BN1250G Will Not Enter Self-Test With USB Request via APCUPSD - Thoughts?

[Anonymous user]

Folks,

I recently purchased a NS 1250 at Sam's Club (model #BN1250G). This UPS has a nice front LCD panel, and also features a "green" master outlet/slave outlets (when the device on the master is powered down, the UPS removes power to the slave outlets).

I bought this unit for use with a Linux box (CentOS 5.4). Of course, the PowerChute software that APC provides is only for Windows. (But now that I think of it, I did not get a CD with the BN1250G UPS). So I cannot use PowerChute.

I am sure on this forum that you have heard of APCUPSD , a software package which provides an interface to APC UPS's for UNIX-based operating systems.

For the most part, this UPS with APCUPSD works OK. With "apcaccess" I can get information about the UPS, such as model, serial #, battery capacity, load capacity, etc. And with "apctest", I can set the sensitivity, hi/lo transfer voltages, test the alarm, view/change battery date, view manufacturing date, turn off the alarm, etc. But two things that I cannot do with that I have done with another APC UPS via APCUPSD was to initiate a self-test, and perform a battery calibration.

I can initiate a self-test via the front panel (hold the power button for 6 seconds), but not via USB.

Does anyone know if this UPS supports a USB initiated self-test? I.E., can anyone with this connected to a Windows box initiate a self-test? I have a two-year old NS 1250 (the shorter model with the LCD), and it can do a self-test from the PowerChute 2.0 software I have (I am still using Windows 2000, so 2.0 is a new as I can get).

Also, does anyone know if the BN1250G supports USB initiated battery calibration? Truth be told, I have never seen mention of battery calibration till I started using APCUPSD.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

The Nth Traveler

[BillP · Accepted solution]

I honestly don't own one of these units to answer your first question, but as far as I know it should support a self-test via USB. Not 100% sure though.

In regard to the calibration, that's not really a function for the Back-UPS units. PowerChute Personal Edition doesn't have this feature since it isn't commonly used outside of the Smart-UPS family. Realistically you only want to run a calibration when your expected runtime is way off, since it causes additional wear & tear on the battery. The Back-UPS units use simple signaling though, so it isn't uncommon to see weird expected runtimes on occasion, and that certainly wouldn't be remedied with a calibration.