Galaxy 5500 with AP9635CH & PCNS - gracefull server shutdown via dry contact

[CRA_Thommy_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 1/17/2019

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Hello to all,

I want to ask for some information about using dry contacts.

We have one APC UPS Galaxy 5500 with AP9635CH Network Management Card.

This UPS provides power for one Power Supply (PS1) all of our servers.

Each server has two power supplies, Power Supply (PS2) is connected to a separate Power Grid without UPS.

Both Power Grids are monitored with a dry contact.

Now we would like to configure PCNS to shut down the servers when both power sources are lost (both dry contacts) and the UPS is maybe 10 minutes active on battery.

APC documentation is telling me we can add a APC® Dry Contact I/O Accessory AP9810 to our existing AP9635CH.

My question is - can we configure our existing APC UPS Galaxy 5500 with AP9635CH with the additional AP9810 to shutdown our servers with PCNS with triggering through a dry contact?

The shutdown must not be triggered in case of a power outage on UPS Input and an existing 2^nd Power Grid!

I hope I was able to explain my problem in an understandable way.

Thanks in advance,

Thommy

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Bill on APC forums on 1/17/2019

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Hi,

PCNS 4.2 will listen to the NMC for environmental issue triggered but the AP9810. However, it will trigger a shutdown when the dry contacts alarm for either state i.e. UPS on battery or Main lost. 

My recommendation is to install 2 Smart-UPS with NMCs and configure PCNS with redundant Smart-UPS. Add AP9810 to the Galaxy. Connect 1 of the Smart-UPS so it is receiving AC from the Galaxy and add an AP9810 to that Smart-UPS. Then configure the AP9810 in the Galaxy to send a signal to the AP9810 in the Smart-UPS to trigger an on battery event. Connect the second Smart-UPS directly to main. it will not need an AP9810 as it will react when AC is lost. 

Configure PCNS to start a shutdown when UPS switches to battery. If the Galaxy switches to battery it will trigger an on battery event via the AP9810 on the Smart-UPS. When Smart-UPS 1 is running on battery if UPS 2 is running on AC nothing will happen. If UPS 1 goes on battery and UPS 2 switches to battery a shutdown will be triggered. 

The reason for recommending 2 Smart-UPS is because PCNS when configured with redundant requires the UPS to be of the same family / style. You cannot configure a Galaxy 5000 and a Smart-UPS as redundant UPS. Adding the AP9810s to the Galaxy and the Smart-UPS will allow the Galaxy to trigger an on battery event on the Smart-UPS which PCNS will then react to. 

[CRA_Thommy_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 1/18/2019

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Bill, thanks a lot for your answer!

Thommy