[Nut-upsdev] TrippLite USB UPS

[Patrick]

Hi Charles, and thanks for a quick reply. Appreciate the help.

> On 1/21/07, Patrick <cso at satcharters.com> wrote:
> > Good afternoon,
> >
> > I am trying to communicate with a new Tripp-Lite UPS via usb and having
> > little luck. After more than a week on this I've decided to ask for help.
> > I am very inexperienced at posting information to message boards, so
> > hopefully I'm doing this right. I assume this is the correct place to
> > post this message.
>
> Well, there's a good deal of overlap between the nut-upsuser and
> nut-upsdev lists, but it sounds like there may be some code changes
> needed to support this particular UPS. Nothing to be afraid of,
> though.

Kind of figured this might be the case. I think this might be a fairly new 
model? I will be more than happy to provide whatever I can to help. I'm not 
much of a coder, but I've never been afraid to try. I may not be able fix 
what I break, but I can always reload if need be.

>
> > That seems to have given me some partial success.
> > newhidups sees a device but won't talk to it:
> >    # /lib/nut/newhidups -u root -DDDD /dev/usb/hiddev0
> >    Network UPS Tools: 0.28 USB communication driver 0.28 - core 0.30
> > (2.0.5)
> >
> >    debug level is '4'
> >    Checking device (09AE/4003) (002/002)
> >    - VendorID: 09ae
> >    - ProductID: 4003
> >    - Manufacturer: Tripp Lite
> >    - Product: TRIPP LITE UPS
> >    - Serial Number: 9530ALCPS519400017
> >    - Bus: 002
> >    Trying to match device
> >    This particular Tripp Lite device (09ae/4003) is not (or perhaps not
> >    yet) supported by newhidups. First try the tripplite_usb driver. If
> >    this fails, please write to the NUT developer's mailing list.
>
> This is the driver which should eventually handle your UPS. I'll defer
> to Peter Selinger on this, but the newhiudps driver just doesn't know
> about your particular model yet.

I assumed this as well from all of the reading I've done, but wanted to cover 
all bases. Not even sure what prompted me to even think to try the hidups 
because I had gotten the impression it was on it's way out.

>
> > Decided to try hidups and got a bit more info:
> >    # /lib/nut/hidups -u root -DDDD /dev/usb/hiddev0
> >    Network UPS Tools: HID UPS driver 0.13 (2.0.5)
> >
> >    Warning: This is an experimental driver.
> >    Some features may not function correctly.
> >
> >    debug level is '4'
> >    Detected Tripp Lite       TRIPP LITE UPS
> >    on port /dev/usb/hiddev0
> >    addhidvalue(850066, battery.charge): obtained 100
> >    addhidvalue(850068, battery.runtime): obtained 1903
> >    addhidvalue(840035, ups.load): obtained 24
> >    addhidvalue(840056, ups.delay.start): obtained 0
> >    addhidvalue(840057, ups.delay.shutdown): obtained -1
>
> The 'hidups' driver is not being maintained any more, but the
> information you got from it leads me to believe that newhidups is the
> place to support it, not tripplite_usb (the latter driver only handles
> older Tripp Lite models that essentially stuff RS-232 into USB
> packets.
>
> > Downloaded the latest PowerAlert (version 12) and installed it. Found out
> > I needed Java. Downloaded it and got the PA console to load. It shows the
> > device is on battery power (it is not). It also shows the manufacturer
> > correctly as Tripp Lite, but the model is GENERIC.
>
> Does it say something like "protocol 4003" anywhere?

Can't find anything that shows a numeric value for protocol. Again my reading 
led me to believe this was an important piece of info, but I'll be darned if 
I can find anything. The only thing I can find related to protocol is 
"Communication Protocol HID" under device information. This is true on here 
as well as the Windows system. I also searched for any configuration files or 
protocol entries in the registry on the Windows box and got nowhere. Ditto 
here.

>
> > So, bottom line is I don't know where to go from here. I decided I would
> > see if anyone was willing to point me in the right direction for my next
> > steps. I can pretty much do anything with this system to obtain any
> > information asked for, but I might need some help in obtaining it. I am
> > also going to try connecting the UPS to a slightly older Sarge desktop
> > with a serial port to see what happens there.
>
> If you change from USB to serial (or vice versa), you might be able to
> save yourself a little trouble by completely powering the UPS down and
> unplugging it (for a couple of seconds, or until you hear some relays
> click). Many of these units need to be "cold-booted" like this before
> they will respond properly on the other port.

Will do. BTW, I have a serial PCMCIA card that works under Windows, so I can 
also use that for testing if need be. The Windows box isn't mine, but I have 
it to use for now. I may get to the serial testing here in a bit. If not, it 
might be a couple of days before I can get back to this.