UPS choice and Powerwalker NUT driver for TrueNas compatibility

[Juan-Yottabytepersecond]

So I'm choosing either a Powerwalker VI 3000 RLE (1800w) or an Eaton 5SC 2200i (1980w) , both are line interactive.
PW has 0.6 pf and Eaton has 0.9 so they last around the same time with the same load despite the 800va difference.
Also the Eaton is 140% more expensive than the Powerwalker, so if I go with Eaton I won't be going for 10gbe for a while still.

Asked Bluewalker (they make powerwalker) how to check for NUT compatibility on their products and they said this:

Hello,
the VI 3000 RLE as well as all line interactive UPSs ( VI models ) and all online UPSs ( VFI models ) are equipped with a usb port for connection with the NUT software.

Best regards

redacted, because why not

BlueWalker GmbH
Hellersbergstrasse 6, 41460 Neuss, Germany
Service: +49 2131 206 1758

I wrote back asking what driver should be used, haven't heard from them since.
A usb port is not the only thing needed to make this work I think.

I've read about people having trouble with the powerwalkers here before, but it seems either nobody uses them or extremely few people have issues.


I will post here if I hear back from BlueWalker.

Any experiences or advice with the two brands or PSU's would be greatly appreciated.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Don't have any personal experience with either brand, but a quick look at the specs and the NUT HCL, both are likely compatible with the usbhid-ups driver.

Network UPS Tools - Hardware compatibility list

Power Devices support

networkupstools.org

APC UPS are almost certainly guaranteed to be compatible with NUT

 

[Jessep]

Of those two choices get the Eaton. a PF of .6 is HORRID (pointing at poor design) and going with a major brand is usually a much better idea. Have you looked into APC pricing?

You may know this, not everyone reading this will.

"Power factor (pf) is the difference between actual energy consumed (Watts) and the apparent power (Volts multiplied by Amps) in an AC circuit. It is calculated as a decimal or percentage between 0-1 pf and 0-100% i.e. 0.9 pF = 90%.​

​

The nearer the power factor is to unity (1 pf), the closer the two waveforms are in phase with each other and the device uses power more efficiently, hence why power factor relates to UPS efficiency. "​

First link I found:

What Does Power Factor Mean With A UPS?

Power factor (pf) is the differencebetweenactual energy consumed (Watts) andtheapparentpower (Volts multiplied by Amps)in...

www.riello-ups.com.au

 

[Juan-Yottabytepersecond]

Of those two choices get the Eaton. a PF of .6 is HORRID (pointing at poor design) and going with a major brand is usually a much better idea. Have you looked into APC pricing?

You may know this, not everyone reading this will.

"Power factor (pf) is the difference between actual energy consumed (Watts) and the apparent power (Volts multiplied by Amps) in an AC circuit. It is calculated as a decimal or percentage between 0-1 pf and 0-100% i.e. 0.9 pF = 90%.​

​

The nearer the power factor is to unity (1 pf), the closer the two waveforms are in phase with each other and the device uses power more efficiently, hence why power factor relates to UPS efficiency. "​

First link I found:

What Does Power Factor Mean With A UPS?

Power factor (pf) is the differencebetweenactual energy consumed (Watts) andtheapparentpower (Volts multiplied by Amps)in...

www.riello-ups.com.au

I've found one source on the sinewave of the powerwalker (that wasn't from bluewalker) is that it does provide a pure sinewave down to around 90% battery capacity, at 50% it overtly starts flattening the tops and it squares off towards empty.

I don't think any of my equipment would be affected since I intent to initiate shutdown after 20 seconds on battery. I've looked mainly at Eaton and APC, both are considered safe quality brands with APC getting the most favor.

Pricing in my region for the units are about $397 for the powerwalker, $980 for the Eaton and APC 2200VA is $3220.
Eaton is barely in my budget, I think I might pick it just because Powerwalkers feel like too much of an unknown.

 

[Jessep]

If this is homelab, I would suggest used. UPS last a LONG time without issue and batteries are easy to be replaced in most cases. Hitachi CSB is usually the go to choice for battery.

USA well known place: https://www.refurbups.com/
Most other places ebay is a good shot.
AUS LANplus is ok: https://www.ebay.com.au/str/lanplusaustraliaptyltd

 

[unseen]

So I'm choosing either a Powerwalker VI 3000 RLE (1800w) or an Eaton 5SC 2200i (1980w) , both are line interactive.
PW has 0.6 pf and Eaton has 0.9 so they last around the same time with the same load despite the 800va difference.
Also the Eaton is 140% more expensive than the Powerwalker, so if I go with Eaton I won't be going for 10gbe for a while still.

Asked Bluewalker (they make powerwalker) how to check for NUT compatibility on their products and they said this:

I wrote back asking what driver should be used, haven't heard from them since.
A usb port is not the only thing needed to make this work I think.

I've read about people having trouble with the powerwalkers here before, but it seems either nobody uses them or extremely few people have issues.


I will post here if I hear back from BlueWalker.

Any experiences or advice with the two brands or PSU's would be greatly appreciated.

I have been using a PowerWalker UPS for years, although it's called something else - probably a re-brand.
With some PowerWalker UPS, there is a firmware bug which makes them repeatedly lose connection every few days. As there's no new firmware for my UPS, I fixed this in the blazer_usb driver a long time ago when TrueNAS was still FreeNAS.
I have now re-implemented my fix for TrueNAS 13, so if your UPS uses the blazer_usb driver, you might want to check out my thread with details of both the problem and the fix.
See: https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/powerwalker-ups-problem.102943/