# Anyone use an Uninterruptable Power Supply?

## pjp

As far as I can tell, noone has asked about UPS hardware.

I've put off buying one for a long time because I didn't have much of a need.  Over the past few days, I have had enough of a power glitch to cause a reboot.  3-4 occurances now.  The latest scared me.  After the machine 'restarted', I heard mechanical clicking noises.  Not unlike a HD with a major problem.  Fortunately, a poweroff/on worked and the sound didn't return.  I didn't wake up in a cold sweat either.  :Wink: 

So, my questions.  Does anyone use one?  With Gentoo?  Is any special hardware usually needed other than the UPS?  What about linux support for controlled shutdowns?  I'm mainly looking for anyone that has used them with linux and has horror stories, or praises to tell.  My priority will be minimal uptime.  Mainly enough to prevent what has been happening recently.  30 minutes is probably sufficient.

Tomorrow AM I'll be doing some searching, so no need to post if you don't currently use a UPS with linux.  I'll also followup with what I find/do.

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## mglauche

i use quite some  :Razz:  but i didn't set up linux yet to automaticly shutdown after a couple of minutes no power.

The problem is that i have apc UPS, and that they have

a) weired cabling

b) weired protocols

They do provide some basic linux support (but its rh only afaik)

so, i only hope that the UPS has enough power to stay alive untill the power kicks back in (and it hasn't failed me yet, in over 5 years, power loss, if its happening usually only lasts a few seconds here)

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## delta407

 *kanuslupus wrote:*   

> Does anyone use one?

 

Duh. That's why APC is still in business.  :Wink: 

 *kanuslupus wrote:*   

> With Gentoo?

 

I do, both at home and in a datacenter or two. The one at home was an APC Back-UPS 650 or some such. It was a 'last year's model', clearance, open item I picked up at Office Max for $15.

Not too long ago I was dueling someone in Jedi Knight 2 across my home LAN during a storm. We were jumping all around the Bespin carbonite chamber when I heard my UPS's inverter kick in for just under a second... the guy I was using Force lightning on suddenly stopped moving and the little "network error" thing came up.  :Very Happy: 

 *kanuslupus wrote:*   

> Is any special hardware usually needed other than the UPS?

 

Well, no, not for powering a computer.

 *kanuslupus wrote:*   

> What about linux support for controlled shutdowns?

 

That's where you might want a cable. I personally don't bother with the controlled shutdowns, since at datacenters they simply don't lose power, and at home I'm either using the computer or the computer is idle, so there's not much to lose if it were to shutdown uncleanly. I just wanted the UPS for surge protection and to protect me from hiccups.

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## phong

I could not live without a UPS - I've lived in locations with very bad power.  It's nice to hear that beeping (very very loud beeping) when some nasty brownout comes knocking.  They don't use any unusual hardware (unless an ordinary power cable is considered unusual).  Most of the newer ones use USB to hook up to your computer, but that's a completely optional thing.  I've never used that feature, cause most of the time the power outage is no more than a minute or two (in which case I don't shut down at all), or if it's longer, I have plenty of time to sit down and shut everything down myself, which I trust more.  However, server farms, datacenters, ISPs, etc. are the biggest customers, so they have software for Linux (though I wouldn't be surprised if there were some Free OS software as an alternative to their included Powerchute package).

If you want a full 30 minutes of battery time (as opposed to 10-15 minutes which you'd get with a "personal" sized version), you're going to have to pay more, but you get a nice rugged piece of iron and peace of mind.

Also, that clicking noise could have been your power supply too - I've heard them make ALL KINDS of noises when they are broken/breaking.

APC seems to be THE brand, but I think that's mostly cause that's what everyone uses, so that's the only brand lots of people are familiar with.

The #1 problem with UPSes?  They weigh a friggin' ton.

 *Quote:*   

> The one at home was an APC Back-UPS 650 or some such. It was a 'last year's model', clearance, open item I picked up at Office Max for $15.

 

That's a muther of a good deal!

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## rac

I have an APC SmartUPS V/S 1400.  At the time I bought it (maybe 6 years ago or so), I was unhappy that APC did not publicly release the specs to the "smart" part of it, so that you could get statistics and such from Linux, and so I vowed not to recommend APC.  However, I think somebody reverse engineered the protocol, and there is now an apcd, although I don't use it.

