PowerChute - Personal Edition Techincal Questions (Pre-UPS Purchase)

[JosephB_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 5/14/2010

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1. When my WIn XP, PC is running normally and the PowerChute - Personal Edition pgm is running, does the PowerChute Software:

A) Offer the option of performing an Automated, Gracefull -
"Hibernation" Win XP PC Shutdown, when UPS Battery is low ???

B) Or, does the PowerChute - Personal Edition software, "only" provide the option of
performing an Automated, Gracefull - "Normal" Win XP PC Shutdown, when UPS Battery is low ?


2. Is there an option in PowerChute - "Personal Edition" software to specify "when remaining battery runtime is 5 minutes", then perform an Automated/unattended shutdown or hibernation ?


3. If the above option, asked in question (2) exists, then:

A) .... Is the Battery Power to the UPS battery outlets cutoff immediately,
upon detecting that the PowerChute initiated Automated/Unattended Shutdown/Hibernation of the PC has completed ???

B) .... Or, will the PowerChute - Personal software following completion of the PC Hibernation/Shutdown, wait until the 5 minutes (specified as remaining battery runtime entry, for start of an autmated/unattended shutdown) has expired and thus cutoff power to the UPS battery outlets, "only" upon battery exhaustion (after the 5 minutes is up) ???


4. Is there a document on the APC web site that show screenshots of all the screens of the PowerChute - Personal Edition software ?

[JosephB_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 5/15/2010

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buzz wrote:
PowerChute will hibernate the computer (not shutdown) differently depending on your settings.

Yes, it can automatically initiate the graceful shutdown when x minutes are remaining. Depending on the model you get, these options can vary as well as the UPS' behavior after the computer is hibernating.

The settings in PCPE (such as "shutdown when 5m remain") will only directly affect the graceful shutdown, not when the UPS turns off. In other words, it does NOT wait 5m after the computer has shutdown before it cuts power. Most of the time it's either going to turn off shortly after the computer shuts down or keep running until the battery is exhausted, depending on your settings.

There isn't a compilation of screenshots or anything, but you can go to http://testdrive.apc.com/card.htm#pcpe and download the demo. It's a bit outdated so the layout will be different from the latest version, but the content should be the same. Most of the time it's either going to turn off shortly after the computer shuts down or keep running until the battery is exhausted, depending on your settings.

Buzz,

So, if I understand you correctly, there is an option in the software "to wait for battery exhaustion" (for cutting off ups power), even when you have enabled the option of a hibernation shutdown when there is 5 minutes remaning of battery power ? ... And are these 2 options are available for all Back-UPS series models ?

Message was edited by: JosephB

Message was edited by: JosephB

[pomonabill221_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 7/23/2013

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Over a year and no response?

I, too, would like to control this on my backups 725 es as I have my DSL modem/switch/router/voip adaptor connected and don't want the ups to shutdown 2 minutes are the computer has hibernated.

The voltage on the battery is still about 12.3 volts... plenty of low power run time, and the ups will shutdown on it's own when battery is 10.3 so the 2 minute shutdown is not needed...

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Bill on APC forums on 7/24/2013

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You can use power options to monitor the UPS battery and to power down, hibernate, sleep the OS. Power options will not command the UPS to power down and can be found in the control panel. Since you have installed PowerChute on the system you may need to update the USB drivers and switch it back to HID UPS Battery from APC UPS. Kbase FA159743 http://www.apc.com/support/index?page=content&country=US〈=en&id=FA159743 describes how to  update the driver.

[samiam75_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 6/2/2012

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I have a follow-up question: I have a Back-UPS connected to my laptop, along with several other network devices. I am using PowerChute Personal Edition (I use it because I need to monitor the UPS status to know when power failures have occured and the status of the battery)

Is there a way to prevent PowerChute from doing a hibernation/power off at all? Because the laptop can run on its own batteries long after the UPS runs out of juice (and hibernate itself when it needs to), I would like PowerChute to do neither. From what I can see, if I disable Hibernation on the laptop, PowerChute turns the laptop OFF after X number of minutes (or when there's X number of minutes of run time left) - and if I enbale Hibernation on the laptop, it HIBERNATES the laptop after X number of minutes (or when there's X number of minutes of run time left).

In other words, I just want PowerChutePersonal to monitor the UPS and leave my laptop alone 🙂

PowerChute Business Edition allows all this, but will only work with SmartUPS devices.

Possibly a registry setting???

[JosephB_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 5/14/2010

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1. When my WIn XP, PC is running normally and the PowerChute - Personal Edition pgm is running, does the PowerChute Software:

A) Offer the option of performing an Automated, Gracefull -
"Hibernation" Win XP PC Shutdown, when UPS Battery is low ???

B) Or, does the PowerChute - Personal Edition software, "only" provide the option of
performing an Automated, Gracefull - "Normal" Win XP PC Shutdown, when UPS Battery is low ?


2. Is there an option in PowerChute - "Personal Edition" software to specify "when remaining battery runtime is 5 minutes", then perform an Automated/unattended shutdown or hibernation ?


3. If the above option, asked in question (2) exists, then:

A) .... Is the Battery Power to the UPS battery outlets cutoff immediately,
upon detecting that the PowerChute initiated Automated/Unattended Shutdown/Hibernation of the PC has completed ???

B) .... Or, will the PowerChute - Personal software following completion of the PC Hibernation/Shutdown, wait until the 5 minutes (specified as remaining battery runtime entry, for start of an autmated/unattended shutdown) has expired and thus cutoff power to the UPS battery outlets, "only" upon battery exhaustion (after the 5 minutes is up) ???


4. Is there a document on the APC web site that show screenshots of all the screens of the PowerChute - Personal Edition software ?