Output automatically on?

[Anonymous user]

Hello. Is there any APC UPS model which turns its outputs on automatically without going through LED display menus?!? And turns itself off (entire UPS, not just outputs) by simply pressing power on/off button? It should also be rackmountable and provide OS shutdown capability. Thank you very much!

[BillP]

Hello Aleksandar,

Since you need rack mountable, you will be looking at our Smart-UPS line of UPSs.  Our newer UPSs with the LCD display will have an On/Off button which will control the outputs. On the SRTs, you will have to go through an initial setup. I also want to note, if you shut off output using the power button, it will be a hard shutdown. 

However, if you are using Powerchute software, the Smart-UPS will provide graceful shutdown based on your settings. 

Thanks,

Shanon

[Anonymous user]

Hello Shanon,

Thanks for Your reply. Can You please be more precise regarding models/series? For instance, we're just installing SRT2200XLI but it's not enough to press Power On/Off button to turn on/off the outputs - user has to turn the outputs on/off via the Control menu, and that's something we would like to avoid. Also, we can't turn entire UPS off before turning off its input power. Best regards.

[BillP]

Hi,

On 9/14/2016 8:20 AM, Aleksandar said:

Can You please be more precise regarding models/series

You should contact local sales support or your local reseller for assistance. They will ask many questions concerning your configuration to determine the base solution. As an example to propose a UPS solution we first need to know what will be attached, what power is available, what networking is available and more so working with local support is the best solution. Also, local support and a local reseller will know what models are available for your region. 

On 9/14/2016 8:20 AM, Aleksandar said:

we're just installing SRT2200XLI but it's not enough to press Power On/Off button to turn on/off the outputs - user has to turn the outputs on/off via the Control menu, and that's something we would like to avoid.

 With a SRT22000XLI there are many ways to power the unit down without user intervention. If the system has a Network Management card you can configure shutdown through that. If the UPS is attached to a computer through USB or Serial cable your options are PowerChute Business Edition, a third party software, or write your own shutdown application. 

On 9/14/2016 8:20 AM, Aleksandar said:

Also, we can't turn entire UPS off before turning off its input power. Best regards.

To kill power immediately to the UPS and have output cut immediately the SURT2200 has an available EPO (emergency power off) that kill the UPS and output. See Knowledge Base document FA265141 "How do I use an EPO (emergency power off) switch with my Smart-UPS?"

[Anonymous user]

Hello and thanks for your answers. So, I contacted local reseller and got the answer: the only model of SmartUPS that turns outputs on automatically on startup and is not (yet) discontinued is SURT1000. All newer series keep outputs off on startup. RIDICULOUS. We're having problems with customers because of such behavior.

Can somebody please suggest to the responsible persons that (perhaps in future firmware releases) initial state of outputs should be ON? Thank you very much!

[BillP]

Hi,

The person you talked with is misinformed. The new SMT, SMX, SRT Smart-UPS will return power to the outlets when AC is restored automatically / no user intervention. You can configure the unit using a NMC or from the front LCD panel. From the Smart-UPS LCD panel go to the Configuration menu and verify you are in advanced mode. While in the configuration menu go to configure outlets and set the power on delays. When AC is restored the UPS will restart and power will be restored to the outlet group. 

NOTE: I recommend installing a NMC in the Smart-UPS and configuring the outlet group/s using the web interface. 

[voidstar_apc]

One note to add to Bill's answer:

* On some (not APC) UPSes, the decision to turn on when power returns is a setting much like it is on a PC. So regardless of how the UPS is turned off, it will respect the setting when power returns and either turn back on or not.

* On APC UPSes, whether the UPS turns back on depends on how it was turned off:

  - If you do a "shutdown" on the front panel or "shutdown w/ AC restart" on the NMC, then the UPS will turn back on when power returns.

  - If an attached computer tells it to shut down, it will turn back on when power returns.

  - If the UPS turns off because it ran out of battery, it will turn back on when power returns.

  - If you do a "Turn off", then it won't.

[Anonymous user]

Dear Bill, I'm NOT talking about power return after power loss, battery runout etc. I'm talking about the UPS being turned off and later back on. E.g. for some customers we need to mount UPSes in vehicles. So, they will quite often be turned off, driven to another location and then connected back to AC power. The end users will not be highly educated. We will try to educate them but we can't guarantee on which way they will be turned off.

Voidstar, thanks for the analysis. If you think it's appropriate, could you please name the UPSes you mentioned in your first sentence?

And how about EPO - will the UPS turn the outputs back on when power returns after an EPO shutdown?

Is there a way to shut the UPS down from a connected PC with just a single click on an icon (and perhaps a confirmation afterwards) - without entering credentials every time? Thank you very much.

[voidstar_apc · Accepted solution]

Hi Aleksandar,

I'm afraid I'm not very familiar with non-APC UPSes. The only UPS I've personally experienced following the always-on-after-power-loss model was a Brazillian UPS company bought out by, you guessed it, APC. They used the standard RFC1628 UPS MIB which exposes this under the upsAutoRestart OID (.1.3.6.1.2.33.1.8.5) so I have to believe there are other UPSes like this.

For shutting down the UPS, apcupsd has a killpower switch, and the companion program apctest seems like it can do this as well. You might be able to write a .bat file to run them with appropriate parameters. You'd have to make sure the UPS is unplugged first otherwise it will sense power and turn back on.