[Nut-upsuser] Some issues with UPS Forza SL-1001

[Arjen de Korte]

>
> 	Hi to everybody.  Some days ago, I bought an UPS by Forza Power
> Technologies,
> model SL-1001.  This Forza SL-1001 is line-interactive, has 14,4 A/h
> charge
> and is rated at 1000VA.  Before, I had a TrippLite Omni 500 (or something
> like that), a simple contact-closure UPS, and I used nut with the simple
> genericupsdriver, so I'm new with this type of UPSs.
>
> 	NUT doesn't list Forza as a supported UPS so I first tried to use
> the "marvelous software" inside, the infamous WinPower.  As their name
> states, only works well in Windows, because in Linux it only recognizes
> RS232-based UPS, but this SL-1001 is detected as a HID device.
>
> 	Google brings me to this mail list and I tested using the megatec_usb
> driver,
> following recomendations from a mail here.  The driver works perfectly -
> almost.  I have some problems with it.  I hope you can help me or enlight
> me
> to cure, at least.
>
> *	First: the megatec_usb driver takes sooo long to detect the UPS - almost
> 70
> seconds to say "yes, this UPS talks megatec_usb protocol", so I needed to
> raise the maxstartdelay to 80.  It's possible to reduce this time?

Yes, but this will require a change to the driver (which is badly needed).

> *	Second: variables detected.  Look at the listing:
>
> battery.charge: 87.5
>                 ^^^^
>
> 	Nut states battery is at 87,5% but Winpower says 100%.  In fact, with
> nut,
> the battery doesn't charge above 95%.  Using megatec_ups -DDDDDD gave me
> this
> voltage ranges: 13,7V-9,7V, and the maximum battery voltage I ever seen is
> 13,5V.  Is WinPower using relaxed values? Is the UPS needing a battery
> recalibrate? I just unpacked and connect it...

You need to modify the voltage range of the UPS. This can be done by
setting the 'battvolts' parameter in 'ups.conf' (see 'man 8 megatec_usb').

> battery.voltage: 13.20
> battery.voltage.nominal: 12.0
> driver.name: megatec_usb
> driver.parameter.mfr: Forza
>                       ^^^^^^
> driver.parameter.model: SL-1001
>                         ^^^^^^^
> driver.parameter.pollinterval: 1
> driver.parameter.port: auto
> driver.parameter.productid: 5161
>                             ^^^^
> driver.parameter.vendorid: 0665
>                            ^^^^
>
> 	This values are really forced in the ups.conf file.

This class of UPS doesn't support autodetection of this information, so if
you want this reported in the status overviews, you'll have to specify
this in 'ups.conf'.

> driver.version: 2.2.2
> driver.version.internal: 1.5.14
> input.frequency: 59.9
> input.frequency.nominal: 60.0
> input.voltage: 114.4
> input.voltage.fault: 114.4
> input.voltage.maximum: 115.5
> input.voltage.minimum: 114.4
> input.voltage.nominal: 120.0
> output.voltage: 114.6
> ups.beeper.status: enabled
> ups.delay.shutdown: 0
> ups.delay.start: 2
> ups.load: 27.0
> ups.mfr: Forza
> ups.model: SL-1001
> ups.serial: unknown
> ups.status: OL
> ups.temperature: 25.0
> ups.type: standby
>           ^^^^^^^
>
> 	According with this, this UPS is standby type, so it's incorrect (check
> http://www.forzaups.com/product_detail.aspx?PrdId=27#technical)

This is what the UPS reports itself, so complain to the manufacturer
instead. Note that there isn't a whole lot of difference between 'standby'
and 'line interactive' and for the sake of protection, both have the same
drawback of having an output that switches between the different power
sources, unlike so called 'online' (also known as 'double conversion')
units. I wouldn't worry about this and neither should you.

> *	And the third and last: if I send a upscmd ups-parallax
> test.battery.start,
> the upsd loss communications with the megatec_usb driver, and only restore
> communication when the battery test ends.  Why?

Ask the vendor. There is nothing we can do about that. It is certainly not
caused by the driver.

Best regards, Arjen
-- 
Eindhoven - The Netherlands
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