NOTE

This man page only documents the hardware-specific features of the nutdrv_qx driver. For information about the core driver, see nutupsdrv(8).

SUPPORTED HARDWARE

The nutdrv_qx driver is known to work with various UPSes from Blazer, Energy Sistem, Fenton Technologies, General Electric, Mustek, Voltronic Power (rebranded by many, many - have I said many? - others.. Long story short: if your UPS came with a software called Viewpower, chances are high that it works with this driver with one of the voltronic* protocols or with the mecer one) 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 and many with a USB interface 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 ups.conf(5)):

ondelay = value

Time to wait before switching on the UPS (seconds). This value is truncated to units of 60 seconds.

Note that a value below 3 minutes, may cause earlier firmware versions to not switch on automatically, so it defaults to 3 minutes (i.e. 180 seconds).

This option provides a default value for ups.delay.start that will then be used by the driver in the automatic shutdown sequence (i.e. calling the driver with the -k option, calling upsdrvctl(8) with the shutdown option or when the FSD flag is set and upsmon(8) enters its shutdown sequence): however you can change this value 'on the fly' for the actual session, only for the use with instant commands, setting ups.delay.start with upsrw(8).

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.

This option provides a default value for ups.delay.shutdown that will then be used by the driver in the automatic shutdown sequence (i.e. calling the driver with the -k option, calling upsdrvctl(8) with the shutdown option or when the FSD flag is set and upsmon(8) enters its shutdown sequence): however you can change this value 'on the fly' for the actual session, only for the use with instant commands, setting ups.delay.shutdown with upsrw(8).

stayoff

If you set stayoff in ups.conf(5) when FSD arises the UPS will call a shutdown.stayoff shutting down after ups.delay.shutdown seconds and won't return (see KNOWN PROBLEMS), otherwise (standard behaviour) the UPS will call shutdown.return shutting down after ups.delay.shutdown seconds and then turn on after ups.delay.start seconds (if mains meanwhile returned).

protocol = string

Skip autodetection of the protocol to use and only use the one specified. Supported values: mecer, megatec, megatec/old, mustek, q1, voltronic, voltronic-qs and zinto.

Note that if you end up using the q1 protocol, you may want to give a try to the mecer, megatec and zinto ones setting the novendor/norating flags (only one, or both).

pollfreq = value

Set polling frequency, in seconds, to reduce the data flow. Between two polling requests the driver will do 'quick polls' dealing just with ups.status. The default value is 30 (in seconds).

If your UPS doesn't report either battery.charge or battery.runtime you may want to add the following ones in order to have guesstimated values:

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).

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).

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.

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.

MECER, MEGATAEC, MEGATEC/OLD, MUSTEK, ZINTO PROTOCOLS

ondelay

The acceptable range is 0..599940 seconds.

offdelay

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.

Q1 PROTOCOL

ondelay

The acceptable range is 0..599940 seconds.

offdelay

The acceptable range is 12..600 seconds.

VOLTRONIC-QS PROTOCOL

ondelay

The acceptable range is 60..599940 seconds.

offdelay

The acceptable range is 12..540 seconds.

VOLTRONIC PROTOCOL

The following options are supported only by the voltronic protocol. Not all of them are available on all the UPSes supported by this protocol.

ondelay

The acceptable range is 0..599940 seconds.

offdelay

The acceptable range is 12..5940 seconds.

battery_number = value

Set number of batteries that make a pack to value [1..9]. This setting will change the charge and runtime estimation reported by the UPS.

output_phase_angle = value

Changes output phase angle to the provided value [000, 120, 180, 240]°.

UPS CAPABILITY SETTINGS

reset_to_default

Reset capability options and their voltage and frequency limits to safe default values. (Doable only when the UPS is in Standby Mode)

Note that setting this option will reset also ups.start.auto, battery.protection, battery.energysave, ups.start.battery, outlet.0.switchable, input.transfer.high, input.transfer.low, input.frequency.high and input.frequency.low.

These UPSes can be fine-tuned to suit your needs enabling or disabling the following options (the driver should tell you which one the UPS is capable of on startup: the settable ones will be reported either ar enabled or disabled in the logs):

alarm_control = string

Enable or disable alarm (BEEP!) [enabled/disabled]. Settable also 'on the fly' with beeper.enable and beeper.disable instant commands.

bypass_alarm = string

Enable or disable alarm (BEEP!) at Bypass Mode [enabled/disabled].

battery_alarm = string

Enable or disable alarm (BEEP!) at Battery Mode [enabled/disabled].

bypass_when_off = string

Enable or disable bypass when the UPS is Off [enabled/disabled]. If enabled, AC will directly provide power to connected devices when the UPS is off.

bypass_forbidding = string

Enable or disable Bypass Forbidding [enabled/disabled]. If enabled, the UPS will not transfer to bypass mode under any condition.

converter_mode = string

Enable or disable Converter Mode [enabled/disabled]. When input frequency is within 40 Hz to 70 Hz, the UPS can be set at a constant output frequency, 50 Hz or 60 Hz. The UPS will still charge battery under this mode.

eco_mode = string

Enable or disable ECO Mode [enabled/disabled]. When input voltage/frequency are within acceptable range, the UPS will bypass voltage to output for energy saving. PFC and INVERTER are still active at this mode. Settable also 'on the fly' with bypass.start and bypass.stop instant commands.

advanced_eco_mode = string

Enable or disable Advanced ECO Mode [enabled/disabled]. When input voltage/frequency are within acceptable range, the UPS will bypass voltage to output for energy saving. PFC and INVERTER are off at this mode.

battery_open_status_check = string

Enable or disable Battery Open Status Check [enabled/disabled]. If enabled, when the UPS is turned on, it will check if the battery is connected or not.

site_fault_detection = string

Enable or disable site fault detection [enabled/disabled]. If enabled, the UPS will beep when the input neutral and hot wires are reversed.

costant_phase_angle = string

Enable or disable Constant Phase Angle Function (output and input phase angles are not equal) [enabled/disabled].

limited_runtime_on_battery = string

Enable or disable limited runtime on battery mode [enabled/disabled].