As long as you use them in "dumb mode", however, they work fine even with no cable or OS support - no configuration needed.  And it has been durable.  As phong noted, they are quite heavy - I think mine weighs about 50 pounds - it must be full of a nice lead/plutonium isotope or something.  :Smile: 

If/when you do get one, I recommend running a fake outage with the circuit breaker to make sure you have all the important stuff actually on the UPS.  The first time I set it up, I thought I was being very clever having my ISDN router on the UPS, so that I could keep my mail server up during a moderate outage.  The first time it actually hit, I realized I had forgotten to add the hub to the UPS-backed circuit.  :Embarassed: 

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## pjp

Thanks for the comments.  APC is still in business?  :Wink: 

[rant]After being forced to register to read documentation, I'm going to give Belkin strong consideration.  Rhetorical:  Why do companies insist on requiring registration? :sigh:[/rant] 

PowerChute does seem to only be available for RH, requires Java and X, so that isn't what I'm looking for.  This was just one of those nice to have features.  I'll probably just skip it.  Also, I read something in the install doc about some card for shutdowns.  Didn't read too much about it though.

30 minutes was just a number. 10-15 or whatever will be fine.  Cost is a major issue, so the bargain bin would be good  :Very Happy: 

OT:  As for them weighing a ton, yes they do.  I worked someplace that had a 'room' full of batteries.  One of the hourly checks was to verify that a meter wasn't registering 'chemicals' in the air.  I hated that room.  Had to open an old vault type door, that stuck, to get in.  Something about causing sparks to read a gauge on leaking batteries disturbed me.

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## Ralphus Maximus

I have 2 ups's at home, all they do is protect from the brownouts and short otages. I wouldn't worry about the cabling for automatic shoutdowns, I couldn't get Powerchute to work on a Winders machine. 

This may be common sense, but just in case....

Don't plug the Laser printer in the ups or a monitor if the ups is small. They'll drain the batteries fast!

Cheers,

RM

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## pjp

 *Ralphus Maximus wrote:*   

> I have 2 ups's at home, all they do is protect from the brownouts and short otages.

 That appears to be what I'll choose.  I looked at a few today and for a 19" monitor, 5-8 minutes seems to be about all you get for a reasonable amount of money.

 *Quote:*   

> This may be common sense, but just in case....
> 
> Don't plug the Laser printer in the ups or a monitor if the ups is small. They'll drain the batteries fast!

 I don't think it is common sense.  I'm guessing most people (your average user) doesn't realize how much power they drain.  Unfortunately, I don't have a printer to worry about  :Very Happy: 

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## phlashback

Well.. I have had an APC Back-UPS 300 for a couple years now... 

It had worked verry well for me untill now.  It seems that after adding my second proc to my tyan 2460 it is no longer enough. 

The system aparently dranes too much power causing the ups to trip its alarm and cause the computer to reboot...  :Crying or Very sad: 

Oh well I guess its time for a new (bigger) unit. Any suggestions?  :Twisted Evil: 

My Specs:

Tyan Tiger 2460 w/ 2x Athlon MP 1900

512 MB crusial memory

Gforce 4 TI4600

Creative SB Live Value (I know it aint the gratest but... it has served me well  :Rolling Eyes: 

SMC Either Power II NIC

Yamaha 20x burner

Liteon 16x dvd

100 GB ata 100 Western digital

FANS FANS FANS (colord ones too  :Cool: 

The sad part of this story sadly is not the need to replace the ups.. but rather the fact that the problem cost me a processor before I figured out the problem...   :Embarassed: 

Any help would be greatly apreciated Thanx

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## ElCondor

 *kanuslupus wrote:*   

>  Does anyone use one?  With Gentoo?  Is any special hardware usually needed other than the UPS?  What about linux support for controlled shutdowns? 

 

Yes, got an old noname-UPS (WattpoWer Cerbere 500 - couldn't find any information about them) with absolutly no documentation on a gentoo-server, just 500VAh.

special hardware was needed as a self-made serial cable. linux support was a little self programmed daemon catching the signals on ttyS1 and a little shellscript doing the walling/controlled shutdown.

* ElCondor pasa *

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## pjp

Thanks for the info.  I purchased a 1200VA ~640W Belkin a while back.  Haven't done anything to figure out communication with it though.

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## antik

 *kanuslupus wrote:*   

> Thanks for the info.  I purchased a 1200VA ~640W Belkin a while back.  Haven't done anything to figure out communication with it though.

 

Just yesterday installed new UPS 550VA/330W Powerware 3110  for my webserver.  It comes with some software for linux too but I'm stuck with this soft- cant figure out how to install it. Have to read some FAQ  :Confused: 

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## FishNiX

Just a note, the APC ups's we have here at my work all use SNMP and you get get the MiB from APC and roll your own shutdown script.  That's what I did, and it's not all that hard if all that you want is a shutdown when the battery life reaches a certain point.

