I need to change my UPS and would like some advice on what to buy. Currently my UPS controls my MAC, my router and my Raspberry Pi4 with HASSIO. Which are available and controllable from the frontend?
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Hi, I have an APC ES700G which reports data via the NUT Integration, you can pick what options you want to see in HA.
You can check NUT compatibility here ā¦ https://networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html
Everything Eaton is a good choice as Eaton sponsors NUT development. I use a 3S550d and I am happy with it.
Thanks, iāll check both of them and see which is good for meā¦
Do you have Raspberry Pi running HASSOS?
Which add-ons did you installed to control the UPS?
How did you connect RPi (in case) to the UPS device?
First I had it on a Pi, now in a NUC.
I donāt use add ons, I run HA as a docker container.
You have to install NUT, I guess itās available as an add on as well.
I am running on Synology Docker, the connection between the UPS is via a USB cable (serial connection) supplied with the UPS. This would be the same for your Pi assuming that you have a spare USB port, if not then you should be able to use a cheap USB hub in increase the available ports.
So the PI must be connected to the UPS via USB and not directly via the power source?
Actually i have the PI connected directly to one of the power ports of the UPS. Is this wrong behaviour?
And to manage the UPS in HA i see there is an integration called NUT. Is this what i need to install?
Ah, I think you have misunderstood me so I will try and explain this better:
- The UPS Connects to the mains supply.
- The PI power supply connects to one of the UPS outlet sockets and this provides 5V DC power to the PI via a āpowerā USB cable (since this outlet is battery backed up then this keeps the PI running for a time after a power fail).
- There is a data port on the UPS which connects to another USB port on the PI via a ādataā USB cable.
- The status of the UPS is communicated to the PI via the data point and processed by the NUT Integration in Home Assistant.
Ok thanks, i just bougth an APC ES650 from Amazon and when i will receive it iāll try to follow your indications. If i have some troubles i will ask you (if you want) more helpsā¦
I guess I am late on this butā¦ I bought APC for years. My last purchase was a CyberPower and I am glad I switched. Better hardware and software.
I saw that to use the NUT integration it is necessary to have an account at the APC website but I donāt see any links where to go to create the account. Could you give me more information on how to create this account?
Late to the party, but just wanted to add info about my setup:
I use the business version of CyberPower software. I have the USB from the UPS connected to a windows machine and then have HA monitoring the SNMP data.
I cant control anything this way via HA, only monitor.
However the CyberPower is configured to shutdown my systems (Have file server computer, camera nvr computer, and HA computer plugged into it), at different points as battery life degrades.
I then also have a script on my router to run at startup that will test if any of these core systems are unresponsive to ping, and if so then send a WoL command to them.
Hi, I donāt think you need to worry about an account if you just want to monitor the UPS status in HA. There are various ways to setup a UPS for monitoring such as connecting the UPS USB/Ethernet ports to a Windows PC. Doing this allows you to run the UPS manufactuers sofware which is downloadable or maybe provided on a CD in the box. You only really need to use this software if you want to change the default settings e.g. whether the beeper is on/off or at what percentage of battery charge the alarm sounds etc.
I did not bother with any of this ā¦ I just connected the USB port on the UPS to a spare USB port on my HA machine and installed the NUT Integration in HA which maps the various parameters to entities. You donāt need to do anything else if you are happy with the default settings.
What I have noticed is that if the UPS battery runs down to the low setting (10%) then my Synology boxes automatically shut themselves down gracefully (the master Synology with the UPS data connection automatically reports the USB state to the other Synology).
Hopefully that helps.
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A have a question about your setup - what happens when the windows PC shuts down, does the monitoring stop?
Yes it does stop.
That PC is the last one to get shut-down, even after Home Assistant.
If your HA computer is running a normal Linux distro (so not a pi running home assistant OS), then you can install the powerpanel software for Linux.
My HA is running on an ASUS mini-pc on LUbuntu with HA in docker, so I could go this route if I wanted to, but for my current setup there is no point to do the work to change it.
So what to enter in the integration to the questions āusernameā and āpasswordā?
From memory I donāt remember entering any credentials, looking at the docās it seems that these fields are optional and not required.
I am guessing that this might be for a different use case where there is a separate server that is hosting the UPS monitroing software.
You only Need credentials if you configure them in NUT
OK understood, thanks!