mge-utalk(8) Network UPS Tools (NUT) mge-utalk(8)NAME
mge‐utalk - Driver for MGE UPS SYSTEMS UTalk protocol hardware
NOTE
This man page only documents the hardware‐specific features of the mge‐
utalk driver. For information about the core driver, see nutupsdrv(8).
SUPPORTED HARDWARE
mge‐utalk supports the following legacy units, using the MGE UTalk pro‐
tocol:
Pulsar ESV+,
Pulsar ES+,
Pulsar EL,
Pulsar EX,
Pulsar EXtreme,
Comet EXtreme,
Comet (Utalk Serial Card, ref 66060),
Galaxy (Utalk Serial Card, ref 66060).
This driver also support some newer models with backward UTalk compati‐
bility, such as Pulsar Evolution and Pulsar EXtreme C. As these models
also support the SHUT protocol, prefer mge-shut for serial communica‐
tion, or use the USB port, if available, with the usbhid-ups driver.
EXTRA ARGUMENTS
This driver supports the following optional settings in the
ups.conf(5):
lowbatt=value
Low battery level below which LB is raised, in % (default 30%)
ondelay=value
Set delay before startup, in minutes (default 1 minute)
offdelay=value
Delay before shutdown, in seconds (default 120 seconds)
oldmac Set this flag if you are running Linux on an Oldworld Macintosh
box (all beige Apple Macintosh). This might also be needed for
other OSs (like *BSD) running on PowerMac.
IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
Not all MGE UPS models provide all possible information, settings and
commands. mge‐utalk checks on startup which variables and commands are
available from the UPS, and re‐reads these regularly. Thus, startup is
a bit slow, but this should not matter much.
mge‐utalk.h defines a struct array that tells the driver how to read
variables from the UPS and publish them as NUT data.
"ups.status" variable is not included in this array, since it contains
information that requires several calls to the UPS and more advanced
analysis of the reponses. The function get_ups_status does this job.
Note that MGE enumerates the status "bits" from right to left, i.e., if
buf[] contains the reponse to command "Ss" (read system status), then
buf[0] contains "bit" Ss.1.7 (General alarm), while buf[7] contains
"bit" Ss.1.0 (Load unprotected).
enable_ups_comm() is called before each attempt to read/write data
from/to the UPS to re synchronise the communication.
KNOWN ISSUES
Repetitive stale status ‐ Loss of communication
Older models, such as ES/ESV ones, might report repetitive "data stale"
errors. This is due to the fact that these models doesn't support too
much polling. To solve this problem, add "pollinterval=20" in ups.conf,
and change the value of MAXAGE to 25 in upsd.conf, and DEADTIME to 25
in upsmon.conf.
TODO LIST
Sort out OFF/OL issues
OFF is set according to Ls.2.7, but maybe this interpretation is
in conflict with the NUT interpretation of the OFF flag?
Add PowerShare / PowerSave support (selectable plug number for com‐
mands)
ON/OFF/REBOOT commands can act either on outlet 1, 2 or main (1
+ 2). This features depends on the UPS model. This would also
allow to support UM‐Switch (smart outlet).
Enhance the model name exposure
A table, named Si1_models_names, has been created to format
finelly the UPSs model names, but it is not yet being used.
AUTHORS
Arnaud Quette, Hans Ekkehard Plesser, Martin Loyer, Patrick Agrain,
Nicholas Reilly, Dave Abbott, Marek Kralewski
SEE ALSO
The core driver:
nutupsdrv(8)
Internet resources:
The NUT (Network UPS Tools) home page: http://www.networkupstools.org/
Mon Jan 16 2006 mge-utalk(8)