Cheers!

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## BigBrownDog

Check out:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/apcupsd

for a really nice open source daemon for communicating with APC UPSes.

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## dbezona

Firstly, though I haven't used it, apcupsd is in Portage, for those who are interested.

I am currently using an APC Back-UPS Pro 1100 to power 3 desktop machines, my router, hub, and LCD monitor. It works great. 

One function of a UPS not to be underestimated is that it doesn't just handle power outages, but makes sure you are getting clean, stable voltage to your system at all times. This is a must - ever see the lights dim a bit in your house when something like a microwave, furnace, old laser printer or whatever fires up? I have a laser printer that, every time it spools up, makes my lights dim and my UPS cycle to battery (no, the printer is NOT plugged into the UPS). Not only is it a momentary brownout condition, it also tends to throw a quick spike into the line as well - NOT good for your computer.

Anyway, by all means, invest in a UPS. It's fairly cheap insurance (even my somewhat large one was only about $250, you can get by much smaller for a single box)

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## Grunt

You might check out the package nuts at http://www.exploits.org/nut/ which is an interface for various UPS brands for linux.  It's in the portage tree last I checked.

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## taskara

there is a way to work out how big a powersupply you'll need based on how much power you consume.. anyone know the forumla?

I think the largest "home" ups you can get are 650 VA anyway..

so that outputs, what 400W.

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## Grunt

VA (not KW or Watts) is Volts times Amps so a 500 VA UPS can give 120 volts at about 4 Amps.  The more amps you draw the less time it lasts.

Figure out what current your system draws (check the power supply nameplate or actually measure it) and then multiply that type 120 (assuming you use 120 VAC power which the US does).  Also figure max load on the UPS should be about 80% of it's capacity.

I've used Best Power (now PowerWare) units with excellent success.  Check out powerware (www.powerware.com)

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## pjp

 *taskara wrote:*   

> I think the largest "home" ups you can get are 650 VA

  *pjp wrote:*   

> I purchased a 1200VA ~640W Belkin

  Universal UPS 1200VA is listed in their "Desktop" line.  I think I caught a small sale, so it was pretty close to other models I was looking at (non-APC, they're pretty proud of their stuff).

The power where I'm at is far from good, and its come in handy numerous times since I installed it.

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## taskara

 *pjp wrote:*   

>  *taskara wrote:*   I think the largest "home" ups you can get are 650 VA  *pjp wrote:*   I purchased a 1200VA ~640W Belkin  Universal UPS 1200VA is listed in their "Desktop" line.  I think I caught a small sale, so it was pretty close to other models I was looking at (non-APC, they're pretty proud of their stuff).
> 
> The power where I'm at is far from good, and its come in handy numerous times since I installed it.

 

 :Smile:  well according to their webpage, the "Home Office" series finishes at 650VA

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## r0bbyr0b

I use an APC BackUPS Pro420VA with Gentoo and works okay.

I just emerged apcupsd, and changed the config file. In the config file you need to add:

```
UPSCABLE 940-0095B
```

or whatever the cable is called, and put in the type of UPS:

```
UPSTYPE backups
```

or whatever the name of the UPS. 

Then say where the UPS is plugged into (mine is COM1):

```
DEVICE /dev/ttyS0
```

Most of the instructions are in that config file. Mine shuts down when the battery is at 5%, and logs power outages to a file.

If I can make it work anyone can - ive only been using Gentoo for a week!

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## pjp

 *taskara wrote:*   

>  well according to their webpage, the "Home Office" series finishes at 650VA

 I was making judgement based on it being listed under "Power Protection / UPS", "UPS-Desktop Usage".

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## dma

I'm posting this message right now under battery power.  :Smile: 

I'm using a CyberPower 1250AVR unit powering two megatowers.  The serial cable is currently connected to my WinXP box:

[img:2a7ca16afe]http://www.coe.uncc.edu/~danderse/images/1250avr.png[/img:2a7ca16afe]

Most support seems to be for APC though (sys-apps/apcupsd).

University of Iowa has Powstatd:

http://dollar.biz.uiowa.edu/powstatd/

I don't think anyone has looked at the data stream yet to get the load percentage, temperature, etc.

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## taskara

 *pjp wrote:*   

>  *taskara wrote:*    well according to their webpage, the "Home Office" series finishes at 650VA I was making judgement based on it being listed under "Power Protection / UPS", "UPS-Desktop Usage".

