Masterswitch Power Control Unit AP9211

[BillP]

Hello All,

I was given an AP9211 (which I realize is very old) and I am trying to configure the unit. I am able to access the interface via Telnet, Putty and the web interface. I am not able to see any menu that will allow me to configure the unit's AC ports. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

[BillP]

Hello Nick,

To clarify, are you unable to find the menu to control the outlets, or are they not responding to commands that you are issuing? Also, if you could provide screen shots of the web interface you are accessing that would be helpful.

Thank you

[BillP]

William,

The attached file show the initial screen that I receive when I log into the unit. Currently the unit is not delivering any voltage on any of the 8 AC outlets. Also, none of the LED's are illuminated. I have been reviewing the "MasterSwitch Power Distribution Unit, Users Manual" and can not seem to find what I am doing incorrectly. I have tried entering the IP address in the browser followed by wap.wml and receive a "web page cannot be found" error.

What should I try next?

Thanks

[B-DoubleE_apc]

Hi Nick,

Based on the screencap you provided, it appears the AP9606 card has the incorrect firmware version loaded - it's looking for a SmartUPS/Matrix UPS instead of a Masterswitch. 

I've attached the last firmware rev we made for the Masterswitch (v2.2.0), and info on how to upgrade the firmware can be found here: http://www.schneider-electric.com/en/faqs/index?page=content&id=FA156047 

Let us know if this works out for you

[BillP]

Hello Matt,

Contained in the attached Word file are my latest attempts to upgrade the firmware. Let me know what you think. I am working from a Windows 10 Professional laptop, if that makes any difference.

[BillP]

Hi,

I believe AP9211 with AP9606 may need a different firmware and that is why it is not working. Through FTP like you were doing, try loading AOS 303.bin from here (ftp://ftp.apc.com/apc/public/hardware/mswitch/firmware/ms/v220/aos303.bin), let it reboot, and log back and then load ms220.bin from here (ftp://ftp.apc.com/apc/public/hardware/mswitch/firmware/ms/v220/ms220.bin).

On FTP, I usually just do bin and hash. Shouldn't need passive mode but I guess it shouldn't hurt.

Let us know if this works.

[BillP]

Angela,

Thank you so much for the assistance with the bin files. The unit is now giving me the correct interface. However, I did not have any power from any of the outlets or any LED's illuminated. From the interface I issued the "Immediate Off" and then an "Immediate On" to "All Outlets" and all LED's illuminated and power was available on all outlets. Is this something I should be concerned about? Also, should I apply any other firmware updates to the unit?

Thanks again,

Nick

[BillP]

Hi Nick,

The firmware I gave you is the latest firmware we ever made available for this unit. As you know, it is pretty old so there won't be anything newer available so don't apply any other upgrades.

On your outlet question, my first guess is that this may have been because the wrong firmware was loaded but on our more modern products, wrong firmware does not cause the outlets to be off. I can't be sure on this older unit though and what was also done before you got the unit or the wrong firmware was put on.

My testing recommendation would be for you to power down the masterswitch (unplug it), wait 4-5 seconds, and plug it back in. Did the outlets come back on after a power cycle? If they did, assuming you didn't make any configurations to set their default state to off, then it seems everything is working normally and it may have been because of the wrong firmware being loaded that the outlets started in an OFF state.

I'd also do a "soft" reboot and make sure outlet status remains. When things start to fail on a device like this because of internal communication problems, sometimes a soft reboot on th AP9606 will cause the outlets to turn off so you could test this to make sure everything is working properly. I believe the option to reboot the management interface would be under the tools menu on the left hand side navigation? (I don't have one of these to check but I am going from memory on what I remember  )

With these tests, then you'd at least know at this time, things are working as they should.

[BillP]

Angela,

After the hard power down and up all port returned to the state they were in when the power down occurred. As far as the soft reboot, the reboot of the AP9606 did not cause the outlets to lose power and the LED's did not cycle.

I have also noticed that I am unable to set the date or time on the unit. I have tried it through the Web Interface as well as the Console connection. The message "Data Entry Error" is presented when either the date or the time is changed. I thought that it may have to do with 2017, so I tried 1999 for the year and received the same error. It appears that the date and time hold until the unit is powered off and it reverts to 01/01/1998 at 12:00:00.

Thanks,

Nick

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hmm. Well, the only thing I thought of is that if the date/time is lost when being powered down, the coin cell battery used to keep/date time when Network Management Cards are powered down is possibly bad after all of these years. I imagine 1998 is when it may have been manufactured.

But, that should not cause Data Entry Error and I am not sure what would cause that...there are other mechanisms on the management card PCB boards (at least on the more modern devices) that are part of setting the time and if they are damaged or faulty, the device will always resort back to a particular time. I am not sure if this older device works the same way but it might.