SmartUPS serial to USB conversion

[BillP]

This question was originally posted by Stefan on APC forums on 4/7/2013

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I have a SmartUPS RT 1000 supplying a Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.7.2

The UPS has a serial DB9 connector but on the Mac there is only USB.

OS X 10.7 has support for USB connected APC UPS built in.

Have this working like a charm on a SmartUPS with USB port.

My question:

Does anyone know a solution that will convert the smart serial interface on a SmartUPS RT 1000 into USB in a way that the Mac will recognize it as a USB attached UPS?

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Bill on APC forums on 11/14/2014

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Hi,

Have you posted to the APCUPSD forum? I would think there would be someone there that has a similar configuration and could give specifics. My feeling is the UPSTYPE = apcsmart and DEVICE =comX  Where X = the port number assigned to the converter. Another option would be to invest in a AP9617 NMC (ebay list them for $24.95 according to Google) and configure APCUPSD with CABLE = ether, UPSTYPE = pcnet, DEVICE = ipaddress:username:passphrase:port

[guruuno_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 11/14/2014

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And just to be clear, I shutdown the VM so there is no "dual" attemt to communicate with the device, so I just want to use the UPS on a Mac

[guruuno_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 11/14/2014

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Would it be possible for you or anyone else to provide me with the apcupsd.conf file which has the proper entries to make it work?

I've tried many, and although if I run the PowerChute software in a VM, the VM sees the USB to Serial converter and my APC Smart-UPS 1400XL and it works there (in a virtual machine), I cannot get it to work in OS X (running 10.10 Yosemite & apcupsd release 3.14.12 (Mar 29 2014).

I have the line UPSCABLE smart but am unsure as to what UPSTYPE should be.

Appreciate it.

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Bill on APC forums on 11/14/2014

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Hi,

Do you have a serial port expander installed in the UPS? For my suggested configuration to work the Mac needs to be connected the the UPS serial port not an expander. APCUPSD will be looking for Smart signalling and the expander would be simple signalling. The cable used should be SKU 940-0024.

[guruuno_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 11/14/2014

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No I do not, I have SIIG Serial to USB adaptor which works as intended JU-CB1S12-S3 (http://www.siig.com/it-products/serial-parallel/serial/usb/usb-to-serial.html)

I tried UPSTYPE = apcsmart and DEVICE =comX  Where X = the port number assigned to the converter

However, I'm not sure on what to use for the port on a Mac OS X, hence looking for an example via an existing config file

I know I can buy the AP9617 NMC, but I much rather would try this 1st.

On another note, one might think that APC would begin to support the OS to a higher degree at this point in time.

If I used the network management card, does APC supply software to interface with it or is it all still terminal commands, etc?

Thanks for all the help so far.

[voidstar_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 11/14/2014

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guruuno, in OS X's terminal, enter:

ls /dev/cu.*

You should see a list of serial devices attached to your computer. Then put the path to one of them into the DEVICE line, for instance, DEVICE=/dev/cu.Serial-converter

As for the AP9617, you would still use apcupsd with all the command line goodness, but the advantage is that it would be connected over the network so the UPS can be configured with your web browser and you wouldn't need a serial cable, just the IP of the AP9617. Be sure that your hub is on UPS power if you take this route.

[guruuno_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 11/14/2014

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100% working, flawlessly no, totally appreciate the pointers, as I came from "the other side" (Windows) to the Mac in 2007, but only in the last 2-3 years poking around with Unix/Linux, so I still a have a long way to go in that respect. (Terminal commands, bash, etc.)

Now that it's working, I will consider a NWM card, just because.

Thanks again!!!

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Stefan on APC forums on 4/9/2013

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Thanks, that's an interesting document.

I should have read the ioupsd(8) man page ...

Woud you know if the AP9833 supports UPS Power Device HID or is it just a serial to USB converter?

I'm aware of acupsd but that wouldn't enable native OS X support (system preferences, energy saver, UPS), would it?

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Stefan on APC forums on 4/7/2013

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I have a SmartUPS RT 1000 supplying a Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.7.2

The UPS has a serial DB9 connector but on the Mac there is only USB.

OS X 10.7 has support for USB connected APC UPS built in.

Have this working like a charm on a SmartUPS with USB port.

My question:

Does anyone know a solution that will convert the smart serial interface on a SmartUPS RT 1000 into USB in a way that the Mac will recognize it as a USB attached UPS?

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Angela on APC forums on 4/8/2013

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You can try a USB to serial adapter. I have only tried it for configuration cables for logging in and managing it so I imagine it would work properly for native OS support. I am not sure of Mac compatibility though - I personally use this one: Gigaware 6-ft. USB-A to Serial Cable : Gigaware Cables | RadioShack.com - I believe some APC units use this-> New APC RoHS USB to Serial Smart Signaling Cable AP9833 | eBay but the last person I spoke to had trouble installing the required drivers on Mac OS X. (see this thread: Mac OS X Server 10.7 computer doesn't display UPS options in Energy Saver)

But - I have a question - can you verify that this is a SURT1000 and not SURT10000? Just wanted to double check as SURT10000 comes with a network management card and then you wouldn't want to use the DB-9 at the same time necessarily.

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Stefan on APC forums on 4/8/2013

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Thanks Angela, it's definitely a SURT1000 that did not come with an NMC.

I'll probably first try my Keyspan USA-19HS and the serial cable that came with the UPS but after reading the thread you suggested I'm pretty sure it's not going to work with a generic USB to serial adapter.

I guess the USB device needs to have the right USB vendor and product ID for it to be recognized by the system as UPS.

OS X 10.7 does not require the installation of any drivers to recognize a USB attached APC UPS.

Here is what my OS X 10.7 system with USB attached Smart-UPS 2200 XL says:

$ system_profiler SPUSBDataType

    USB Bus:

      Host Controller Location: Built-in USB

      Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBUHCI

      PCI Device ID: 0x7fff00003a35

      PCI Revision ID: 0x7fff00000000

      PCI Vendor ID: 0x7fff00008086

      Bus Number: 0x3d

        Smart-UPS 2200 XL FW:690.19.D USB FW:7.4:

          Product ID: 0x0002

          Vendor ID: 0x051d  (American Power Conversion)

          Version: 0.06

          Speed: Up to 1.5 Mb/sec

          Manufacturer: American Power Conversion

          Location ID: 0x3d100000 / 2

          Current Available (mA): 500

          Current Required (mA): 30

A generic USB to serial adapter will only be recognized as USB serial controller from whatever vendor and not as an APC UPS.

I thought I'd buy an AP9833 after reading

http://www.staze.org/apc-ap9584-serial-to-usb-adapter-with-a-smart-ups/

thinking the AP9833 would identify itself as UPS to the Mac but was discouraged by the thread you provided 😉

Might end up buying a network management card and install PowerChute Network Shutdown.

Note on Prolific USB to serial adapters:

I ran into problems with the current Prolific driver (PL2303_1.4.0). When unplugging the adapter while connected to a serial console my OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion system crashed with a kernel panic - reproduce able. No surprise considering that the web page says it's good for 10.8 Mountain Lion but the release notes within the package only qualify it for 10.7 Lion. There might be OEM drivers that are more suitable and stable.

[voidstar_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 4/8/2013

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If you use a USB-to-serial dongle, you'll probably need to install apcupsd so that your computer understands the UPS' serial communication protocol. That's because OS X is expecting a different, USB-based protocol called the UPS Power Device HID.