UPS report generated by freenas.local - LOWBATT - ups

[ethereal]

For the last 3 days i have been getting emails, about 7 a day, warning that the ups is on LOWBATT.
i'm 99.9% convinced that there must be an error as the ups has power to it and should not be on battery. the only change i have made to my setup is to add my workstation to the ups with my server.

does anybody know why i am getting these messages ? how can i troubleshoot the problem ?

thank you

FreeNAS-9.10.1-STABLE

Supermicro MBD-X9SCL-F-O
Intel Pentium G2130 3.20GHz (Dual Core)
32GB Crucial PC3-12800 1600 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (ECC)

Intel SSD 320 Series 40GB
6 x 3TB - Western Digital AV-GP in RAIDZ2
2 x 1 TB and 2 x 3 TB - (Western Digital - 2 x Black and 2 x AV-GP) in RAIDZ1
SAS9220-8i (FW 20-IT)

PSU - Seasonic G Series 550w
CyberPower CP685AVRG (390w UPS)

Lian-Li PC-A71B

 

[Mirfster]

Maybe the actual battery/batteries are not holding a full charge anymore and need replacing?

 

[ethereal]

thank for replying - they are 8 months old - ups bought new.
when i check with upsc ups@localhost everything looks okay

 

[Mirfster]

Maybe try running a system (perhaps not your FreeNAS box, but something like a desktop or laptop) on just the UPS when it has no external power and see how long the batteries do last. If it is shorter than expected, then I would still lean towards possibly replacing the battery.

You can also check to see if there are any firmware updates for the UPS as well that may be applicable.

 

[ethereal]

another thing is - the ups is supposed to be low battery (18 times in 3 days) but i have never heard the audible alarm. my gut feeling is a bug misreporting the battery level.

but i will time the batteries as you suggest and there are no firmware updates.

 

[ethereal]

i just got another email battery is low - i checked within 30 seconds - battery charge 100 % and no audible alarm.

Code:

[root@freenas] ~# upsc ups@localhost
battery.charge: 100
battery.charge.low: 10
battery.charge.warning: 20
battery.mfr.date: CPS
battery.runtime: 420
battery.runtime.low: 300
battery.type: PbAcid
battery.voltage: 13.1
battery.voltage.nominal: 12
device.mfr: CPS
device.model: CP685AVR-G
device.type: ups
driver.name: usbhid-ups
driver.parameter.pollfreq: 30
driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2
driver.parameter.port: auto
driver.parameter.synchronous: no
driver.version: 2.7.3
driver.version.data: CyberPower HID 0.4
driver.version.internal: 0.39
input.transfer.high: 140
input.transfer.low: 90
input.voltage: 122.0
input.voltage.nominal: 120
output.voltage: 122.0
ups.beeper.status: enabled
ups.delay.shutdown: 20
ups.delay.start: 30
ups.load: 55
ups.mfr: CPS
ups.model: CP685AVR-G
ups.productid: 0501
ups.realpower.nominal: 390
ups.status: OL
ups.timer.shutdown: -1
ups.timer.start: 0
ups.vendorid: 0764
[root@freenas] ~#

 

[depasseg]

Maybe because your load is greater than the capacity of the UPS that it's plugged into.

 

[depasseg]

Or maybe the UPS needs calibration. See item 42:
http://networkupstools.org/docs/FAQ...ttery_is_low_all_the_time_how_do_you_fix_this

 

[m0nkey_]

I'd go with the UPS is overloaded. Your UPS is only 685VA / 390W and you're above 50% load. My guess is that if the power goes out, there is not available run-time to complete a shutdown.

What do you have hooked up to the UPS to warrant a 55% load?

 

[ethereal]

i have a workstation as well - i did see the ups at 68 % which should give me 6 minutes of runtime which is plenty for shutting down freenas

 

[Valdhor]

I used to get this every day. The problem was exactly as @depasseg said - The load was greater than the capacity of the UPS and the time set for going on battery was less than the UPS could deliver. Removing an extra device that didn't really need to be on UPS fixed it.

 

[ethereal]

I used to get this every day. The problem was exactly as @depasseg said - The load was greater than the capacity of the UPS and the time set for going on battery was less than the UPS could deliver. Removing an extra device that didn't really need to be on UPS fixed it.

i'm sure you are correct but the ups reports the - ups.load 55 - which is 55 % of the capacity. i don't understand how the load is greater than the capacity.

 

[Valdhor]

I think there is some math going on. It figures that with full capacity you get say 5 minutes of time on battery so at 55% you will get 2 mins and 5 seconds. If you have set the system to shutdown after say 1 minute it thinks that it will take a minute to shut down the system so that is two minutes total. Then it thinks, well, 2 minutes to shut down and you have 2.05 mins available. qed low battery. This is all speculation of course but kinda makes sense to me. YMMV on the sense front.

 

[tvsjr]

Cyberpower specs that unit for 10 minutes at 50% load and 2 minutes at 100% load. Keep in mind that a graph of runtime vs. load is a curve, not linear. But let's assume linear (knowing the real world will be worse)...

50% load - 10 minutes - 195 watts
55% load - 9.2 minutes - 214.5 watts
60% load - 8.4 minutes - 234 watts
65% load - 7.6 minutes - 253.5 watts
70% load - 6.8 minutes - 273 watts
75% load - 6 minutes - 292.5 watts
80% load - 5.2 minutes - 312 watts
85% load - 4.4 minutes - 331.5 watts
90% load - 3.6 minutes - 351 watts
95% load - 2.8 minutes - 370.5 watts
100% load - 2 minutes - 390 watts

The power demands of computers aren't static. My FreeNAS runs between 350 and 475 watts depending on load. The VM hosts can easily vary 100 watts as well. Your FreeNAS system is smaller than mine, but your workstation may not be. Let's say Windows starts looking for updates, or disk IO increases, or whatever... seeing a jump from 55% load to 75% load (assuming FreeNAS is looking for 5 minutes to shut down plus a 1 minute holdoff) is 78 watts. Certainly not an unreasonable jump.

You are set to shut down when the UPS goes on battery (plus a shutdown delay), not when the UPS is at low battery... right? If you're waiting for low battery, that's definitely a problem.

Take the workstation off the UPS and see if your problems go away.

 

[depasseg]

What is the cyberpower full charge battery voltage spec. 13.1V seems low. Is it possible to run a calibration?