UPS Monitor

Document revision 1.1 (21-Jan-2003)
This document applies to the MikroTik RouterOS v2.7

Table of Contents

Summary

The UPS monitor feature works with APC UPS units that support “smart” signaling. This feature enables the network administrator to monitor the UPS and set the router to ‘gracefully’ handle any power outage with no corruption or damage to the router. The basic purpose of this feature is to ensure that the router will come back online after an extended power failure. To do this, the router will monitor the UPS and set itself to hibernate mode when the ‘utility’ power is down and the UPS battery is has less than 10% of its battery power left. The router will then continue to monitor the UPS (while in hibernate mode) and then restart itself after when the ‘utility’ power returns. If the UPS battery is drained and the router loses all power, the router will power back to full operation when the ‘utility’ power returns.

The UPS monitor feature on the MikroTik RouterOS supports:

Specifications

Packages required : ups
License required : Any
Home menu level : /system ups
Protocols utilized : APC's smart protocol
Hardware usage: not significant

Related Documents

Software Package Installation and Upgrading

Cabling

The APC UPS (BackUPS Pro or SmartUPS) requires a special serial cable. If no cable came with the UPS, a cable may be ordered from APC or one can be made "in-house". Use the following diagram:

Router Side
(DB9f)		 Signal Direction UPS Side
(DB9m)
2 Receive IN 2
3 Send OUT 1
5 Ground 4
7 CTS IN 6

UPS Monitor Setup

Submenu level : /system ups 
[admin@MikroTik] system> ups
[admin@MikroTik] system ups> print
                    enabled: no
                       port: (unknown)
              off-line-time: 5m
               min-run-time: 5m
              alarm-setting: immediate
          rtc-alarm-setting: none
[admin@MikroTik] system ups>

Property Description

enabled (yes | no, default: no) - status of the monitoring is disabled by default
port (name)- s communication port of the router
off-line-time (time, default: 5m) - how long to work on batteries. The router waits that amount of time and then goes into hibernate mode until the UPS reports that the ‘utility’ power is back
  • 0 - the router will go into hibernate mode according the min-run-time setting and 10% of battery power event. In this case, the router will wait until the UPS reports that the battery power is below 10%
    min-run-time (time, default: 5m) - minimal run time remaining
    After a ‘utility’ failure, the router will monitor the run-time-left value. When the value reaches the min-run-time value, the router will go to hibernate mode
  • 0 - the router will go to hibernate mode when the “battery low” signal is sent indicating that the battery power is below 10%
    alarm-setting (delayed | immediate | low-battery | none, default: immediate) - UPS sound alarm setting:
  • delayed - alarm is delayed to the on-battery event
  • immediate - alarm immediately after the on-battery event
  • low-battery - alarm only when the battery is low
  • none - do not alarm
    rtc-alarm-setting (delayed | immediate | low-battery | none, default: none) - UPS sound alarm setting during run time calibration:
  • delayed - alarm is delayed to the on-battery event
  • immediate - alarm immediately after the on-battery event
  • low-battery - alarm only when the battery is low
  • none - do not alarm

    Statistics:

    model (string) - less than 32 ASCII character string consisting of the UPS model name (the words on the front of the UPS itself).
    version (string) - UPS version, consists of three fields: SKU number, firmware revision, country code. The county code may be one of the following:

  • I - 220/230/240 Vac
  • D - 115/120 Vac
  • A - 100 Vac
  • M - 208 Vac
  • J - 200 Vac
    serial (string) - a string of at least 8 characters directly representing the UPS's serial number as set at the factory. Newer SmartUPS models have 12-character serial numbers
    manufacture-date (string) - the UPS's date of manufacture in the format "mm/dd/yy" (month, day, year)
    nominal-battery-voltage (integer) - the UPS's nominal battery voltage rating (this is not the UPS's actual battery voltage)

    Notes

    In order to enable UPS monitor, the serial port should be available: 
    [admin@MikroTik] port> print
  # NAME                             USED-BY                          BAUD-RATE
  0 serial0                          Serial Console                   9600
  1 serial1                                                           9600
[admin@MikroTik] port>
    Port serial1 if free in this example.

    Example

    To enable the UPS monitor for port serial1: 
    [admin@MikroTik] system ups> set port=serial1 enabled=yes
[admin@MikroTik] system ups> print
                    enabled: yes
                       port: serial1
              off-line-time: 5m
               min-run-time: 5m
              alarm-setting: immediate
          rtc-alarm-setting: immediate
                      model: "Back-UPS Pro 420"
                    version: "11.4.I"
              serial-number: "NB9941252992"
           manufacture-date: "10/08/99"
    nominal-battery-voltage: 12
[admin@MikroTik] system ups>

    Runtime Calibration

    Command name : /system ups run-time-calibration

    Description

    The run-time-calibration command causes the UPS to start a run time calibration until less than 25% of full battery capacity is reached. This command calibrates the returned run time value.

    Notes

    The test begins only if battery capacity is 100%.

    Example

    [MikroTik] system ups> run-time-calibration

    UPS Monitoring

    Command name : /system ups monitor

    Property Description

    Statistics:

    on-line (yes | no) - whether power is being provided by the external utility (power company)
    on-battery (yes | no ) - whether UPS battery is supplying power
    transfer cause (string) - the reason for the most recent transfer to on-battery operation (only shown when the unit is on-battery):

  • unacceptable utility voltage rate of change
  • detection of high utility voltage
  • detection of low utility voltage
  • detection of a line voltage notch or spike
  • transfer in response to battery-test or run-time-calibration
    low-battery - Only shown when the UPS report this status
    replace-battery - Only shown when the UPS report this status
    overloaded-output - Only shown when the UPS report this status
    smart-boost-mode - Only shown when the UPS report this status
    smart-ssdd-mode - Only shown when the UPS report this status
    run-time-calibration-running - Only shown when the UPS report this status
    run-time-left - the UPS's estimated remaining run time in minutes. You can query the UPS when it is operating in the on-line, bypass, or on-battery modes of operation. The UPS's remaining run time reply is based on available battery capacity and output load
    battery-charge - the UPS's remaining battery capacity as a percent of the fully charged condition
    battery-voltage - the UPS's present battery voltage. The typical accuracy of this measurement is ±5% of the maximum value (depending on the UPS's nominal battery voltage)
    line-voltage - the the in-line utility power voltage
    output-voltage - the UPS's output voltage
    load - the UPS's output load as a percentage of full rated load in Watts. The typical accuracy of this measurement is ±3% of the maximum of 105%
    frequency - When operating on-line, the UPS's internal operating frequency is synchronized to the line within variations within 3 Hz of the nominal 50 or 60 Hz. The typical accuracy of this measurement is ±1% of the full scale value of 63 Hz

    Example

    When running on utility power: 
    [admin@MikroTik] system ups> monitor
                         on-line: yes
                      on-battery: no
                   run-time-left: 11m
                  battery-charge: 100
                 battery-voltage: 13
                    line-voltage: 221
                  output-voltage: 221
                            load: 57
                        fequency: 50

[admin@MikroTik] system ups>
    When running on battery: 
    [admin@MikroTik] system ups> monitor
                         on-line: no
                      on-battery: yes
                  transfer-cause: "utility voltage notch or spike detected"
                   run-time-left: 9m
                  battery-charge: 95
                 battery-voltage: 11
                    line-voltage: 0
                  output-voltage: 233
                            load: 66
                        fequency: 50

[admin@MikroTik] system ups>

    Additional Resources

    http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/UPS-HOWTO.html
    http://www.sibbald.com/apcupsd/manual/upsbible.html

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