[Nut-upsuser] Power race? with Eaton 5E and how to auto-mute beeper

[Leith Bade]

Hi Charles,

It appears the 5E model might be specific to Australia/NZ:
http://www.cmo.com.au/mediareleases/18566/eaton-boosts-power-protection-with-new-ups/
The full info from Eaton is here:
http://powerquality.eaton.com/Products-services/Backup-Power-UPS/5E.aspx?GUID=B1A9F63D-6069-4DA2-A08C-3070F3E621E9

Keep in mind that there are several variants in this line. And the
different power levels have different configurations (fan/no fan,
number of outlet plugs, and number of batteries. It seems there may be
500/650VA versions with no USB plug too but I have not seen that for
sale in Australia.

My one the 650VA has USB, no fan, one battery and two Austalian female
outlets (but no phone/Ethernet line sockets like it talks about in the
datasheets).

For info, I am on Ubuntu 14.04 Server (64 bit) with NUT 2.7.1

>From lsusb:
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0463:ffff MGE UPS Systems UPS

Here is output from upsc:
battery.charge: 100
battery.runtime: 2520
battery.type: PbAc
device.mfr: EATON
device.model: 5E 650i
device.type: ups
driver.name: usbhid-ups
driver.parameter.pollfreq: 30
driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2
driver.parameter.port: auto
driver.version: 2.7.1
driver.version.data: MGE HID 1.32
driver.version.internal: 0.38
input.voltage: 247.0
outlet.1.status: on
outlet.desc: Main Outlet
outlet.id: 1
outlet.switchable: no
output.frequency: 49.8
output.frequency.nominal: 50
output.voltage: 244.0
output.voltage.nominal: 230
ups.beeper.status: enabled
ups.delay.shutdown: 20
ups.firmware: 01.04.0016
ups.load: 14
ups.mfr: EATON
ups.model: 5E 650i
ups.power.nominal: 650
ups.productid: ffff
ups.start.battery: yes
ups.status: OL CHRG
ups.timer.shutdown: -1
ups.vendorid: 0463

>From upscmd:
beeper.disable - Disable the UPS beeper
beeper.enable - Enable the UPS beeper
beeper.mute - Temporarily mute the UPS beeper
beeper.off - Obsolete (use beeper.disable or beeper.mute)
beeper.on - Obsolete (use beeper.enable)
load.off - Turn off the load immediately
load.off.delay - Turn off the load with a delay (seconds)
shutdown.stop - Stop a shutdown in progress


>From upsrw:
[outlet.desc]
Outlet description
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 20
Value: Main Outlet

[output.voltage.nominal]
Nominal output voltage (V)
Type: ENUM
Option: "200"
Option: "208"
Option: "220"
Option: "230" SELECTED
Option: "240"

[ups.delay.shutdown]
Interval to wait after shutdown with delay command (seconds)
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 10
Value: 20

[ups.start.battery]
Allow to start UPS from battery
Type: STRING
Maximum length: 5
Value: yes

There is ups.delay.shutdown, but no start delay. I guess that is the
problem? Perhaps I will need to get onto Eaton about this and see if
they can release a firmware update - and perhaps fix the USB bug too.

The nominal output voltage is curious. While Australia (and NZ)
technically should be 230V (since the 1980s), the various states have
been slow to implement this. In fact the ACT, QLD, and WA are still
240V (as you can see from upsc - I am in the ACT). I suppose I should
change this to 240V so the voltage doesn't drop so dramatically after
switching to battery.
http://electricalconnection.com.au/article/10017796/when-voltage-varies

However setting output.voltage.nominal to 240 gets an OK from upsrw
but does not actually change the value when you read it back
afterwards.

I had a good look at the beeper commands.

First there appears to be a bug with beeper.mute and
ups.beeper.status. I turn off AC so the ups starts beeping and run
beeper.mute the beeper stops and ups.beeper.status = muted. If I
reapply and turn of the AC again the beeper starts beeping again, but
ups.beeper.status = muted which is wrong. Should say = enabled. Is
ups.beeper.status read from the UPS or does NUT keep tracking the
state internally?

Second is that beeper.off seemed to do the trick as it no longer beeps
(even after UPS reboot) and it also says ups.beeper.status = disabled.

(PS Sorry for the double emails Charles but I keep forgetting to tell
Gmail to reply all)

Thanks,
Leith Bade
leith at leithalweapon.geek.nz

Thanks,
Leith Bade
leith at leithalweapon.geek.nz


On 10 August 2014 10:16, Charles Lepple <clepple at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 26, 2014, at 9:58 AM, Leith Bade <leith at leithalweapon.geek.nz> wrote:
>
>> First the beeper is annoying and loud and I worry it will wake everyone up at night. I read that you can mute the beeper temporarily (and this works) but that most UPSs do not allow you to permanently turn it off (I tried using upsrw but it said beeper.status was read only).
>
> Can you send the variable list of upsrw and the command list of upsc for reference? I don't have any information on the 5E.
>
> I think there should be "beeper.mute" and "beeper.off" commands.
>
>> So is there a way to auto-mute the beeper? e.g on system boot or on power failure?
>
> That is an interesting point - we have scripting for power failures, but not for startup.
>
>> Next I did some testing and I think I have a power race (is that the right term?). Basically if I switch off the AC, wait for battery to drain and the system to shutdown and turn off (the PC only so far). If I then turn the AC back on before the ~20 sec delay before the UPS turns off and on again the computer never boots automatically (I have set BIOS to power on after AC back).
>>
>> If I let the UPS turn off before I turn AC back on the computer will boot automatically.
>>
>> I think the problem is that either the UPS is now power cycling the load when AC is on and it reboots, or it is not turning it off for long enough for the PSU/computer to register this as a AC off and on event.
>
> It's probably the latter, but if you don't hear the relay in the first case, that's a problem.
>
>> When the UPS reboots it beeps and I can hear a relay click so it must do something when it reboots with power on.
>>
>> How can I add a delay between UPS power off, and power on?
>
> The output of upsrw will confirm this, but many HID UPSes have separate timers for delay before shutdown, and delay before turn-on (ups.delay.start).
>
> --
> Charles Lepple
> clepple at gmail
>
>
>