Earlier today I found a cracking Facebook Marketplace detail for a lightly used APC Uninteruptable Power Supply unit, an APC Back-UPS 750 ES specifically. Thing is, my UnRAID Server (a Lenovo TS430) is in our bedroom at the moment. If the power goes off in the night for a bit, I don't want the UPS beeping away to wake me up just to tell me it's working and asking if I'm proud of it. Looking around, APC say that you have to install their PowerChute software to disable alarms... didn't fancy that.

 

UnRAID uses apcupsd for it's UPS support. A bit of careful Googling and I found my answer...

 

Full credit to masxio for showing us how to do this: https://masxio.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/how_to_disable_beep_alarm_from_apc_ups/

 

Step by step with added UnRAID steps:

1. STOP the APC UPS Daemon (Settings > UPS Settings > "Start APC UPS Daemon" should be set to No > Apply). If you're getting fatal errors later in the process, this may well be your problem, example below.
2. Get a terminal session going on your unraid server (you can use the web based one on the dashboard or start an SSH session, whatever you wish)

3. sudo apctest

4. The main menu will be displayed, press 6 (to edit alarm settings)
5. Once the alarm menu is displayed, press D (to disable them)
6. If you want to verify the change, repeat step 4 and check the status displayed, then use Q to get back to the main menu.
7. When back at the main menu, press Q (to quit)
8. You're done, close the terminal.
9. START the APC UPS Daemon (Settings > UPS Settings > "Start APC UPS Daemon" should be set to Yes > Apply)
10. I'd recommend you test to see if your UPS actually bleeps - pull the power out of the wall is one way.

 

Here's a copy of my terminal session, including my first attempt to run apctest before I stopped the APC UPS Daemon:

Linux 4.19.56-Unraid.
root@Tower:~# sudo apctest


2019-10-15 11:15:59 apctest 3.14.14 (31 May 2016) slackware
Checking configuration ...
sharenet.type = Network & ShareUPS Disabled
cable.type = USB Cable
mode.type = USB UPS Driver
apctest FATAL ERROR in apctest.c at line 313
Unable to create UPS lock file.
  If apcupsd or apctest is already running,
  please stop it and run this program again.
apctest error termination completed
root@Tower:~# sudo apctest


2019-10-15 11:16:18 apctest 3.14.14 (31 May 2016) slackware
Checking configuration ...
sharenet.type = Network & ShareUPS Disabled
cable.type = USB Cable
mode.type = USB UPS Driver
Setting up the port ...
Doing prep_device() ...

You are using a USB cable type, so I'm entering USB test mode
Hello, this is the apcupsd Cable Test program.
This part of apctest is for testing USB UPSes.

Getting UPS capabilities...SUCCESS

Please select the function you want to perform.

1)  Test kill UPS power
2)  Perform self-test
3)  Read last self-test result
4)  View/Change battery date
5)  View manufacturing date
6)  View/Change alarm behavior
7)  View/Change sensitivity
8)  View/Change low transfer voltage
9)  View/Change high transfer voltage
10) Perform battery calibration
11) Test alarm
12) View/Change self-test interval
 Q) Quit

Select function number: 6

Current alarm setting: ENABLED
Press...
 E to Enable alarms
 D to Disable alarms
 Q to Quit with no changes
Your choice: Select function: D

New alarm setting: DISABLED

1)  Test kill UPS power
2)  Perform self-test
3)  Read last self-test result
4)  View/Change battery date
5)  View manufacturing date
6)  View/Change alarm behavior
7)  View/Change sensitivity
8)  View/Change low transfer voltage
9)  View/Change high transfer voltage
10) Perform battery calibration
11) Test alarm
12) View/Change self-test interval
 Q) Quit

Select function number: q

2019-10-15 11:17:38 End apctest.
root@Tower:~#

Hope this helps someone slience their UPS with a minimum of fuss.

Edited October 16, 20196 yr by hpka
Added a pitfall warning to step 1 and fixed spelling

It looks like this Utility has a lot of uses besides just silencing the alarms.   I have added your discoveries to the FAQ here so that they are easier to find.

 

         https://forums.unraid.net/topic/46802-faq-for-unraid-v6/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-781520

 

Edited October 16, 20196 yr by Frank1940

2 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

I have added your discoveries to the FAQ

That's good, but it should be on the FAQ thread, not FAQ feedback.

26 minutes ago, johnnie.black said:

That's good, but it should be on the FAQ thread, not FAQ feedback.

Double razzfracks and a whole bunch of other words not suitable for a public forum!   Moved the post to the correct forum.  Thanks, Johnnie.

This is fantastic.  I had a power outage last night and the beeping woke me up at 4am.  Who do we need to petition to get the beep control settings to become part of the unraid menu?  I've wanted to turn it off since the first time it beeped at me 3 years ago :)

Asking for help in my own thread here as my Back-UPS ES 750 has recently started ignoring any commands to disable it's alarm. Thanks to a power outage last night, I know first hand the alarm is enabled and actually makes a sound.

 

Have tried:

• Repeatedly trying my own method above (console output). I then test by pulling the plug from the wall, alarm sounds.
• Installing Powerchute Home and disabling it in there, ignored as above.
• Doing what seems to be a factory reset on the UPS (a brain deading) - Disconnect all connections, including loads and wall power, disconnecting the battery, pressing the power button for 10 seconds to clear any power remaining, then reconnect everything. Still ignores attempts to set alarms to disabled.

Any one got any ideas?