Unitec UPS in Linux

[Barnabe]

I bought a Unitec Ultimate 1000VA UPS, seems like one of those generic re-branded UPS from a Thai brand called Zircon.

 

They seem to have software for UPS monitoring in Windows, although I haven't tried it. Does anyone know how to get this UPS to work under Linux? I tried configuring nut, it works with the blaze_usb driver but it doesn't report any voltage or battery stats.

 

 

[uncleP]

A ups should work no matter what as it is just a battery that gives you time to shut your computer or whatever down before it runs out of power . I always use linux on coms but it should not matter what operating system  you use. I gave up using one as I had nothing critical to save before shut down. So if you use it for important  work related  data then ok but if not I would not bother. 

[doctormann]

This may not help but if the your UPS has a data connection output then try connecting to your PC.  You won't get a full interface but you may find that the battery status will appear on your task bar.

This works well with my APC UPS and Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon.  I added the Power Management applet to the panel and the battery status appears there.

[Barnabe]

Sorry I wasn't clear - my UPS has a data connection to the computer, but I can't get it to report the battery percentage and other stats. If anyone has gotten a Zircon or Unitec UPS to work in Linux please let me know how.

[fdsa]

Disconnect the UPS from the computer, then run "sudo dmesg -C" in terminal, then connect ups to the computer, then run "dmesg" in terminal and read the output.

If no personal/sensitive details there - post the output in this topic, maybe we'll get the clue.

 

also try "upower -d"

[Barnabe]

2 minutes ago, fdsa said:

Disconnect the UPS from the computer, then run "sudo dmesg -C" in terminal, then connect ups to the computer, then run "dmesg" in terminal and read the output.

If no personal/sensitive details there - post the output in this topic, maybe we'll get the clue.

 

also try "upower -d"

[68565.784133] usb 1-6: new low-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd

[68565.936632] usb 1-6: New USB device found, idVendor=0001, idProduct=0000, bcdDevice= 1.00

[68565.936637] usb 1-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0

[68565.936641] usb 1-6: Product: MEC0003 [68565.952751] hid-generic 0003:0001:0000.0002: hiddev0,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Device [MEC0003] on usb-0000:00:14.0-6/input0

 

upower -d reports nothing of interest.

 

I have gotten it working with the nut daemon with the blazer_usb driver, but this doesn't report any voltage or battery charge. I have been digging in nut forums and tried various other configs, no luck.

Some crappy UPS don't report voltage or battery, but this one has management software for Windows that does...

[doctormann]

Maybe another red herring but have you tried installing Power Statistics?

i seem to recall that you can do this from the SNAP store but you might find it elsewhere.

I installed this on my desktop (Mint 19.3) when i was having UPS battery problems.  It shows a lot of relevant UPS parameters, including charge/discharge times and historical data.

[Barnabe]

Doesn’t look like Debian has Power Statistics. Do you have a link for it? I can try and build it locally, although I suspect it won’t help much, but willing to give it a try.

[doctormann]

I installed it from the SNAP store that comes with Mint 19.3.  It's quite possible that Debian doesn't have this.

There's a reference to Gnome Power Statistics here:

 

 https://linuxhint.com/monitor_optimize_power_usage/ 

 

but I'm not sure that this is even the same package.  Seems more for monitoring laptop batteries but it's easy enough to install from the command line if you want to give it a go.

[Barnabe]

Hmm it looks like it uses upower under the hood. upower isn’t detecting my UPS. The problem is the lack of a driver.

[Daffy D]

I only have Windows so don't know if this will be of any help

 

Did you get a software installation disk with the UPS, and did you register to get a password?

 

If you have a screen like this, go to settings and change the "Communication Type" to something that works for you.

 

Hope this helps.