[Nut-upsuser] APC BX ...MI series

[Greg Troxel]

Peter Bell <peter at bellfamily.org.uk> writes:

> The problem I had with my BX950MI unit was that it was frequently
> reporting off-line, on batt and often not responding to requests from
> apcupsd (apcaccess) and then going back online again. However, the
> warranty replacement was prompted by a failed battery, apparently
> leaking acid, after around ten months use.  As a matter of interest, I
> had a problem a few years ago with battery failure on another APC
> (possibly a BX750 model?).  After two like-for-like warranty
> replacements, APC supplied a Pro 1200, which worked for several years
> before failing about three months ago.
>
> As luck would have it, my warranty exchange BX950MI was delivered just
> an hour ago - apparently a brand new unit.  The previous unit wouldn't
> run for more than five minutes without throwing a 'wobbly', but this
> replacement has been running without issue for the last hour.  I am
> tentatively optimistic that this unit is not exhibiting the erratic
> behaviour, but I will continue to monitor it for a while.
> The firmware version is identified as "295202G -302202G".

Wow, that is really a lot of trouble and causes me concern about getting
anything new from APC!

> If this replacement unit really is working correctly, I will no longer
> be in need of adopting the updated NUT/driver - I will simply await
> the regular release.

In general, if running 3 year old software isn't ok -- which for NUT and
these especially it isn't (compared to GNU m4 where it is :-), then you
will have to either use a packaging system that stays up to date, or
build it yourself.  Debian, while my choice when runing GNU/Linux, does
not keep things up to date.

People running old versions is a recurring problem for an (unrelated)
project that I maintain, and I've adopted a policy that bug reports may
only be filed against the latest formal release or the current git
master beyond the release.   I think ups-nut sort of has that in the
issue tracker, but like my other project it's ok to ask for help on the
list.  Still, the first answer is almost always "update to the latest
release, at least".