bestups - Man Page

bestups -h

bestups -a UPS_NAME [OPTIONS]

Please note that this driver is deprecated and will not receive new development​. If it works for managing your devices — fine, but if you are running it to try setting up a new device, please consider the newer nutdrv_qx(8) instead, which should handle all Q* protocol variants for NUT​.

If your device works with this driver, but does not work with nutdrv_qx(8), please report this via the mailing list or issue tracker​.

bestups was designed to monitor Best Power UPS hardware like the Fortress, Fortress Telecom, Axxium Rackmount and Patriot Pro​. It also recognizes and supports SOLA units such as the 325, 520 and 620​. In addition, the Best 610 is supported using the ‘ID’ option​.

Other UPS hardware using the Phoenixtec protocol should also work, but they will generate a warning since their battery information is not known​.

This driver does not support some older Best/SOLA units​. (For older Fortress units, see bestfortress(8)​.)

This driver supports the following optional settings in the ups.conf(5):

nombattvolt=num

Override the battery float voltage which is normally determined by asking the hardware​. This is useful if your UPS constantly reports battery​.charge values just below 100% even when it’s completely charged​.

If you have this problem, set this to whatever battery​.voltage reports when the UPS is known to be completely charged with a good battery​.

The author’s Best Fortress 750 uses nombattvolt=27​.4​.

battvoltmult=num

Multiply the reported battery voltage by this number​. Some devices report only a fraction of the total battery voltage​.

For example, the SOLA 610 700VA UPS (with a 24V battery) reports the single cell voltage (about 2​.27V when fully charged)​. In this particular case you can set battvoltmult = 12 in ups.conf(5) to fix this​.

ID=string

Set the Identification response string​. This should only be used with hardware that supports the Phoenixtec protocol status inquiry commands, but not the "ID" command, such as the Best/SOLA 610​. Format of the ID string is: AAA,BBBB,CCC,DDD,EE​.E,FF​.F

AAA is the three-character identification for the UPS model​.

BBBB is the output power in VA (volt amperes)​. B is an integer number ranging from 0 to 9​.

CCC is the Nominal Input Voltage​. C is an integer number ranging from 0 to 9​. The unit is Volts AC​.

DDD is the Nominal Output Voltage​. D is an integer number ranging from 0 to 9​. The unit is Volts AC​.

EE​.E is the Battery Voltage that will cause the UPS to shut itself off​. E is an integer number ranging from 0 to 9​. Then unit is Volts DC and a decimal point is present​.

FF​.F or FFF​.F is the Battery Voltage at full charge​. F is an integer number ranging from 0 to 9​. Then unit is Volts DC​. Typically, for 700VA, 1KVA and 1​.5KVA units, the format is FF​.F​. For 2KVA and 3KVA units, the format is FFF​.F​.

Example: a Best 610 1​.5KVA unit would use the string "610,1500,120,120,10​.0,48​.0"​.

The battery charge percentage value (in battery​.charge) is derived from the voltage data that the UPS returns, since the UPS doesn’t return that value directly​. On some hardware, the charge will remain at 100% for a long time and then drops quickly shortly before the battery runs out​. You can confirm from the battery​.voltage readings that this is a problem with the UPS and not this driver​.

Similarly, the float from the charger in some models forces the battery charge percentage back up to 100% immediately after the UPS goes back on-line, so you can’t tell when it is really recharged​.

Finally, some models give one value for the battery’s nominal voltage and yet actually have a nominal voltage slightly below that​. This leads to things such as the perpetual 98​.7% charge on the author’s Fortress 750, even when it’s been charging for weeks​. You can use nombattvolt= in ups.conf(5) to fix this​.

• Russell Kroll
• Jason White