 

obviously, but if you note my original comment, it was that "home ups's don't go past 650", which is also the case here  :Smile:  it's listed under desktop, not home  :Razz: 

sure u can use a rackmount in your home if you want, but I'm referring to what is marketted in the home range.

ANYWAY....  :Smile: 

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## m33sb3w

I did a search and didn't really find any good threads, so I figured I may as well start one...

I'm looking to get a UPS and would just like to know which ones other people recommend (or recommend against).  I don't care how involved the setup is under Gentoo, as long as it's functional.  I'm looking in probably the 620-700VA range.  Thanks in advance.

Eric

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## quattro

I've had good luck with the APC UPS's.  The  APC UPS selector sized my workstation and recommended a Back-UPS 500ES.  There is even a nice package in portage, apcupsd, that monitors the status of the 500ES using the supplied USB cable.  The following is a sample of the information you get from the UPS.

```
APC      : 001,034,0884

DATE     : Thu Jun 12 22:58:28 CDT 2003

HOSTNAME : yoshi

RELEASE  : 3.10.5

VERSION  : 3.10.5 (04 February 2003) gentoo

UPSNAME  : APC_ES_500

CABLE    : USB Cable

MODEL    : Back-UPS ES 500

UPSMODE  : Stand Alone

STARTTIME: Sat May 10 06:30:05 CDT 2003

STATUS   : ONLINE

LINEV    : 119.0 Volts

LOADPCT  :   0.0 Percent Load Capacity

BCHARGE  : 100.0 Percent

TIMELEFT :  83.6 Minutes

MBATTCHG : 5 Percent

MINTIMEL : 3 Minutes

MAXTIME  : 0 Seconds

LOTRANS  : 088.0 Volts

HITRANS  : 138.0 Volts

ALARMDEL : Always

BATTV    : 13.4 Volts

NUMXFERS : 20

XONBATT  : Tue Jun 10 18:07:07 CDT 2003

TONBATT  : 0 seconds

CUMONBATT: 18 seconds

XOFFBATT : Tue Jun 10 18:07:08 CDT 2003

STATFLAG : 0x02000008 Status Flag

MANDATE  : 2003-01-22

SERIALNO : JB0304021091

BATTDATE : 2000-00-00

NOMBATTV :  12.0

FIRMWARE : .e2.D USB FW:e2

APCMODEL : Back-UPS ES 500

END APC  : Thu Jun 12 22:58:42 CDT 2003
```

One nice thing about apcupsd is it has a set of scripts for different types of events which you can modify to meet your needs.  So if you have apcupsd running on a server, you can modify the onbattery script to send a text message to the sysadmin's pager.

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## taskara

I would recommend getting a 2nd hand ups.. they work just as well, but you don't pay premium for them (upses are desiogned to run for years and years... tho you may have to get new batteries)

anyway I have an APS 700 ups (serial cable) - I'll have a look at getting it to work under gentoo and post some results.. there was another UPS thread somewhere.. search for "uninterruptable power supply"

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## brain

Yea this is an old thread, but I just picked up a Matrix 3000, and it's niiiice  :Smile: 

Anyone had any luck using apcupsd in a master/slave environment?  It keeps segfaulting on the slaves for me.

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## cdunham

 *rac wrote:*   

> At the time I bought it (maybe 6 years ago or so), I was unhappy that APC did not publicly release the specs to the "smart" part of it, so that you could get statistics and such from Linux, and so I vowed not to recommend APC.  However, I think somebody reverse engineered the protocol, and there is now an apcd, although I don't use it.

 

Ask Andre Hedrick (kernel IDE dev) if he's still using the APC UPSs I sent him a couple of years ago...  :Wink: 

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## Master One

Today we had a power loss, which effected our whole house and lasted about 15 minutes (was the longest powerloss ever experienced, it's an office/apartement building in the middle of our town).

That made me think of an UPS device for my two gentoo servers I am just setting up. As I do not want to invest much in such items, I think I should go for a cheap but good unit, that does not need to have a large capacity for backing up the power supply for a longer time, but it should be able to shut down my servers safely, so that no data loss or fs-corruption occures.

Any suggestions?

I think the APC SmartUPS units seem to be pretty good, just took a look at their website.

But which model to use? How do I estimate the power consumption of the two servers (one has a 420W power supply, the other a 450W, but these values can definitely not be used for calculating the nessary VA an UPS should have, as it shows as a selection help on the APC website)?

There is also an own linux project for APC SmartUPS units (apcupsd), which looks pretty cool. The APC SmartUPS units seem to have USB and serial connections.

