UPS replace battery email

[GrimmReaperNL]

Hi everybody,

I have a new APC UPS (Back-UPS BX950MI-GR). When first plugged in it reported being around 5% charged.
After a day or so it was fully charged and I got a report email saying 'LOWBATT' and 'REPLBATT'.
The in GUI report page showed 100% charge and around 30min of runtime. So it looked okay.
I replugged the USB and the error seemed to have cleared.
I checked the UPS on my pc using APC powerchute. Showed nothing weird, self-test ran without issues.

About a week later (Aug 10th) I get the same 'LOWBATT' and 'REPLBATT' email reports.
I ran a 'upsc ups@localhost' command I found on these forums, which spit out this:

Code:

root@TrueNAS[~]# upsc ups@localhost
battery.charge: 100
battery.charge.low: 10
battery.mfr.date: 2001/01/01
battery.runtime: 1613
battery.runtime.low: 120
battery.type: PbAc
battery.voltage: 13.7
battery.voltage.nominal: 12.0
device.mfr: American Power Conversion
device.model: Back-UPS BX950MI
device.serial: 9B2120A19211
device.type: ups
driver.name: usbhid-ups
driver.parameter.pollfreq: 30
driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2
driver.parameter.port: /dev/ugen0.4
driver.parameter.synchronous: no
driver.version: 2.7.4
driver.version.data: APC HID 0.96
driver.version.internal: 0.41
input.sensitivity: low
input.transfer.high: 300
input.transfer.low: 140
input.voltage: 224.0
input.voltage.nominal: 230
ups.beeper.status: disabled
ups.delay.shutdown: 20
ups.firmware: 295201G -302201G
ups.load: 20
ups.mfr: American Power Conversion
ups.mfr.date: 2021/05/18
ups.model: Back-UPS BX950MI
ups.productid: 0002
ups.realpower.nominal: 520
ups.serial: 9B2120A19211
ups.status: OL
ups.test.result: Done and passed
ups.timer.reboot: 0
ups.timer.shutdown: -1
ups.vendorid: 051d
root@TrueNAS[~]#

In GUI reporting page still showed 100% charge and around 30min runtime.
Again checked the UPS by connecting it to my pc and doing a self-test in powerchute.

Today (Aug 12th) all of a sudden I get a 'COMMBAD' and continues 'NOCOMM' email reports.
I checked the usb cable, both sides still connected. So I don't know what happened.
Ran another 'upsc'

Code:

root@TrueNAS[~]# upsc ups@localhost
battery.charge: 95
battery.charge.low: 10
battery.mfr.date: 2001/01/01
battery.runtime: 1679
battery.runtime.low: 120
battery.type: PbAc
battery.voltage: 13.6
battery.voltage.nominal: 12.0
device.mfr: American Power Conversion
device.model: Back-UPS BX950MI
device.serial: 9B2120A19211
device.type: ups
driver.name: usbhid-ups
driver.parameter.pollfreq: 30
driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2
driver.parameter.port: /dev/ugen0.4
driver.parameter.synchronous: no
driver.version: 2.7.4
driver.version.data: APC HID 0.96
driver.version.internal: 0.41
input.sensitivity: low
input.transfer.high: 300
input.transfer.low: 140
input.voltage: 221.0
input.voltage.nominal: 230
ups.beeper.status: enabled
ups.delay.shutdown: 20
ups.firmware: 295201G -302201G
ups.load: 20
ups.mfr: American Power Conversion
ups.mfr.date: 2021/05/18
ups.model: Back-UPS BX950MI
ups.productid: 0002
ups.realpower.nominal: 520
ups.serial: 9B2120A19211
ups.status: OL CHRG
ups.test.result: Done and passed
ups.timer.reboot: 0
ups.timer.shutdown: -1
ups.vendorid: 051d
root@TrueNAS[~]#

Other than the output showing the battery being made in 2001. Which I would doubt. Is there anything weird anyone can see?

Anything I should check or do? As the UPS is just over two weeks old, I haven't opened it up incase I get recommended to have it replaced.
Battery is also 'non user servicable'. So I shouldn't be opening it. Not that this would stop me. haha.

Hoping you can help.

Oh, Truenas version number might help? TrueNAS-13.0-RELEASE

 

[NugentS]

The battery date means nothing as its an enterable field if you have a NIC in the UPS. Thats just a default value

13 seems to have some bugs with UPS's

 

[GrimmReaperNL]

The battery date means nothing as its an enterable field if you have a NIC in the UPS. Thats just a default value

13 seems to have some bugs with UPS's

I figured the battery date didn't mean too much. This UPS doesn't have a NIC though. I can click a button in powerchute when you installed a new battery. Haven't tried this.

So Truenas 13 has more bugs with UPS'? Is there any timeline know when these might be fixed?
Should I try a beta build, or just disable reporting in the mean time? Does feel like defeating the purpose of reports though.

 

[NugentS]

All I know is that my TN12 box works fine with an APC UPS via USB. Upgrade to 13 and it doesn't

 

[GrimmReaperNL]

Does anyone think I should return/replace the upc at the place I bought it from. Or is this all on Truenas' side?

 

[GrimmReaperNL]

Just as an update for anyone running into this thread. I found a different similar thread with someone suggesting trying a different usb cable. I too tried a different usb cable, other than the one that came with the ups (all new), and now I'm no longer running into issues.

 

[ChaosBlades]

If you are getting communication failure errors I would check the post I just made about how to solve this.

SOLVED - Struggling with UPS connection failure?

