What is the behavour of ups.exe ?

[RJK]

I recently got hold of an APC serial cable, and connected it to my old APC
Back-UPS 650 (BK650MI)
and in UPS Tab | Power options properties, several options became available,
and I was able to select my APC model, and change some settings for it but,
for example the "warnings" messages that I guess should have appeared, (when
mains power was cut), didn't appear.

Since installing the Powerchute Business edition, (which remived MS's
ups.exe), which contains all sorts of remote network UPS controls that I
don't really need, (but, was the only download form APC that detected and
offered some "control" of the thing), and this was where I discovered that
COM ports settings needed to be changed to a lower baud 2400, and Xon/Xoff
selected etc.,

....I'm wondering if I uninstall the APC Business edition, and put ups.exe
back in, whether the basic MS ups.exe, (which does seem to support my old
"serial" APC unit), would work better now that my XP Home ed. COM port
settings are set to what APC want. ?

any tips much appreciated.

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

Finally got there, after fiddling with those three polarity settings -
several reboots into safe mode to switch off ups.exe service so that I
could have another go !
....and thanks again, I wouldn't have normally looked in Windows help - I can
never usually find anything in there !

<quote Windows help>
To configure a simple-signaling Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) device
You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators
group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to
a network, network policy settings might also prevent you from completing
this procedure.
Open Power Options in Control Panel.
On the UPS tab, click Select.
In the UPS Selection dialog box, under Select manufacturer, select Generic.
In Select model, select Custom.
In On port, select the COM port where the UPS device is connected, and then
click Next.

In the UPS Interface Configuration On dialog box, set the UPS signal
polarities as appropriate for:

Power Fail/On Battery
Low Battery
UPS Shutdown

Caution
Before changing these settings, see the documentation that came with your
UPS device.
Click Finish.
Notes
To open Power Options, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel,
and then double-click Power Options.
Using Power Options in Control Panel, you can adjust any power management
option that your computer's unique hardware configuration supports. Because
these options may vary widely from computer to computer, the options
described may differ from what you see. Power Options automatically detects
what is available on your computer and shows you only the options that you
can control.
Related Topics
<end quote>

....for my APC 650 (BK650MI), those three above polarity settings are neg.
pos. neg. ...after getting an unexpected hibernation - after tweaking a
radio button or two !
...then a bit more Googling:- ...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/102711
....gave this one a go, Voila !!!

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

....correction, it seems that the correct polarities are pos. pos. pos.
Windows UPS defaults I think -
.... a little while ago, I discovered that with the middle one set to neg. |
and then cutting the mains power - it went to critical failure without a
pause.

With all three set to pos. the "Next, instruct the computer to:" setting,
(Hibernate or Shut Down), in UPS configuration happens after the "Minutes on
battery before critical alarm," delay has been implemented.

regards, Richard

Happiness is a 90 pence + 1.50 P&P RS232/APC 900-0020C simple UPS signalling
lead so that ups.exe works in XP Home ed.
....had to wait almost 20 years to get the "[battery to signal to XP
shut-down] and [auto battery off] " response !!!

 

[RJK]

....90 pence from ebay btw

regards, Richard