I already search the forum, but it does not seem there are much people here concerned about power loss.

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## F.Ultra

I think that you'd be better off asking the store about which UPS that would fit your power consumption, simply tell them what hardware you have and how many and so on. However it all you want is to safely shut down your servers, then any model should suffice since you do not need more than a few minutes of power anyhow, but this should the store be able to help you with.

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## Master One

I'm not buying at a store, but directly mailordering at our hardware wholesaler   :Wink: 

Also both machines were built by myself from spare parts laying arround here, so no ready-built-server which you can by arround the corner.

I already did a rough calculation about the power consumption, both servers + DSL-modem + firewall-router come to a max. of about 300W, so I decided to give it a little extra, and go for the APC SmartUPS SUA1000I with 1000VA, which should be able to cover up on a power loss between 15 and 25 minutes. This unit is not that expensive, and it looks pretty decent.

As first I thought about a very cheap unit, only for a safe shutdown, but I better go with a soliid solution, I am pretty sure it's worth the investment.

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## BrianW

I use apcupsd with my APC BackUPS XS1000. It uses a USB cable. It is plugged into my home Gentoo Multipurpose server. My router (clark connect) and my two gentoo workstations communicate to the server with apcupsd. They all shutdown with about 5 minutes remaining run time.

Connected to the UPS:

8 port gigabit switch

10" B&W monitor

Dual p3 866 server

celeron 2.4 router

p4 3.0 ghz workstation

p4 1.8 ghz workstation

I get about 20 minutes w/ all equipment plugged in, 40 minutes if i leave off the two workstations.

HTH - Brian

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## Bob P

i've been using some "modified" APC converters on my home systems for a few years now.  i picked up some BackUPS 300 VA units on a rebate at one of the office stores about 4 years ago.

some people have made comments about load capabilities and uptime on units like these which i think warrant some additional comments, so i'll throw in my two cents:

first, ohm's law tells us that P = IE, or power = current x voltage.  or in more familiar terms, watts = amps x volts.  don't be confused by print ads that are confusing and try to tell you that VA is not equal to watts.  someone is just trying to obfuscate the issue.

when you shop for a UPS, two things that you need to consider independently of one another are the load that the filter can provide on the line voltage in real-time and the amount of runtime that you can expect from a unit during a power failure.

i have lived in locations where the power was so lousy that i had weekly power outages during the rainy season.  we lived on the top of a hill and our local pole-based power transformer was nothing short of a lightning magnet, so a good UPS was an absolute necessity.

when considering the power-smoothing capacity of the filtration segment, its important to bear in mind that future needs that weren't anticipated at the time of purchase may cause you to overwhelm the current delivery capabilities of the filtration mechanism without even realizing it.  as CRT displays have grown in size from 15-inches to 19- or 21-inches on the desktop, and as CPU speed has risen, the power consumption of a desktop PC has increased markedly.  the demands on power conditioning systems have also increased, and may not be fully recognized.  there are probably quite a few of us who might need to upgrade to a heavier power supply than the one we're currently using.

another factor to consider is battery life (aka runtime) during a power outage.  a big screen like a 21-inch CRT will eat-up your battery alot faster than a 15-inch display, and a newer P4 box is going to run your power down alot faster than a P1 or a P2.  many of the manfacturers' advertised run-time numbers are based on boxes that consume alot less power than the typical power user's PC, so take the manufacturer's runtime ratings with a grain of salt.

i don't know if anyone else has ever taken one of these things apart, but on the APC branded units, the power reservoir is nothing more complicated than a 12-volt Panasonic sealed lead-acid motorcycle battery that typically has a capacity of about 15 amp-hours.  if you want to increase the runtime capacity of your APC unit, that's pretty easy to do.  all that you have to do is hook-up another 12-volt sealed Pb-acid battery in parallel to the one in the case, and you can markedly extend the unit's runtime.  its easy enough to do through the access port on the bottom of the box, and buying a spare sealed battery is ALOT cheaper than buying a bigger UPS unit.

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## appetitus

 *mglauche wrote:*   

> The problem is that i have apc UPS, and that they have
> 
> a) weired cabling
> 
> b) weired protocols
> ...

 

a) there are wiring diagrams on the Internet for the serial cable, took me 20 minutes to solder one up.  With a push-pin setup, it would take about 5 minutes.

b) Who cares, that is a software packages problem.  NUT works perfectly with APC and is pretty simple to setup.

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## V0r[T3X]

P = V * A * cos(phi) != V * A for AC Currents!

