Where does PCPE 3.0.2 get it's data from

[pomonabill221_apc]

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

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Hi... first post but long time lurker....

I picked up a BackUPS 725ES from a thrift store (no battery of course) for a couple of bucks.

Works just fine.

Have the RJ50 to USB cable and PCPE installed on Win7 64 and it works fine... just wish I could extend the time before hiberante... 8 minutes is a little short as I have an external 21Ah battery connected so I get alot more run time.

Anyway... Looking at the software, under current status, I see battery charge, input voltage, and at the bottom in a box, estimated battery time.

I kinda guess that the ups is sending the input voltage, but as far as battery time, is this calculated by the ups and sent to the software or does the software calculate this figure?

How is the battery time calculated, what "numbers" are used in the calculation?

Also, what is used when the option "keep my computer on as long as possible" is selected, what data is used to determine the remaining run time?

I saw on Youtube someone had a smart ups (don't remember the model), but it was 900VA, had a load and battery bar graph and used 2 batteries.  He was using two of them in a server rack.

He was saying that when the batteries are replaced, you must "calibrate" the ups by loading it to 50% of it's WATT value (NOT VA), and let it run until the UPS shutsdown.

I did the same on my 725ES and now the estimate battery time is 59 minutes (probably the max for this figure).  It is still charging after I did the above test, but do these ups's benefit from the same "calibration" sequence to get an accurate run time?

This would affect the shutdown time also since the ups is assuming a 7AH battery....

Thank You