NUT dashboard widget

dennypage · May 20, 2024, 1:28 AM

@FrankZappa So, your battery date really does show as 2001/09/25. I believe this means that it was not set at the factory. Looks like the apcupsd widget was reporting the UPS manufacture date rather than the battery install date.

To set the battery date, you can (hopefully) use upsrw.

Use

upsrw -l UPSNAME

to see what variables you can write in the UPS. The variable you are looking for is "battery.date".

Your "ups.test.result" shows that no self test has been run on the UPS. For higher end APC UPSs, this is done by automatic timer. For lower end UPSs, you have to trigger it manually. If you do that, you will have to write the test date yourself--look for variable "ups.test.date" in the upsrw output.

dennypage · May 20, 2024, 1:32 AM

@tgl said in NUT dashboard widget:

I'm not sure what "battery.date" is really meant to be, but it reads as 2001/09/25 on my APC UPSes too.

See note above. It just means that it wasn't set at factory or at the point of initial install (which requires a UPS that has time capability).

If the UPS doesn't have time capability, then you are responsible for maintaining this field by hand when you initially install and/or change batteries.

If your UPS has a network management card, this would be handled automatically. My current APC is like this.

dennypage · May 20, 2024, 1:36 AM

@FrankZappa Forgot to mention. To run a self-test, would use upscmd. To see a list of commands the UPS will accept, use:

upscmd -l UPSNAME

Most likely, the command will be:

upscmd UPSNAME test.battery.start

tgl · May 20, 2024, 1:36 AM

@dennypage said in NUT dashboard widget:

See note above. It just means that it wasn't set at factory or at the point of initial install (which requires a UPS that has time capability).

On mine, it's not settable period. "upsrw -l" claims to be able to set "battery.mfr.date", but not any other kind of date.

dennypage · May 20, 2024, 1:39 AM

@tgl What brand/model?

FWIW, "ups.mfr.date" is a standard field, but I don't recall ever seeing "battery.mfr.date"

tgl · May 20, 2024, 1:39 AM

@dennypage
APC Back-UPS Pro BR1500MS2

dennypage · May 20, 2024, 1:40 AM

@tgl Please post Services / UPS / Status.

tgl · May 20, 2024, 1:44 AM

@dennypage said in NUT dashboard widget:

@tgl Please post Services / UPS / Status.

I don't actually have NUT installed on my router (yet); this UPS is connected to a Linux server. "upsc" reports what I suppose you want:

battery.charge: 100
battery.charge.low: 10
battery.charge.warning: 50
battery.date: 2001/09/25
battery.mfr.date: 2022/04/13
battery.runtime: 4152
battery.runtime.low: 120
battery.type: PbAc
battery.voltage: 27.3
battery.voltage.nominal: 24.0
device.mfr: American Power Conversion
device.model: Back-UPS RS 1500MS2
device.serial: 0B2216N04901  
device.type: ups
driver.name: usbhid-ups
driver.parameter.offdelay: 50
driver.parameter.ondelay: 60
driver.parameter.pollfreq: 100
driver.parameter.pollinterval: 10
driver.parameter.port: auto
driver.parameter.synchronous: auto
driver.version: 2.8.0
driver.version.data: APC HID 0.98
driver.version.internal: 0.47
driver.version.usb: libusb-1.0.23 (API: 0x1000107)
input.sensitivity: medium
input.transfer.high: 147
input.transfer.low: 88
input.voltage: 124.0
input.voltage.nominal: 120
ups.beeper.status: disabled
ups.delay.shutdown: 50
ups.firmware: 969.e2 .D
ups.firmware.aux: e2     
ups.load: 10
ups.mfr: American Power Conversion
ups.mfr.date: 2022/04/13
ups.model: Back-UPS RS 1500MS2
ups.productid: 0002
ups.realpower.nominal: 900
ups.serial: 0B2216N04901  
ups.status: OL
ups.test.result: No test initiated
ups.timer.reboot: 0
ups.timer.shutdown: -1
ups.vendorid: 051d

dennypage · May 20, 2024, 2:39 AM

@tgl two quick questions:

Output of upsrw -l
Version of NUT

tgl · May 20, 2024, 2:46 AM

@dennypage

Sure:

$ upsrw -l xxx_ups
[battery.charge.low]
Remaining battery level when UPS switches to LB (percent)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 10

[battery.mfr.date]
Battery manufacturing date
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 2022/04/13

[battery.runtime.low]
Remaining battery runtime when UPS switches to LB (seconds)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 120

[input.sensitivity]
Input power sensitivity
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: medium

[input.transfer.high]
High voltage transfer point (V)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 147