I have been struggling with this on two different CyberPower UPS for years and I finally found the two things that most likely cause this. So I am sharing. Edit your UPS service in TrueNAS. Scroll down to Auxiliary Parameters (ups.conf) and add pollinterval = 5 the default is 2. If that does...

www.truenas.com

For the LOWBATT errors, those are reported based on runtime as well as battery level remaining. So if the UPS is under a higher than normal load and the runtime drops below 300 seconds you will get a LOWBATT error. Like I do every time I game on my Gaming PC which is also connected to the UPS my TrueNAS box is connected too. You can check the email you get for this error to see which of the two triggered the alert. As you can see in the below example battery runtime is 250 seconds when the threshold is 300 seconds.

1) Battery charge (percent)
battery.charge: 100

2) Battery level remaining (percent) when UPS switches to Low Battery (LB)
battery.charge.low: 10

3) Battery runtime (seconds)
battery.runtime: 250

4) Battery runtime remaining (seconds) when UPS switches to Low Battery (LB)
battery.runtime.low: 300

As for an update that could fix this. This is all handled by NUT (Network UPS Tool). That does not get updates until Debian (SCALE) or FreeBSD (Core) pushes them. If you are running SCALE then this is the page to follow to know when it will be updated. Then just wait for a SCALE update that comes out after.

nut - Debian Package Tracker

You can check the current version in SCALE by running "dpkg -s nut | grep -i version" in shell. The current version is 2.7.4-13 as of TrueNAS-SCALE-22.02.4. The latest version of NUT is 2.8.0 which is currently blocked due to a regression.

 

[ChaosBlades]

Just noticed you can actually ignore or override these triggers.

UPS.CONF(5)

Adding the below to my Auxiliary Parameters (ups.conf) in UPS Services actually fixed my issue and I don't get these emails anymore.

ignorelb
override.battery.runtime.low = 200

Don't forget to manually Stop and Start the service after you add this. Tested by adjusting it to = 350 and the emails returned with the updated value from 300 to 350.

 

[GrimmReaperNL]

Hello ChaosBlades, Thanks for the reply. I'm running TrueNAS Core 13.0 U2.
After my post, on October 1st I got new emails complaining about low batt, replace batt, and back to low batt.
Running a upsc right now shows

battery.charge: 100
battery.charge.low: 10
battery.runtime: 1613
battery.runtime.low: 120

The ups graphs on the report page in the gui show a minimum 'UPS Battery Time Remaining Statistics' of 9 minutes. (currently running a bit more than I'd like from this UPS).

But you know what. In the UPS service settings I have the 'shutdown timer' set to 600. Which would be 10 minutes. 1 Minute more than minimum run time. I wonder if that could be it.

 

[ChaosBlades]

Running upsc shows the current stats. The actual email will show you the stats at the point the alert triggered. You should be able to tell if your shutdown timer triggered the alert by looking at the battery runtime in the email. If it is below 600 seconds then you have your answer.

I think 10 minutes is massive overkill anyways unless this is to account for some manually created power outage. Don't know your local situation but over the last 10+ years here my power outages follow only two scenarios. Either it is out/brown out for less than a minute or it is out for hours. There has never been a power outage I can think of that it was out for example 7 minutes. It is far more important as well that the UPS has enough power left to supply power throughout the shutdown process than keeping it up for as long as possible in case for power recovery.

 

[GrimmReaperNL]

The three emails I got earlier this month are:
10:13am

TrueNAS @ TrueNAS.THUIS

New alerts:
* UPS ups battery level low.

Current alerts:
* UPS ups battery level low.

Also 10:13am

TrueNAS @ TrueNAS.THUIS

New alert:
* UPS ups Battery needs replacement.

The following alert has been cleared:
* UPS ups battery level low.

Current alerts:
* UPS ups Battery needs replacement.

16:24 (4:24pm)

TrueNAS @ TrueNAS.THUIS

New alert:
* UPS ups battery level low.

The following alert has been cleared:
* UPS ups Battery needs replacement.

Current alerts:
* UPS ups battery level low.

No stats in the emails unfortunately.

 

[ChaosBlades]

Interesting. I can't remember what the email alerts on Core looked like before I switched. I do remember getting erroneous messages about the battery needing to be replaced when it definitely didn't. This is what they look like on SCALE.

TrueNAS @ Mothra

New alert:

• UPS ups battery level low.
  
  UPS Statistics: 'ups'
  
  Statistics recovered:
  
  1) Battery charge (percent)
  battery.charge: 100
  
  2) Battery level remaining (percent) when UPS switches to Low Battery (LB)
  battery.charge.low: 10
  
  3) Battery runtime (seconds)
  battery.runtime: 225
  
  4) Battery runtime remaining (seconds) when UPS switches to Low Battery (LB)
  battery.runtime.low: 300
  

The following alert has been cleared:

• UPS ups battery level low.
  
  UPS Statistics: 'ups'
  
  Statistics recovered:
  
  1) Battery charge (percent)
  battery.charge: 100
  
  2) Battery level remaining (percent) when UPS switches to Low Battery (LB)
  battery.charge.low: 10
  
  3) Battery runtime (seconds)
  battery.runtime: 250
  
  4) Battery runtime remaining (seconds) when UPS switches to Low Battery (LB)
  battery.runtime.low: 300
  

Current alerts:

• UPS ups battery level low.
  
  UPS Statistics: 'ups'
  
  Statistics recovered:
  
  1) Battery charge (percent)
  battery.charge: 100
  
  2) Battery level remaining (percent) when UPS switches to Low Battery (LB)
  battery.charge.low: 10
  
  3) Battery runtime (seconds)
  battery.runtime: 225
  
  4) Battery runtime remaining (seconds) when UPS switches to Low Battery (LB)
  battery.runtime.low: 300