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.

USB INTERFACE ONLY

port = string

You must set value to auto.

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 provide value (0x409 or 0x4095), according to your device entry in NUT hardware compatibility list (HCL).

UPS COMMANDS

This driver supports some instant commands (see 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).

shutdown.return

Turn off the load and return when power is back. Uses the timers defined by ups.delay.start and ups.delay.shutdown.

shutdown.stayoff

Turn off the load and remain off (see KNOWN PROBLEMS). Uses the timer defined by ups.delay.shutdown.

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 quick (10 second) battery test.

test.battery.stop

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

MECER, MEGATEC, MEGATEC/OLD, MUSTEK, Q1, ZINTO PROTOCOLS

test.battery.start value

Perform a battery test for the duration of value seconds (truncated to 60 seconds) [60..5940].

VOLTRONIC POWER P98 UNITS (WITH MECER PROTOCOL)

test.battery.start value

Perform a battery test for the duration of value seconds (truncated to 60 seconds) [12..5940]. This value is truncated to units of 6 seconds (less than 60 seconds) or 60 seconds (more than 60 seconds).

VOLTRONIC PROTOCOL

The following instant commands are available for the voltronic protocol. Not all of them are available on all the UPSes supported by this protocol.

beeper.enable

Enable the UPS beeper.

beeper.disable

Disable the UPS beeper.

test.battery.start value

Perform a battery test for the duration of value seconds [12..5940]. This value is truncated to units of 6 seconds (less than 60 seconds) or 60 seconds (more than 60 seconds).

outlet.1.load.off

Turn off outlet 1 load immediately.

outlet.1.load.on

Turn on outlet 1 load immediately.

outlet.2.load.off

Turn off outlet 2 load immediately.

outlet.2.load.on

Turn on outlet 2 load immediately.

outlet.3.load.off

Turn off outlet 3 load immediately.

outlet.3.load.on

Turn on outlet 3 load immediately.

outlet.4.load.off

Turn off outlet 4 load immediately.

outlet.4.load.on

Turn on outlet 4 load immediately.

bypass.start

Put the UPS in ECO Mode.

bypass.stop

Take the UPS out of ECO Mode.

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 listed above.

If you specify both battery.voltage.high and battery.voltage.low in 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 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 nutdrv_qx driver having replaced the megatec ones, some configuration changes may be required by users switching to nutdrv_qx.

Part of this, the following megatec options, in ups.conf(5), 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.

NOTES FOR THE PREVIOUS USER OF BLAZER DRIVERS

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

Part of this, the following blazer options, in ups.conf(5), have to be changed:

ondelay

While the previous blazer drivers expected minutes, the new nutdrv_qx driver wants seconds.

The following instant command has also been changed:

test.battery.start value

While the old blazer drivers expected a value in minutes, the nutdrv_qx driver wants a value in seconds.

NOTES FOR THE PREVIOUS USER OF VOLTRONIC DRIVERS

The nutdrv_qx driver having replaced the voltronic ones, some configuration changes may be required by users switching to nutdrv_qx.

Part of this, the following voltronic options, in ups.conf(5), have to be changed:

ondelay

While the previous voltronic drivers expected minutes, the new nutdrv_qx driver wants seconds. It no longer defaults to 0 minutes but to 3 minutes (i.e. 180 seconds) for compatibility with the users switching from the old blazer drivers.

battnumb

This option has been renamed to battery_number.

The following options are no longer supported by this driver, you can now change them more conveniently 'on the fly' calling upsrw(8) with the appropriate NUT variable - provided that your UPS supports them.

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.

VOLTRONIC-QS UNITS

Both load.off and shutdown.stayoff instant commands are known to work as expected (i.e. turn the load off indefinitely) only if mains is present, otherwise, as soon as mains returns the load will be powered.

After issuing a shutdown.return instant command, the UPS won't wait ondelay before powering on the load, provided the following conditions are met:

• if the load has been previously (no matter how long before) powered off through load.off/shutdown.stayoff and powered on through load.on/shutdown.stop and

• if AC wasn't cut after issuing the load.off/shutdown.stayoff (i.e. the UPS didn't turn itself off) and

• if there's a power outage after issuing the shutdown.return command

In this case, as soon as mains returns the load will be powered.

UPS WARNINGS (VOLTRONIC PROTOCOL)

The UPSes supported by voltronic protocol report warnings through a 64bit flag (bit1bit2...bit63bit64) where 1 means that a warning arose, while 0 means no warning. Since more than one warning at a time can be signaled, and because of the limited space in the ups.alarm variable, if the length of the warnings exceeds that of ups.alarms variable, they will be reported as bits. If you want to know the explanation of that bit you can either watch the log or see the next table (unlisted bits equal to unknown warnings).

Table 1. UPS Warnings for voltronic UPSes

AUTHORS

Daniele Pezzini <[email protected]>, Arnaud Quette <[email protected]>, John Stamp <[email protected]>, Peter Selinger <[email protected]>, Arjen de Korte <[email protected]>, Alexander Gordeev <[email protected]>

Internet Resources:

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

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