[Nut-upsuser] Alert: REPLBATT active after battery replacement and requires reboot to clear

[Jim Klimov]

Hello,

  You mention that you've tried restarting the "nut-server" - I suppose you
mean literally, the service unit by such name - of the NUT data server. Did
you try restarting the unit for the NUT driver (e.g. `systemctl restart
nut-drvier at upsname` with NUT v2.8.x and newer)?

  You did not mention the driver used, but I wonder if that driver program
"latches" the RB value when it goes bad and never updates it?.. This could
make sense when UPS battery replacement means server downtime, but that is
just a subset of real-life cases - so generally can be just an oversight.
For example, `bcmxcp` code seems to only set
`bcmxcp_status.alarm_replace_battery=1` (oddly neither the field nor struct
is ever initialized to 0, so might be garbage on some systems/compilers
that do not zero-out aggregate types by default).

Jim


On Mon, Jun 30, 2025 at 7:53 PM Vyasa via Nut-upsuser <
nut-upsuser at alioth-lists.debian.net> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> CONFIGURATION:
>
> I am using a Powerware PW9120 3000i, on a network configuration with a
> server and a couple of slaves.
>
> The nut-server OS is *Debian 12 (6.1.0-37-amd64)*.  Nut was installed
> from the Debian repo with version *2.8.0-7 amd64*, and client has the
> same version.
>
> UPS is connected with a standard RS232 serial connection, and works with
> all standard commands and functionality.
>
> Command "*upscmd -l upsname*" provides the following, where I have
> successfully used *test.battery.start* and *test.system.start*:
>
> beeper.disable - Disable the UPS beeper
> beeper.enable - Enable the UPS beeper
> beeper.mute - Temporarily mute the UPS beeper
> load.on - Turn on the load immediately
> outlet.1.load.off - Turn off the load on outlet 1 immediately
> outlet.1.load.on - Turn on the load on outlet 1 immediately
> outlet.1.shutdown.return - Turn off the outlet 1 and return when power is
> back
> outlet.2.load.off - Turn off the load on outlet 2 immediately
> outlet.2.load.on - Turn on the load on outlet 2 immediately
> outlet.2.shutdown.return - Turn off the outlet 2 and return when power is
> back
> shutdown.return - Turn off the load and return when power is back
> shutdown.stayoff - Turn off the load and remain off
> test.battery.start - Start a battery test
> test.system.start - Start a system test
>
> ISSUE:
>
> Every couple of years when I have to replace batteries in the UPS, I get
> an issue with not being able to clear the REPLBATT alert.  That is not
> until I reboot the server running NUT-SERVER.  This might seem as not a big
> deal, but becomes a hassle when batteries haven't quite failed yet and are
> still good after a ups battery test.
>
> The UPS itself reports OK after battery replacement or battery test, and
> clears alarm on its LCD.  But when I poll the UPS data using "upsc upsname"
> I still see the RB or REPLBATT and this will not clear until I reboot the
> server.  So without reboot the alert will then be generated based on
> RBWARNTIME in upsmon.conf, which is as per nut design.
>
> So without reboot I always get the RB flag with status:
> *Alert type: REPLBATT*
> *............*
> *ups.status: OL RB*
> *ups.test.result: Done and passed*
>
> After reboot of server the alert is cleared:
>
>
>
> *Alert type: COMMOK ............ ups.status: OL ups.test.result: Done and
> passed*
>
> So my question becomes, why is this reboot required and it doesn't seem to
> make any sense?  I can't understand why the polled data from a UPS would
> change after a reboot, while on the UPS LCD its reporting all OK?  I tried
> restarting NUT-SERVER to see if it would make any difference.  Also, the
> command test.battery.start will clear the alarm on the UPS if battery test
> good.
>
> The only explanation that I have come up with is that the persistent
> RB/REPLBATT is latched to this condition and is an artifact of UPS to NUT
> handshaking.
>
> Any feedback would be kindly appreciated, as I have searched and searched.
>
> Thank you!
> Vyasa
> _______________________________________________
> Nut-upsuser mailing list
> Nut-upsuser at alioth-lists.debian.net
> https://alioth-lists.debian.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nut-upsuser
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://alioth-lists.debian.net/pipermail/nut-upsuser/attachments/20250630/04f6085f/attachment.htm>