Why not a Windows Tray Agent in SURTA 1500XL?...

[Anonymous user]

Hello, I have Surta 1500XL, this UPS is expensive and use it in my office with one computer attached only, could you explain me please

why there is no icon in Windows of the state of the UPS?... why the native windows power management that shows in tray how much

is left on the battery is not available when the APC  agent is installed?... Why Parachute Personal is not supported?

The web is practical for a company with some ups, but for users like my is total impractical and the worse because of the price of the

UPS I paid that is does not have the tray icon info, when are you planning to make an application that has Windows tray icon support?....

I'm starting to regret of buying a APC product and I wont recommend it either...

[Anonymous user]

Angela, I'm part of the company and the UPS comes with the plastic bezels to remain vertical, so I wont use it in my customers closets for example, there is not message from APC that say "only for 2 or more ups, is not suited for only one ups setup"...

About business, I'm a business user and this is for my office, so there is something wrong with APC that because of this I think I wont recommend APC to my customers, the hardware could be fine but the software is really really bad.

I choose this model because I need 1500VA, at least 1.30 hours of battery for my system, the model is convenient for my office because is vertical, this model was even suggested on the UPS Selector too so I think APC has a big issue in the software side. The software that comes with the UPS has an agent for 1 ups only, again as I wrote before, the hardware could be fine but the software is very very bad for the price I paid, Cheaper UPS's has better software than this.

For the other side, if its business oriented, the software should manage encrypted smtp and selection of ports that does not have, it is not even suited for business use too...

I regret buying this ups...

[BillP]

Hi,

The SURTA should have a USB port. If you do not want to use PowerChute Business Edition you can configure Windows native shutdown (see Kbase FA159653) that provides the power icon. Another option is to install APCUPSD that offers a power icon and the ability to power down multiple systems.

If you have installed PowerChute and switch back to native power options you may need to re-enable the HID UPS driver. Kbase FA159743 discusses how to switch drivers.

As for the issue with SMTP ports, we are aware of the frustration and this will be address in a future release.

[Anonymous user]

Hello, of course I have connected the USB, if I a have Windows native power management I get the icon with the battery like in a laptop but I dont get the statistics and the email notifications, if I install the Parachute business I get the notifications but I dont get the tray icon like in Windows, I need both worlds, Parachute Business with the tray icon like in Windows because when you work on the system and there is a black out, is not possible to check every time the lights in the UPS because sometime you have to analyze the battery time remaining to finish or not the customer  project, is not possible that I need to go to Firefox to check this. Notifications are useful to control the state of the electricity network when we are out of the office with the customers and we connect to the system by remote, so in case of black out we have realtime feedback to see if we continue to work or not.

I'm not a home user that I need the ups to last till I shutdown my computer, I work for different companies in IT security, I can not have a sudden shutdown loosing my work and I don't have time (I dont like to do it too) to monitor every time the battery charge.

I dont know if its clear my point.

[BillP]

Smart-UPS UPSs are geared towards network closets and server rooms and not really the home user even though some "power users" like to use them for offices and desktop computers like yourself. PowerChute Personal Edition is supported by Back-UPS products via USB which are the product lines geared towards home users and consumers.

Smart UPS utilize PowerChute Business Edition and the software says it - it is marketed towards business users who have these plugged into servers in racks usually supporting servers that are not typically occupied by a user. It supports both serial and USBs for the aforementioned users and environment. Your UPS happens to only support serial I believe (*Edit* As noted below, the smaller VA SURT units support USB). Unfortunately, I just think your application and requirements spreads across two product line offerings from APC or else you could've maybe went with a Back-UPS. I am not sure why you chose a higher end online Smart-UPS? Was it required for your equipment?

And I can't speak for Windows native OS, it appears to not care what type of UPS you have and just works the same way no matter what unlike our two different versions of software we offer.

I don't think they are looking at adding a Windows tray icon for this based on what I mentioned but that is an educated guess. Please don't shoot the messenger

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I understand your request. I have entered an enhancement request on your behalf.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks!