nut/docs/man/blazer-common.txt

NOTE
----
This man page only documents the hardware-specific features of the
blazer driver. For information about the core driver, see
linkman:nutupsdrv[8].


SUPPORTED HARDWARE
------------------

The blazer driver is known to work with various UPSes from Blazer, Energy
Sistem, Fenton Technologies, General Electric, Mustek and many others.
The NUT compatibility table lists all the known supported models. Keep
in mind, however, that other models not listed there may also be supported,
but haven't been tested.

All devices with a serial interface (use the *blazer_ser* driver) and
many with a USB interface (use the *blazer_usb* driver) are supported.


EXTRA ARGUMENTS
---------------

You may need to override or provide defaults for some values, depending on
the make and model of your UPS. The following are the ones that most likely
will need changing (see linkman:ups.conf[5]):

*default.battery.voltage.high =* 'value'::

Maximum battery voltage that is reached after about 12 to 24 hours charging.
If you want the driver to report a guesstimated *battery.charge*, you need
to specify this (see <<_battery_charge,BATTERY CHARGE>>).

*default.battery.voltage.low =* 'value'::

Minimum battery voltage just before the UPS automatically shuts down.
If you want the driver to report a guesstimated *battery.charge*, you need
to specify this (see <<_battery_charge,BATTERY CHARGE>>).

*default.battery.voltage.nominal =* 'value'::
*override.battery.voltage.nominal =* 'value'::

Some devices show a wrong nominal battery voltage (or none at all), so you may
need to override or set a default value.

*override.battery.packs =* 'value'::

Some devices report a part of the total battery voltage. For instance, if
*battery.voltage.nominal* is 24 V, but it reports a *battery.voltage*
of around 2 V, the number of *battery.packs* to correct this reading would
be 12. The driver will attempt to detect this automatically, but if this fails
somehow, you may want to override this value.

*ondelay =* 'value'::

Time to wait before switching on the UPS (minutes). Note that a value below 3
minutes, may cause earlier firmware versions to not switch on automatically,
so it defaults to 3 minutes. The acceptable range is +0..9999+ minutes.

*offdelay =* 'value'::

Time to wait before shutting down the UPS (seconds). This value is truncated
to units of 6 seconds (less than 60 seconds) or 60 seconds (more than 60
seconds). Defaults to 30 seconds. The acceptable range is +12..600+ seconds.

*norating*::

Some UPSes will lock up if you attempt to read rating information from them.
Setting this flag will make the driver skip this step.

*novendor*::

Some UPSes will lock up if you attempt to read vendor information from them.
Setting this flag will make the driver skip this step.

*protocol =* 'string'::

Skip autodetection of the protocol to use and only use the one specified.
Supported values 'megatec', 'megatec/old', 'mustek' and 'zinto'.

*runtimecal =* 'value,value,value,value'::

Parameter used in the (optional) runtime estimation. This takes two runtimes
at different loads. Typically, this uses the runtime at full load and the
runtime at half load. For instance, if your UPS has a rated runtime of 240
seconds at full load and 720 seconds at half load, you would enter
+
    runtimecal = 240,100,720,50
+
The first load should always be higher than the second. If you have values
available for loads other than 100 and 50 % respectively, you can use those
too, but keep them spaced apart as far as reasonably possible. Just don't
get too close to no load (prediction of runtime depends more on idle load for
the battery then).

*chargetime =* 'value'::

The time needed to fully recharge the battery after being fully discharged. If
not specified, the driver defaults to 43200 seconds (12 hours). Only used if
*runtimecal* is also specified.

*idleload =* 'value'::

Minimum battery load used by the driver to estimate the runtime. If not
specified, the driver defaults to 10%. Only used if *runtimecal* is also
specified.


ifndef::blazer_usb[]
SERIAL INTERFACE ONLY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*cablepower =* 'string'::

By default the driver will set DTR and clear RTS ('normal'). If you find that
your UPS isn't detected or the communication with the UPS is unreliable, you may
try if clear DTR and set RTS ('reverse'), set DTR and RTS ('both') or
clear DTR and RTS ('none') improves this situation.
endif::blazer_usb[]


ifdef::blazer_usb[]
USB INTERFACE ONLY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*vendorid =* 'regex'::
*productid =* 'regex'::
*vendor =* 'regex'::
*product =* 'regex'::
*serial =* 'regex'::

Select a specific UPS, in case there is more than one connected via
USB. Each option specifies an extended regular expression (see
*regex(7)*) that must match the UPS's entire vendor/product/serial
string (minus any surrounding whitespace), or the whole 4-digit
hexadecimal code for vendorid and productid. Try *-DD* for
finding out the strings to match.
+
Examples:

 - `-x vendor="Foo.Corporation.*"`
 - `-x vendorid=051d*` (APC)
 - `-x product=".*(Smart|Back)-?UPS.*"`

*bus =* 'regex'::

Select a UPS on a specific USB bus or group of busses. The argument is
a regular expression that must match the bus name where the UPS is
connected (e.g. bus="002", bus="00[2-3]").

