Console Message upon boot

rebuilder

Running pfSense 2.4.4-p3 amd 64 on a Dell 610 server. Receiving the message on the console screen "mfi0: 47906 (651838302s/0x0008/info) - Battery Charge complete" right after warm boot.
Never got a message like this before over a long period.
Like to know if the cause is likely to be pfSense software or a hardware related issue. The are only two batteries in the R610, one for the bios and another for the raid controller.
Comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

stephenw10

mfi0 is the drive controller. See: https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mfi

johnpoz

Since it seems that is the raid controller, guess its telling you its battery is fully charged ;)

On side note, I would suggest you look to upgrading to 2.4.5p1

stephenw10

Mmm, the fact it now reports that frequently and didn't before could be the battery aging perhaps. Assuming that's with the same mfi driver and firmware that is.

Steve

rebuilder

I think stevenw10's suggestion of a new battery is prudent. I will order a new one today

rebuilder

update on past correspondence:

I changed out the battery and there were no messages (about one month) until this morning.The console reported two lines:

mf10:47976 (654780122c/0x0008/info) - current battery capacity is above threshold
mf10:47976 (654780122c/0x0008/info) - BBU enabled: changing WT vir WB

Appreciate any comments or suggestions

stephenw10

The new battery is the same rated capacity? If it's higher the firmware could be flagging that as unexpected as shown there.

Steve

rebuilder

Battery is identical Dell battery. Same capacity and voltage

stephenw10

The capacity is usually calculated from the charge current and the time taken to charge. In general brand new batteries can take a few cycles to normalise that.

If that's the first time you've seen that I would not worry about it.

I doubt there is anything we can do about it in pfSense anyway. It would be some Dell firmware setting if anything can be set.

Steve

stephenw10

Does it look to return rational values from: mfiutil show battery ?

It does in fact look like there are some values you can set for the BBU there:
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mfiutil

Steve

rebuilder

entering option 8 on the console
run mfiutil show battery
mfi0:Battery State

manufacturer date 2/27/2020
serial 2102
mfr Sanyo
model DLU8735
Chemistry ` LION
Design Capacity 1900 mah
Full Charge Capacity 1693 mah
Current Capacity 1685 mah
Charge Cycles 2
Current Charge 100%
Design Voltage 3700 mv
Current Voltage 4120 mv
Temperature 20 C
Autolearn Period 90 days
Next Lean Time Mon Dec 28 10:54:42 2020
Learn Delay Interval 0 hours
Autolearn Model enabled
Status Normal
State of Health Good

Everything looks OK from my perspective although the operating voltage is high at 4.120 volts.

Thanks for your help.

stephenw10

Yeah that looks good. It might have reported something higher on the first charge cycle. I would expect it to change a bit after a few more cycles as it learns.

Steve