[Nut-upsdev] Maruson power net 1500 support?

[Charles Lepple]

On Thu, May 8, 2008 at 1:46 PM, David Mathog <mathog at caltech.edu> wrote:
> I recently took over maintenance of a linux computer which is drawing
> power from a "Maruson Power Net 1500" UPS. However, there is currently
> no monitoring or control of the UPS by this (or any other) computer.
> Can nut control this device?  There are serial, usb, and EPO connectors
> on the back of the unit.  (There may be a manual but I'm going to have
> to hunt for it.)

I would guess that the nut-upsuser list might reach a broader
audience, but I don't think we have heard of any user experiences with
this brand.

Have you checked the manufacturer's website for drivers? Even if they
do not have Linux drivers, the name of the Windows monitoring software
can sometimes be a clue to the name of the OEM (if it is rebranded).

If you do decide to poke around with the connectors on the back of the
UPS, you might want to do it with the critical equipment powered down,
or at least not plugged into that UPS. Serial port contact-closure
interfaces are often wired differently than standard serial ports, and
it is all too easy to accidentally shut down an UPS with a normal
cable.

Less risky is to plug in a USB cable. There is a certain amount of
device identification information that you can retrieve without much
danger of shutting down the UPS. Running 'lsusb' to determine the
device ID, then running 'sudo lsusb -d [vendor]:[product] -vvv' should
tell us whether it is close to being supported by one of the NUT USB
drivers.

Also, consider how much time you want to spend tracking this down.
Some of us relish the idea of reverse-engineering a new protocol, but
what starts as a two-hour setup job could turn into a month-long
driver-writing project.

-- 
- Charles Lepple