*subdriver =* 'string'::

Select a serial-over-USB subdriver to use. You have a choice between *phoenix*,
*ippon*, *cypress*, and *krauler*. When using this option, it is mandatory to also
specify the *vendorid* and *productid*.

*langid_fix =* 'value'::

Apply the language ID workaround to the krauler subdriver. This is mandatory
for some devices to work (LDLC, Dynamix and others). You must to provide
*value* (0x409 or 0x4095), according to your device entry in NUT hardware
compatibility list (HCL).
endif::blazer_usb[]


UPS COMMANDS
------------

This driver supports some instant commands (see linkman:upscmd[8]):

*beeper.toggle*::

Toggle the UPS beeper. (Not available on some hardware.)

*load.on*::

Turn on the load immediately.

*load.off*::

Turn off the load immediately (see <<_known_problems,KNOWN PROBLEMS>>).

*shutdown.return*::

Turn off the load and return when power is back. Uses the timers defined by
*ondelay* and *offdelay*.

*shutdown.stayoff*::

Turn off the load and remain off (see <<_known_problems,KNOWN PROBLEMS>>). Uses
the timer defined by *offdelay*.

*shutdown.stop*::

Stop a shutdown in progress.

*test.battery.start.deep*::

Perform a long battery test (Not available on some hardware.)

*test.battery.start.quick*::

Perform a (10 second) battery test.

*test.battery.start* 'value'::

Perform a battery test for the duration of 'value' minutes.

*test.battery.stop*::

Stop a running battery test (not available on some hardware.)


BATTERY CHARGE
--------------

Due to popular demand, this driver will report a guesstimated *battery.charge*
and optionally *battery.runtime*, provided you specified a couple of the
<<_extra_arguments,EXTRA ARGUMENTS>> listed above.

If you specify both *battery.voltage.high* and *battery.voltage.low* in
linkman:ups.conf[5], but don't enter *runtimecal*, it will guesstimate the state
of charge by looking at the battery voltage alone. This is not reliable under load,
as this only gives reasonably accurate readings if you disconnect the load, let the
battery rest for a couple of minutes and then measure the open cell voltage. This
just isn't practical if the power went out and the UPS is providing power for your
systems.

                     battery.voltage - battery.voltage.low
battery.charge =  ------------------------------------------ x 100 %
                  battery.voltage.high - battery.voltage.low

There is a way to get better readings without disconnecting the load but this
requires one to keep track on how much (and how fast) current is going in- and
out of the battery. If you specified the *runtimecal*, the driver will attempt
to do this. Note however, that this heavily relies on the values you enter and
that the UPS must be able to report the load as well. There are quite a couple
of devices that report 0 % (or any other fixed value) at all times, in which
case this obviously doesn't work.

The driver also has no way of determining the degradation of the battery capacity
over time, so you'll have to deal with this yourself (by adjusting the values
in *runtimecal*). Also note that the driver guesses the initial state of charge
based on the battery voltage, so this may be less than 100 %, even when you are
certain that they are full. There is just no way to reliably measure this between
0 and 100 % full charge.

This is better than nothing (but not by much). If any of the above calculations is
giving you incorrect readings, you are the one that put in the values in
linkman:ups.conf[5], so don't complain with the author. If you need something better,
buy a UPS that reports *battery.charge* and *battery.runtime* all by itself
without the help of a NUT driver.


NOTES FOR THE PREVIOUS USER OF MEGATEC DRIVERS
----------------------------------------------

The blazer drivers having replaced the megatec ones, some configuration
changes may be required by users switching to blazer.

Part of this, the following megatec options, in ups.conf, have to be changed:

*battvolts*::

You need to use 'default.battery.voltage.high' and 'default.battery.voltage.low'

*dtr and rts*::

You need to use 'cablepower'

*ignoreoff*::

This parameter can simply be discarded, since it was a wrong understanding
of the specification.


KNOWN PROBLEMS
--------------

Some UPS commands aren't supported by all models. In most cases, the driver
will send a message to the system log when the user tries to execute an
unsupported command. Unfortunately, some models don't even provide a way for
the driver to check for this, so the unsupported commands will silently
fail.

Both the *load.off* and *shutdown.stayoff* instant commands are meant to
turn the load off indefinitely. However, some UPS models don't allow this.

Some models report a bogus value for the beeper status (will always be 'enabled'
or 'disabled'). So, the *beeper.toggle* command may appear to have no effect
in the status reported by the driver when, in fact, it is working fine.

The temperature and load value is known to be bogus in some models.


AUTHORS
-------

Arjen de Korte <adkorte-guest at alioth.debian.org>,
Alexander Gordeev <lasaine at lvk.cs.msu.su>


SEE ALSO
--------

ifdef::blazer_usb[]
linkman:blazer_ser[8],
endif::blazer_usb[]
ifndef::blazer_usb[]
linkman:blazer_usb[8],
endif::blazer_usb[]
linkman:nutupsdrv[8], linkman:upsc[8], linkman:upscmd[8], linkman:upsrw[8]


Internet Resources:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The NUT (Network UPS Tools) home page: http://www.networkupstools.org/

The NUT HCL: http://www.networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html