerts
if [ -r /boot/config/apcupsd.notify ]; then
  fromdos </boot/config/apcupsd.notify >/usr/local/emhttp/plugins/dynamix.apcupsd/apcupsd.notify
fi

 

Edited February 1, 20197 yr by brunnels