apcupsd- Back UPS 650VA

JKnott

If it works with the old UPS, but not the new, it's the same problem I had. Apparently there was a protocol change with newer APC UPSs. Linux was updated for it, but apparently not FreeBSD.

jimp

I have a Back-UPS RS 1500G (BR1500G) from ~August 2018 and it works fine with apcupsd 3.14.14. I get all the expected fields, including the ones you list.

It's set with UPS Cable=usb, UPS Type=usb, and nothing in the device field.

JKnott

@jimp

Mine is an APC BE600M1. I have the same model connected to both my pfSense firewall and my desktop system running openSUSE 15.1. The one connected to the desktop is working fine, complete with all the stats. The one connected to pfSense has a lot of missing stats.

Here's what it shows in pfSense:

APC : 001,032,0720
DATE : 2019-12-11 11:02:31 -0500
HOSTNAME : firewall
VERSION : 3.14.14 (31 May 2016) freebsd
UPSNAME : APC BE600M1
CABLE : USB Cable
DRIVER : USB UPS Driver
UPSMODE : Stand Alone
STARTTIME: 2019-12-11 10:56:58 -0500
MODEL :
STATUS :
LINEV : 0.0 Volts
LOADPCT : 0.0 Percent
BCHARGE : 100.0 Percent
TIMELEFT : 40.2 Minutes
MBATTCHG : 5 Percent
MINTIMEL : 3 Minutes
MAXTIME : 0 Seconds
SENSE : Unknown
LOTRANS : -1.0 Volts
HITRANS : -1.0 Volts
ALARMDEL : Always
BATTV : 0.0 Volts
NUMXFERS : 0
TONBATT : 0 Seconds
CUMONBATT: 0 Seconds
XOFFBATT : N/A
STATFLAG : 0x05000000
SERIALNO :
BATTDATE :
NOMINV : 0 Volts
NOMBATTV : 0.0 Volts
END APC : 2019-12-11 11:02:32 -0500

Also, whether it works with a particular model would depend on when that UPS was designed, not built or purchased.

mbrossar

Thanks all. You’ve confirmed my suspicion that it’s an age thing. I have a Back UPS 550 that’s 10-15 years old. It works fine with apcupsd on another NetGate.

Does anyone know if this is fatal or a mere inconvenience? I do see values for both BCHARGE and TIMELEFT. Both of these, I believe, are what apcupsd key off of in a power failure when determining when it’s time to shut down. However, it looks like both of these are monitored in the event of a power failure, and if I’m not getting a value for STATUS, it may never monitor BCHARGE or TIMELEFT. Does anyone know?

I imagine from everyone’s response that there’s really nothing we can do for FreeBSD except hope the condition gets fixed.

Thanks.

JKnott

@mbrossar

I'm no expert on UPS, but my understanding is that some signal is sent by the UPS to the attached computer. I know that it's possible for one computer to send that signal to another, when there are multiple computers sharing a UPS. One computer does the monitoring and then tells the others.

jimp

@mbrossar said in apcupsd- Back UPS 650VA:

I do see values for both BCHARGE and TIMELEFT. Both of these, I believe, are what apcupsd key off of in a power failure when determining when it’s time to shut down. However, it looks like both of these are monitored in the event of a power failure, and if I’m not getting a value for STATUS, it may never monitor BCHARGE or TIMELEFT. Does anyone know?

Pull the power cord and find out :-)

JKnott

@jimp said in apcupsd- Back UPS 650VA:

Pull the power cord and find out :-)

Actually, I just did. I see the power fail was detected and some things like battery percent and minutes remaining are updating, but many other items are not displayed.

So, hopefully, the UPS will do it's job and cause a proper shut down when needed, even if those items are missing.

provels

@JKnott said in apcupsd- Back UPS 650VA:

@mbrossar

I'm no expert on UPS, but my understanding is that some signal is sent by the UPS to the attached computer. I know that it's possible for one computer to send that signal to another, when there are multiple computers sharing a UPS. One computer does the monitoring and then tells the others.

That's what I do. My Windows host has an APC BR800 USB that is monitored by the APCUPSD Windows port. My pfSense VM uses NUT (but using Remote APCUPSD client mode) and reads the host's UPS and subsequently relays the UPS status to my XigmaNAS which also uses NUT. But from what's been discussed, may be moot if FreeBSD doesn't read them right.

jimp

@JKnott said in apcupsd- Back UPS 650VA:

I know that it's possible for one computer to send that signal to another, when there are multiple computers sharing a UPS.

I do that on my edge firewall and a couple internal systems. I have the apcupsd package setup as a server, and the other instances use it as a net type device in apcupsd. It works fine, so long as your switch and anything else between the UPS-backed hosts are also on the same UPS.

You could use a Pi or something else Linux-y you already have on the UPS as the server and have pfSense speak to that across the network.

JKnott

@jimp said in apcupsd- Back UPS 650VA:

You could use a Pi or something else Linux-y you already have on the UPS as the server and have pfSense speak to that across the network.

I would rather the FreBSD folks get up to speed on this. I shouldn't have to get more hardware to fix a problem in the software.

jimp

That's the ideal fix, but if you already happen to have things in place, then it is a fine workaround. I have several Pis already doing various tasks, I'm sure others do as well. And the Pi I use as a USB console mux is already on my UPS, for example. So I wouldn't say go out and buy a Pi, but if it's already there, why not.

mbrossar

@jimp LOL! I have been thinking this very thing and will probably do it. If I do, I’ll report back.