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## Bob P

 *V0r[T3X] wrote:*   

> P = V * A * cos(phi) != V * A for AC Currents!

 

ahem.  an argument that proposes the differences between true, reactive and apparent power in AC circuits is not germane to this discussion, as the uninterruptable power source in a UPS is a DC battery.  P=IE.

----------

## V0r[T3X]

Mmm... but PC PSUs aren't fully resistive loads, their cos(phi) is not 1 but 0.8-0.9. So if your I is 0.20A and E is 230V, you are drawing 46VA from your UPS, but only 37W. The right measure for UPSes thus i think it's VA, non W, because W depends on cos(phi) of the load.

EDIT: The DC battery is used to power an AC inverter...

PS: Sorry for my English!  :Wink: 

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## Bob P

 *V0r[T3X] wrote:*   

> Mmm... but PC PSUs aren't fully resistive loads, their cos(phi) is not 1 but 0.8-0.9. So if your I is 0.20A and E is 230V, you are drawing 46VA from your UPS, but only 37W. The right measure for UPSes thus i think it's VA, non W, because W depends on cos(phi) of the load.
> 
> EDIT: The DC battery is used to power an AC inverter...

 

to engineers who design AC circuits, it may matter, but to consumers who need to decide what to buy, it still doesn't matter.  the total amount of power that can be retrieved from a UPS under line failure conditions is determined by the amount of energy stored in the DC battery.  in the battery, P=IE and there is no phase angle because its a DC circuit.

this is exactly the problem that i referenced in my previous post -- we can talk all day and night about power factors in AC circuits, but this only serves to further obfuscate the issue to people who are shopping for a UPS.  if we want to, the two of us can split-hairs about how phase angle effects power in AC circuits.  but when the line power is disconnected, the AC circuit cannot produce any more power than the DC circuit is giving up.

the fact remains that the ability of a UPS to deliver power is ultimately limited by the amount of energy that is stored in its battery.

you are welcome to have the last word on this topic.    :Very Happy: 

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## wdd1040

[url]http://wdd1040.cjb.net/FTP/My%20Pictures/New%20Camera%20Pics%20(Random)/9_01_04/p9010001_.jpg[/url]

 :Very Happy:   I think it'd suffice to say that I use UPSes.

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## tkdfighter

PCs work with DC power, unless I'm mistaken. So isn't it a waste of energy to convert AC to DC (battery), which is a must, but then convert DC back into AC back into DC?  :Confused: 

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## billium

You get what you pay for with UPSs.  With APC for e.g., if you buy a backups the output waveform is poorly approximated and is not far of square, whereas the Smartups uses PWM to create an fairly accurate sinusoid.  Wasted harmonics are wasted power.

If you have a good PSU with active Power Factor Correction, the backups can destroy your PSU especially the lower power ones in shuttles and industrial pcs, so get the better UPSs.

Billy

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## pksings

in portage tree already, works with both of my APC ups's.

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## tomwatts

Has anyone had luck with the powerchute business edition software from APC? For whatever reason i simply can not get it to run on my machine...

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## linuxpyro

My servers are running on UPSes.  One is an APC 350 VA uint that has worked out pretty well.  The other is kind of a makeshift one that runs my main Web server.  This server is actually a mini-ITX box I got form a friend, who used it in his car.  It still had the 12 volt power supply in it.  Rather than ditch this, I found a 120 VAC to 12 VDC power supply that also has a battery charger in it, and will transfer over in the event of a power failure.  I use it with a small led-acid battery, and it works quite well.

Someone told me that the min-ITX boards have built in sensors to detect low voltage, and that they can be configured to have the OS shut down at a certain point.  I don't know how to implememnt this in Gentoo, however.

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## mike456

I have a belkin "Regulator Pro" 425 and an APC Smartups 1250.  The APC is hooked up via a serial port to the Gentoo box, using apcupsd.  Once you get the right kind of (weird) cable, it works like a charm.  The trick is the cable.  I think I have mine setup to shutdown the box when the power level on the UPS gets down to 25%.

I had to make my own cable... If you look on the apcupsd website, they should have a link somewhere to "making your own smart cable".  I bought two ethernet-serial adapters, and an ethernet cable.  You configure the pinouts on the ethernet-serial adapters properly, plug in the ethernet cable to both and viola... it works!  A standard serial cable won't work (it caused my UPS to cycle power like 5 times a second until I unplugged it -- no damage to the UPS, just unusable setup), I guess you can buy the APC cable -- but it costs something like $50 from APC (although I think there are cheaper knockoffs).  The newer APCs probably would come with USB connectors, which I assume don't require some special cable.

