Prevent batteries from draining during a EPO

[BillP]

This question was originally posted by curt on APC forums on 4/19/2019

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I work on a campus where we have about 80 units, mixed models of SMT, SRT, SMX, with network management 2 cards backing up POE switches to run our VoIP sets.  Administration wants the phones to stay up during a power outage long enough to evacuate a building. 

Each year they shut the power down for an entire day to perform maintenance on our high voltage distribution.  If I set the config. to shut the outlet groups off after X amount of minutes will the UPS continue to drain the battery to keep itself alive or will it go into a dormant state until it senses voltage on the input?

Looking for advice on the simplest way to keep my batteries from draining.

Thanks,

Curt

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Bill on APC forums on 4/22/2019

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Hi,

How do you plan to power the UPS down? Also, do the UPS have network management cards installed?

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by curt on APC forums on 4/22/2019

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Yup, they all have network management cards installed and are running the current firmware version.  I was hoping there was a way I could configure the unit to shut off after X number of minutes on battery power and then upload the ini file to each unit. However based on my findings it sound like I need to install multiple instances of PCNS to do so based on the number of units I have across campus. 

Since I don't have time to stand up and configure PCNS before we have our annual power shutdown I was going to try and upload an ini file with the one time shutdown parameters, unless someone threw out a better idea?

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Bill on APC forums on 4/22/2019

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Hi,

So do you want to power down server,s the UPS, or both? PCNS is designed to power down servers and it will send a signal to the configured NMC/UPS to power down. If you are looking to power down the UPS that can be accomplished through the NMC. You can also configure the NMC to power down the UPS and send a signal to PCNS clients telling them to power down. 

Depending on the NMC and firmware you could configure the outlet group/s to power off after being on battery for x amount of time. This would be found under Configuration, Outlet Groups, select the outlet groups and go to Load Shedding. If there are any PCNS client assigned to the Outlet group the NMC will send a signal telling the client that it should power down. The outlet group will wait the power off delay and then cut AC. 

Another option if using PCNS is to configure PCNS to start the shutdown process after being on battery for x amount of time and configure PCNS to send a shutdown signal to the outlet group / UPS. The outlet group will wait the power off delay and then cut AC. 

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by curt on APC forums on 4/22/2019

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There are no servers behind these units, just POE switches so graceful shutdowns are not required.  I just want to shut the UPS down so the batteries don't drain over the 12 hour power outage.  If I configure the outlet groups to shut off would the UPS continue to drain the battery to keep itself up?

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Bill on APC forums on 4/23/2019

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Hi,

On 4/22/2019 11:49 AM, curt said:

I just want to shut the UPS down so the batteries don't drain over the 12 hour power outage.  If I configure the outlet groups to shut off would the UPS continue to drain the battery to keep itself up?

No. The UPS will cut power to the outlet group after the on battery delay and the power off delays have concluded. It will then go into sleep mode for 10 minutes. While in sleep mode the NMC will still be active i.e access to the UPS over the network will be available. After the 10 minutes the UPS cuts power to the NMC and waits for AC to be restored. 

[BillP · Accepted solution]

This reply was originally posted by curt on APC forums on 4/24/2019

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Excellent, thanks!