[input.transfer.low]
Low voltage transfer point (V)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 88

[ups.delay.shutdown]
Interval to wait after shutdown with delay command (seconds)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 50

The Linux machine is running RHEL8, and its relevant packages are

$ rpm -qa | grep ^nut
nut-2.8.0-3.el8.x86_64
nut-client-2.8.0-3.el8.x86_64
$ rpm -qa | grep ^libusb
libusb-0.1.5-12.el8.x86_64
libusbx-devel-1.0.23-4.el8.x86_64
libusbx-1.0.23-4.el8.x86_64
libusb-devel-0.1.5-12.el8.x86_64
libusbmuxd-1.0.10-9.el8.x86_64

FrankZappa · May 20, 2024, 10:07 AM

@dennypage Hmmmm, tried to change the battery date but was asked for a password. Huh?

Gertjan · May 20, 2024, 10:30 AM

@FrankZappa

Use the real command line, console or SSH for this - option 8.

Start with :

cat /usr/local/etc/nut/upsd.users

and if all goes well, you see the 'user 'admin, and the password to use.

dennypage · May 20, 2024, 2:47 PM

@FrankZappa said in NUT dashboard widget:

Hmmmm, tried to change the battery date but was asked for a password. Huh?

Yes, writing requires an authorized NUT user. The actual command you will want is:

upsrw -s battery.date=2024/05/20 -u admin -p PASSWORD QNAPUPS

The admin password is automatically generated when you save the NUT configuration. As @Gertjan notes, you can find the current password in /usr/local/etc/nut/upsd.users.

Btw, be sure the date is in the same locale format as upsc outputs.

It's easiest to do this all in an ssh session.

dennypage · May 20, 2024, 3:40 PM

@tgl said in NUT dashboard widget:

[battery.mfr.date]
Battery manufacturing date
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 2022/04/13

This looks like a bug in the usbhid-ups driver. The UPS variable being mapped to battery.mfr.date should have been mapped to battery.date. There appear to be other bugs: on my main (new generation) APC, most of the dates and voltages disappear when switching to the USB interface (vs the SNMP interface). I'll dig into this when I have time.

Btw, if interested you can find a list of all possible variables here. Variable "battery.date" is defined as "Battery installation or last change date." Variable "battery.mfr.date" is defined as "Battery manufacturing date", and was read-only prior to NUT 8.0.

FrankZappa · May 20, 2024, 11:16 PM

@dennypage said in NUT dashboard widget:

upsrw -s battery.date=2024/05/20 -u admin -p PASSWORD QNAPUPS

I tried it with the password and i get the following error "Unexpected response from upsd: ERR READONLY"

FrankZappa · May 21, 2024, 7:24 AM

@FrankZappa Also noticed there are two entries in the NUT Services/UPS/Status
battery.date 2001/09/25
battery.mfr.date 2021/04/10

The battery.mfr.date is correct. Thats when I bought the APC.
However, the battery.date (and install date on widget) is waaaaaaay off. Can the widget reflect the battery.mfr.date?

dennypage · May 21, 2024, 7:24 AM

@FrankZappa said in NUT dashboard widget:

battery.date 2001/09/25
battery.mfr.date 2021/04/10

The battery.mfr.date is correct. Thats when I bought the APC.
However, the battery.date (and install date on widget) is waaaaaaay off. Can the widget reflect the battery.mfr.date?

I've researched a bit, and it appears that the battery date situation with USB UPSs is a bit messed up. In addition to issues like battery.date vs battery.mfr.date you and @tgl encountered with APC, the CyberPower issues appear even worse.

Truth be told, it probably isn't all NUT's fault as it looks like the manufacturers don't seem to completely agree how the dates should map with USB ids.

I think for the time being I'm going to pull the battery install date out of the status widget, at least for USB UPSs. I think as things currently are it would end up causing too much confusion with folks. I'll revisit it in the future.

tgl · May 21, 2024, 10:02 PM

@dennypage said in NUT dashboard widget:

I think for the time being I'm going to pull the battery install date out of the status widget, at least for USB UPSs. I think as things currently are it would end up causing too much confusion with folks. I'll revisit it in the future.

Maybe, if the UPS reports both battery.date and battery.mfr.date, you could show the later one?

FrankZappa · May 21, 2024, 10:07 PM

@tgl I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to bug Dennypage anymore. Of course, if Dennypage is bored........well?

dennypage · May 21, 2024, 10:51 PM

@tgl said in NUT dashboard widget:

Maybe, if the UPS reports both battery.date and battery.mfr.date, you could show the later one?

Unfortunately, that would be locale specific, which is a real pain for date comparison. I'd rather work on fixing some of the issues with NUT itself.