[Apcupsd-users] APC Back-UPS Pro 650IPNP half dumb?

[Pavel Boček]

Hi all,




I got few of these line-interactive APC "Back-UPS Pro 650IPNP" units, this
is exactly the label on the usual white sticker. Not sure if it actually is
"BP650IPNP" or some different version or what than, because I can not get
any usefull information from them even though they should support it. They
talk to me in Smart mode, that works. They however do not work with
Powerchute business in Smart mode, not at all with Personal. The ancient
Powerchute Plus works pretty much the same as apcupsd, meaning I get nothing
about battery, runtime, load. I use win version but that does not matter
here.





I've of course connected directly to them via terminal using the usual
"custom smart cable" (the 940-0024x). The units pretty much tell me the same
as they tell apcupsd, that means just their model name, firmware, serial
number and few of these not that important things. They return nothing at
all to pretty much most of the other commands, including the important ones
- battery/line voltage, load, runtime, frequency, nothing.




What is strange is that I can still run into old forum posts (old=5-15
years) where people got all the information from these units, including
runtime guesstimate. Not me. The firmware though looks strange, it is 51.1.L
which would, according to "Interpretation of the New Firmware Revision",
suggest some strange configuration with "Simple Signal, if detectable". Not
to mention the weird 51 ID.




According to component markings I guesstimate they have been assembled in
1997 or so. So is it possible I got some early strange versions which
support Smart protocol, but are totaly dumb and tell me nothing more than
"on-line" and "on-battery"? Information about these units are scarce today,
what is interesting is that the electronics is about 98% same as in later
APC Smart-UPS SC family units. So APC somewhat just threw the Back-UPS Pro
family overboard but later made new series on mostly the same electronics
(just with full set of Smart features) and it is still being sold. Even
stranger is I have already run into a Back-UPS Pro 1000 VA with sine-wave
output (!) while AFAIK these should never have had sine-wave. This is total
mess


[Trevor Roydhouse]

Post by Pavel Boček
I got few of these line-interactive APC "Back-UPS Pro 650IPNP" units,
this is exactly the label on the usual white sticker. Not sure if it
actually is "BP650IPNP" or some different version or what than,
because I can not get any usefull information from them even though
they should
support it. They talk to me in Smart mode, that works. They however do
not work with Powerchute business in Smart mode, not at all with
Personal. The ancient Powerchute Plus works pretty much the same as
apcupsd, meaning I get nothing about battery, runtime, load. I use win
version but that does not matter here.

I've managed to get them to work with apcupsd in the past by putting
them into "program mode" and not exiting that mode. See the apcupsd
manual for details of program mode.

[Pavel Boček]

And did they tell you more information in that state? It's not that they
don't work with apcupsd at all, they do. Just that they report some static
data, and than only on-line/on-battery, so like any other dumb UPS (e. g.
old Back-UPS).




So we have to guesstimate the time to run before shutdown, which initially
will not utilise the battery fully, and after few years it may be too long
for it to handle (so the time will have to be lowered). Would be nice if the
UPS told these informations itself ;-)
--
S uctivÃœm pozdravem/best regards,

Pavel Boček
Jabber: ***@jabber.cz
[phone]
http://www.hwworld.cz (kondenzátory, akumulátory, baterie aj./capacitors and
more)
http://www.hardwareinsights.com (power supply reviews and more)


---------- Původní zpráva ----------
Od: Trevor Roydhouse <***@sentry.org>
Komu: Apcupsd Discussion List <apcupsd-***@lists.sourceforge.net>
Datum: 15. 3. 2017 6:27:18
Předmět: Re: [Apcupsd-users] APC Back-UPS Pro 650IPNP half dumb?

Post by Pavel Boček
I got few of these line-interactive APC "Back-UPS Pro 650IPNP" units,
this is exactly the label on the usual white sticker. Not sure if it
actually is "BP650IPNP" or some different version or what than,
because I can not get any usefull information from them even though
they should
support it. They talk to me in Smart mode, that works. They however do
not work with Powerchute business in Smart mode, not at all with
Personal. The ancient Powerchute Plus works pretty much the same as
apcupsd, meaning I get nothing about battery, runtime, load. I use win
version but that does not matter here.

I've managed to get them to work with apcupsd in the past by putting
them into "program mode" and not exiting that mode. See the apcupsd
manual for details of program mode.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Trevor Roydhouse]

Post by Pavel Boček

Post by Trevor Roydhouse
I've managed to get them to work with apcupsd in the past by
putting them into "program mode" and not exiting that mode. See
the apcups manual for details of program mode.

And did they tell you more information in that state?

Yes, that's the result I obtained.