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APC PowerChute Monitor

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    #16
    I have Jon00's script running with Business Edition and a SU1500RM device. It does what's it's supposed to do, gathers info from the Data Log and updates devices that I can use as triggers. There are a couple of PowerChute settings that affect the usefulness of the script, whether data is logged and the frequency of updates. For example, if I have a short duration outage ( < 1 minute) it usually doesn't get logged, so the associated device is accurate. The trade-off is accuracy for those kinds of events versus amount of data being collected by PowerChute.
    For other interesting info, like commercial power voltage, UPS load, etc. the script is very helpful.

    I noticed that folks are using PowerChute with Back UPS devices. APC has two different signalling methods - Simple and Smart. I believe the Back product line has Simple Signalling and I'm not sure that the data you're interested in is available to Power Chute with that level of communication. If Power Chute doesn't have voltage, load, etc. details displayed in the UI then the data isn't going to be logged for HS to access.

    Hope this helps you folks with your integration.

    Michael

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      #17
      I have 5 UPS' throughout my setup. 4 are simple, 1 is smart. The Smart UPS is not hooked to the machine with HomeSeer. Presumably I would want to get the data from this particular UPS? BTW - I checked the directory on this machine and there is no datalog file there also. Logging is enabled on that UPS - it's currently set to update log file every 20 minutes - which I might need to change? Thoughts? Thanks.

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        #18
        My 'datalog' is located at 'C:\Program Files\APC\PowerChute Business Edition\agent'.

        In my installation I have the HS computer and network interfaces supplied by the UPS with Smart Signalling. The HS computer has PowerChute installed with the agent configured to the COM port of the UPS. I monitor those voltages on my QuickView page and trigger events that send SMS and email when there is a brownout or local failure longer than the logging period. When the UPS has expended it's batteries it gracefully shuts down the computer and restarts everything when power returns.

        I had some discussions with the local power company three years ago about frequent losses of power. The data I provided from my UPS logs made it easier to get them to upgrade some equipment in my neighborhood. We haven't had more than one power event annually since those discussions.

        There are lots of configuration choices with this equipment. Mine very well works for me.

        Michael

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          #19
          So I have located the datalog file. It is on the PC with the Smart UPS attached to it. This is not the same PC with HomeSeer running on it. Can I configure this script to point to this machine's agent directory? Will that work?

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            #20
            I imagine if you were to map the directory in the UPS connected machine to a drive on the HS machine, it would.
            Real courage is not securing your Wi-Fi network.

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              #21
              If you use UNC paths and that any file sharing permissions are sorted, it should work fine.
              Jon

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                #22
                I started to do this and then realized that this approach would be flawed. I don't have all of my network connectivity devices running off the various UPSs around the house. Therefore, if the power goes out, then the HomeSeer machine would lose connectivity to the server with the Smart signaling UPS! I could use this for logging purposes, but not presumably for alerting me to power failures?

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                  #23
                  Yes you can use it for monitoring this way. The UPS on the Homeseer PC can be used to notify a power outage and the rest can just do their job.
                  Jon

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                    #24
                    Just to confirm, for this script to be effective I need to point it at the APC directory of the PC with the Smart Signaling UPS? It will not be effective with the other UPS connected machines? Thanks.

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                      #25
                      The script read and triggers from the APC software so as long as Homeseer can make connection to the relevant PC running that software, it will give you monitoring and triggering.
                      Jon

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