I haven't had any luck (yet) getting the belkin to talk.  The Belkin worked fine with their windows software (which kindof sucks), but I haven't been able to get any ups daemons to see it from linux yet.

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## fredgt

After a power peak fied my brothers computer i've decided to not take any risks (as it has happened before) and buy me a UPS. I was looking into it and came to the MERLIN GERIN Pulsar Ellipse 500USBS or MERLIN GERIN Pulsar Ellipse 650USBS. Has anyone used them in combination with linux. It should work but does it support the auto-shutdown on a powerdown etc.

Any other UPS's i should look into?

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## noup

What is that option you mentioned related to shutdown?

As far as i know, APC is a good brand (that's what i use).

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## fredgt

Well the shutdown thing i mensioned is that if the power falls away and the battery of the UPS is getting to low it will shut down you're pc properly so it won't crash when the batteries are empty. The pc connects to the ups with a serial or USB connection.

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## wazoo42

I have two belkins and using usb is completely out of the question.  With serial cables I get a glimpse of something working, but it doesn't even acknowledge when the power goes out and the ups switches to batteries.

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## noup

 *fredgt wrote:*   

> Well the shutdown thing i mensioned is that if the power falls away and the battery of the UPS is getting to low it will shut down you're pc properly so it won't crash when the batteries are empty. The pc connects to the ups with a serial or USB connection.

 

Ok, i see that. My UPSs also have a serial port, but i've never used it, so i can't really help you much with that. You could try the UPS Howto, if you haven't yet.

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## Xaid

After some power fluctuations here last night, my dad's box got toasted, I'm hoping its only the power supply thats gone but we'll see.

I'm thinking of getting a UPS for my main box and after looking on staples I saw two that are going for 49.99$ CAD, and thought I'd ask you guys which one do you recommend.

The ones that look interesting are:

Belkin Office Series 550VA UPS

APC 350VA BE350U 6-Outlet Back-UPS

I'm interested in knowing which one will work fine under Gentoo l (to shutdown the box after a power problem).

I'm planning to buy one today, just incase we get another power hiccup.

Edit: Added links

Edit: I decided to go with the belkin one since it seems it has more features, I got partial readings from it using the latest NUT in portage.

The driver I used is the "hidups" driver and I'm running a hardened 2.6.11-r15 kernel. The readings I'm currently getting are:

```

battery.charge: 100

battery.runtime: 120

driver.name: hidups

driver.parameter.port: /dev/usb/hiddev0

driver.version: 2.0.0

ups.mfr: Unknown

ups.model: Unknown

ups.serial: Unknown

ups.status: OL

```

so its partially working, and if I switch to battery mode I can see the status change to OB and the battery.charge decreasing, so its a good sign  :Smile: 

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## Drone1

I'm looking at getting a UPS for my system, which at max, will pull around 370+ watts est... I intend to have my PC, and a 16 port hub plugged into it for battery purposes. I don't not intend to have monitors plugged into the battery backup side of things....

The main intent is to get around the brown-outs that occur around one a month. I've looked at the nut website for compatibility, but would like the know what people are actually running. I'm currently looking at the BR series APC units, Tripp-Lite OmniVS1000, and the CyberPower CP850AVRLCD. Unit spec's will probably be around the 1000VA 500Watts neighborhood, when I finally decide what to get one.

Again, this is mainly to give stable power to my system, with a small window of battery support, if the power goes down altogether. My intent, as would be most linux users, is have the pc shut down, if there is a continued outage.

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## poly_poly-man

I'd go with an APC. Good Brand.

I have a Back-UPS-350 - it's alright (though of course, the battery's carp - I should replace it with something better one of these days). I've never gotten it to "work" with linux ('cuz I only half-heartedly tried *once*), but my server and my main box won't go down in brownouts or 1-2minute power outs  :Very Happy: 

poly-p man

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## djdunn

for a few 100$ APC has some very good small serverish type UPS that run with some linux software.

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## yabbadabbadont

Here's a third recommendation for APC.  I have the ES-650 and it works fine with apcupsd in linux.

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## jcat

APC works pretty good, but I've found the USB support to be pretty flaky.  Use serial comms for best results  :Smile: 

Cheers,

jcat

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## keyson

Hi Drone1,

It depends on how your power looks. Is it stable ?

No voltage or frequency deviation ?

Do it contain power spikes ?

I live in a town that have a good power grid, so I only need to cover the

dropout. So I use a small Powerware 3105 (usb) at home.

