In message snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net>, Dave Liquorice snipped-for-privacy@howhill.com writes
Not seen one lately, but there have been a raft of adverts looking for roadside space next to high voltage supplies.
Flavour of intent here..
We have several (mainly APC) UPS's here and my normal test to their efficiency (outside plugging them in my power meter socket thing) is how warm they sit when idle. Most of them are 'just warm' but I would be interested to learn if there was a specific procedure to lower the risk of overcharging the battery (assuming such hasn't already been applied as they are all s/h).
We have one 'Back-UPS CS 350 (that is on 'Her' PC) and several 'Back-UPS 650's'. Ironically my Windows Home Server has sat there ~10 years but not on a UPS and has survived several power outages over that time with no issue?
I also have a 1000 and 1500 VA APC 'Smart UPS's' but like you I'm waiting for some spare cash (or reason) to get some batteries for them. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
Decent systems have more than one server and more than one UPS.
Probably only applies to Smart-UPS rather than Back-UPS, but have a look
Possibly, depending on how well it could recover automatically from such etc, but depending on how the power is cut / re-connected, might damage the electronics themselves.
Therefore, having a UPS between the supply and your electronics, may act as a buffer / filter or the UPS could act as a sacrificial link.
I looked after a small office as a favour for a friend (because I enjoyed / missed it) and I covered his PC's and servers with a spattering of UPS's and the APCUPSD utility.
I need to look into that (and NUT?) to cover several boxes (RPi / PC's running OMV NAS software) and possibly the Synology box, as only one can be physically plugged into the UPS at a time?
Cheers, T i m
2GW probably would have, but we don't know for how long the batteries could supply it for.
This is going o be the next "con".. FITs for installing batteries. It effectively government borrowing but it doesn't go on the books and the consumers pay for it in the end.
harry will have one of them as soon as he can make enough cash from it.
Thanks Andy, bookmarked.
Cheers, T i m
I think anything that can run apcupsd can be networked easily to the box controlling the UPS. Remakably painless. It's only worth using NUT (which can allegedly follow an apcupsd server) if there's something like a NAS you can't install apcupsd on. NUT is less painless.
Thanks for that Roger.
I have seen NUT mentioned on the various bits of hard/software but never tried to use it.
I need to check what both Synology and OMV will support and as you say, if both will follow an APCUPSD server, that could answer my needs in any case (as long as all my switches in between are also UPS protected). ;-)
Cheers, T i m
sounds like a pain in the ....
I'm controlling three UPS units here with nut. I have done for years. It just works.
Setting it up is a bit involved but not hard. There's a good README. And once done, it's done.
So how would you do it, assuming you understood why it might be a 'good idea' to have say 3 machines (but only) on one UPS?
Machine one plugs into the UPS monitoring port and becomes the APCUPSD 'server'. The other two machines also run APCUPSD but are clients to the server.
If the power fails the APCUPSD 'server' detects the failure and changes it's status from Mains good to Mains off (or some such) and the client machines also see this over the LAN and react as set (by you).
On mine the two client machines shut down within a couple of minutes (or sooner if the Server indicated the battery was already very low) and the Server shut down when the battery was less than 50% remaining capacity.
I'd have to say it worked well and was very reliable.
It also meant that you could minimise the 'cost' of having the background load of the UPS, and the UPS itself, over 3 (or more, depending on the draw) machines.
Cheers, T i m
Assuming you have used APCUPSD Bob, how does NUT compare? Does it just work similarly or does it come at the problem from a different direction?
Cheers, T i m
I never used apcupsd, since this is all BSD based.
Pretty well the same. A 'master' copy of nut (there are two or three separate parts) monitors the UPS. It has slave copies on the other machines on the same UPS. When the battery level reaches a specified threshold, it tells the slaves and they run a script (usually to shut down). After a short delay, it shuts the server down.
There are three master copies here, one for each machine group and UPS. One is a 'super master' that knows about the other two. It includes a CGI script so that a local web server (Apache here) can display the state of all of the UPS units (in and out voltages, battery remaining) all in a nice graphical way. It also allows you to look at (and set) the internal parameters of the UPS.
NUT works with many UPSs other than APC ones. But it is not so versatile or reliable in setting parameters of some APC UPSs as apcupsd is.
I take it you completely missed the moment of mild humour. Rest snipped
NT
Ah, sorry. I got my 5 year old nephew to read your insightful and humorous reply and he explained why it was 'funny'. ;-)
I didn't realise you were American ... ?
Cheers, T i m
you're making no sense.
How ironic. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
Obviously someone is using the wrong side of their brain.
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