On another place I have to watch for Voltage deviation so I use a Powerware 5115 (serial).

I recommend a 3105 or a 5110 (new type of 5115).

But if You have a lousy power situation then you would need something like

a Powerware 9120.

I don't work for Powerware but i wrote the driver (bcmxcp) for nut.

Regards

Kjell

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## twam

I've got some APC SmartUPS. They working perfectly with apcupsd in portage.

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## bunder

i got a pair of these:

http://www.energizerups.com/product.asp?productID=6

and then i bought a third, but it looks different (same model).  1000va, 500w are what it's spec'ed to, but they've ran my entire network for about a 1/2 hour before conking out.  the avr in them works good too.

one thing i didn't try was getting them to work with nut... i seem to have misplaced the cables.   :Shocked: 

cheers

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## timeBandit

I use an APC Back-UPS BR800 RS, apcupsd and gapcmon. My workstation draws about 230 watts in normal use and this setup provides about 20 minutes on-battery run time and a controlled shutdown.

jcat mentioned flaky USB support but that hasn't been my experience. APC's consumer-grade units provide almost no monitoring data over the serial link--little more than state transition signals (on-/off-battery, shutdown, etc.). If you want the UPS to provide detailed status info to the monitoring daemon, you need USB.

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## poly_poly-man

 *timeBandit wrote:*   

> I use an APC Back-UPS BR800, apcupsd and gapcmon. My workstation draws about 230 watts in normal use and this setup provides about 20 minutes on-battery run time and a controlled shutdown.
> 
> jcat mentioned flaky USB support but that hasn't been my experience. APC's consumer-grade units provide almost no monitoring data over the serial link--little more than state transition signals (on-/off-battery, shutdown, etc.). If you want the UPS to provide detailed status info to the monitoring daemon, you need USB.

 

If you want the UPS to provide detailed status info to the mointoring daemon, don't buy a Back-UPS, fork out the extra money and get at least a Smart-UPS.

I believe my dumb(back)-ups only provides info for change of state - I don't even think it does battery capacity, etc.

poly-p man

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## jcat

Yup.  Serial comms provides just as much data as the USB comms.  It's just a different comms link after all   :Wink: 

I have only ever used SMART-UPS.

Cheers,

jcat

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## Mad Merlin

 *poly_poly-man wrote:*   

>  *timeBandit wrote:*   I use an APC Back-UPS BR800, apcupsd and gapcmon. My workstation draws about 230 watts in normal use and this setup provides about 20 minutes on-battery run time and a controlled shutdown.
> 
> jcat mentioned flaky USB support but that hasn't been my experience. APC's consumer-grade units provide almost no monitoring data over the serial link--little more than state transition signals (on-/off-battery, shutdown, etc.). If you want the UPS to provide detailed status info to the monitoring daemon, you need USB. 
> 
> If you want the UPS to provide detailed status info to the mointoring daemon, don't buy a Back-UPS, fork out the extra money and get at least a Smart-UPS.
> ...

 

The newer models might be more capable, but I got a Back-UPS 1050 NS on sale (for ~$130) a few months ago, and it tells me power load, battery capacity left, plus a slew of other things. Works perfectly via USB (didn't try serial) with apcupsd.

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## timeBandit

 *poly_poly-man wrote:*   

>  *timeBandit wrote:*   APC's consumer-grade units provide almost no monitoring data over the serial link ... you need USB. If you want the UPS to provide detailed status info to the mointoring daemon, don't buy a Back-UPS, fork out the extra money and get at least a Smart-UPS.

 Many Back-UPS units provide full, detailed status info--just not over a serial cable. The Smart-UPS line adds nice features if it's within one's budget but plenty of Back-UPS units can do this (e.g., the RS and LS lines).

 *jcat wrote:*   

> Serial comms provides just as much data as the USB comms.  It's just a different comms link after all  
> 
> I have only ever used SMART-UPS.

 Right, and that's why you see the same data.  :Wink:  It's not "just a different comms link"--the firmware has to fully support the link, and the Back-UPS firmware has limited serial support. APC affirms this if you ask them but the product literature doesn't (or didn't) make the distinction clear.

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## djdunn

Seriously it would be a hard sell to get me to use anything not APC.  if they say a certain UPS is good for linux id believe them.

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## madey

Hi,

I would like to ask people who administrate some servers: Do you know and use any not expensive (but not the cheapest one) UPS with RS232 interface that works perfectly with Gentoo??

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## nixnut

merged above post here.

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