CyberPower UT1500E UPS for desktop computer running openSUSE LEAP

I recently purchased a UPS for my desktop computer which is currently running openSUSE LEAP-15.0.

There is discussion on my deliberations prior to purchasing in this openSUSE thread.

As noted in the title, the UPS I purchased is the CyberPower UT1500E 1500VA/900W, which I believe should be adequate for my 4-year old core-i7 desktop PC. My nominal plan, after there is a power outage, is to have my PC automatically shutdown within 1 minute of the power outage.

The local computer shops did not carry the CyberPower UPS that I wanted, so I ordered on over the internet, and it arrived a few days later.
https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/c9/58/5f/6f15cb1322907192.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/6f15cb1322907192)

After an overnight charge, I plugged my desktop PC (but not my monitor nor my speakers) and I also routed my wired Ethernet through the CyberPower Ethernet in/out outlet on the back of the UPS. And I connected a USB cable from UPS to my desktop PC.

https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/03/5c/aa/ccccf71322907193.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/ccccf71322907193)

I previous had downloaded the CyberPower “PowerPanel” software, thinking I would install it after booting my PC (plugged in to the UPS), but to my surprise after booting my PC (running openSUSE-15.0 with KDE), I noted this icon in the right corner of my desktop.

https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/68/54/4c/6bcadf1322907194.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/6bcadf1322907194)

Nominally I only see that with a laptop computer, … but I confess nothing in my (albeit limited) research, suggested that I should expect that for a desktop plugged into the UPS. So it was a pleasant surprise.

I figure it must have been because I connected the UPS to the desktop also via the USB.

If one clicks on the corner desktop icon one will see this:

https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/cb/18/bc/d0832b1322907195.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/d0832b1322907195)

I also went through the KDE power management settings and tuned them a bit.

I ran the PC for a couple days with the KDE power management in place, and then I decided to go ahead on install the more powerful CyberPower command line “Power Panel” program for GNU/Linux.

… To be continued in following post …
.

After a couple of days with the UPS setup, I installed the rpm version of the CyberPower “powerpanel” software, which can be located on their website here.

In addition for MS-Windows and MacOS installation downloads, they also have downloads for GNU/Linux, where it is packaged as a .deb, rpm, and .tar. I downloaded the 64-bit rpm “PPL_64bit (rpm)_v1.3.2.rpm” .

Installation

I simply used zypper to install (with root permissions):

zypper in PPL_64bit (rpm)_v1.3.2.rpm

and I selected to ignore that the package was not signed.

I received some errors as part of the install, suggesting to me the install was successful, but that the daemon did not start. These being:


//etc/init.d/pwrstatd,start=2,3,4,5 doesn't exist at /sbin/insserv line 246. 
...
/sbin/insserv failed, exit code 1
redirecting to systemctl start pwrstatd.service
Failed to start pwrstatd.service: Unit pwrstatd.service not found.

I checked the /etc directory and I noted the various scripts installed

  • hibernate.sh
  • pwrstadt-email.sh
  • pwrstadt-lowbatt.sh
  • pwrstadt-powerfail.sh
  • pwrstadt.conf
  • shutdown.sh

Starting the daemon via the Service Manager

I then checked under YaST > System > Services Manager, and I did not see “pwrstatd” listed as a service. That suggested it was not yet detected by the openSUSE LEAP-15.0 system after the rpm install (as suggested by the errors). I speculated that it might be detected after a restart of the services manager, so I rebooted, and again when into YaST > System > Services Manager. This time I noted the service present, but it was not running:

https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/42/4d/86/ed8e8f1323055000.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/ed8e8f1323055000)

Further not only was it “Inactive(Dead)” but it was on a Start=Manually. So I changed the Start=On Boot, and activated the service. This is what I see then:

https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/ef/70/fb/340b3f1323055004.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/340b3f1323055004)
.
https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/18/75/7f/1efdfa1323055006.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/1efdfa1323055006)

Status of the UPS via Power Panel

Nominally ‘pwrstat’ requires root permissions to run. With the service started, I then typed :


 linux-p15v:/etc # pwrstat -config

Daemon Configuration:

Alarm .............................................. On
Hibernate .......................................... Off

Action for Power Failure:

        Delay time since Power failure ............. 60 sec.
        Run script command ......................... On
        Path of script command ..................... /etc/pwrstatd-powerfail.sh
        Duration of command running ................ 0 sec.
        Enable shutdown system ..................... On

Action for Battery Low:

        Remaining runtime threshold ................ 300 sec.
        Battery capacity threshold ................. 35 %.
        Run script command ......................... On
        Path of command ............................ /etc/pwrstatd-lowbatt.sh
        Duration of command running ................ 0 sec.
        Enable shutdown system ..................... On

I figured that a good sign, indicating it was now running as a daemon, using default emergency settings.

Edit configuration files and restarting the pwrstatd service

I then opened (with root permissions such that I could edit if desired) the file “/etc/pwrstadt.conf”. I made a couple of changes, and saved the file. I noted the file stated to restart the daemon, to type:


/etc/init.d/pwrstatd restart

but that yielded:


linux-p15v:/etc # /etc/init.d/pwrstatd restart
redirecting to systemctl restart pwrstatd.service

Simply typing:


systemctl restart pwrstatd.service

worked fine.
.

Various Power Panel commands

One can obtain the various command options from the pwrstat program by typing:

pwrstat -help

and get status by typing:

pwrstat -status

There is a good man page, which can be read by typing:

man pwrstat

Its a pretty basic command line series of configuration files … at least it is for myself, and reminds me of my early days in GNU/Linux over 20 years ago.
.

Out of curiousity, I plugged my monitor into my PC (together with low power speakers and the desktop PC itself), and then I removed the input power to the UPS. I did this to check the load. This is what “pwrstat -status” yields:
https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/b3/1e/7c/b658d31323671278.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/b658d31323671278)

and this is what “pwrstat -status” yields after power is restored to the UPS.https://thumbs2.imagebam.com/96/23/ac/ec55141323671281.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/ec55141323671281)

The load only being ~90-watts surprised me, so I suspect that is inaccurate. Note the estimate of time in which power may be available, once on battery is down to ~31-minutes.

Hi!
Tumbleweed how does your installation work?
missing services, restart and no changes

zypper in ./PPL-1.3.3-64bit.rpm
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
Resolving package dependencies…

The following NEW package is going to be installed:
powerpanel

1 new package to install.
Overall download size: 119.4 KiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 330.3 KiB will
be used.
Continue? [y/n/v/…? shows all options] (y): y
Retrieving package powerpanel-1.3.3-0.x86_64 (1/1), 119.4 KiB (330.3 KiB unpacked)
PPL-1.3.3-64bit.rpm:
Package is not signed!

powerpanel-1.3.3-0.x86_64 (Plain RPM files cache): Signature verification failed [6-File is unsigned]
Abort, retry, ignore? [a/r/i] (a): i

Checking for file conflicts: …[done]
(1/1) Installing: powerpanel-1.3.3-0.x86_64 …[done]
Additional rpm output:
/etc/init.d/pwrstatd: line 18: /etc/rc.status: No such file or directory
Fail to setup daemon startup script when system booting!

[QUOTE=idanka;bt1268]Hi!
Tumbleweed how does your installation work?
missing services, restart and no changes

Checking for file conflicts: …[done]
(1/1) Installing: powerpanel-1.3.3-0.x86_64 …[done]
Additional rpm output:
/etc/init.d/pwrstatd: line 18: /etc/rc.status: No such file or directory
Fail to setup daemon startup script when system booting![/QUOTE]
Did you check in YaST to see if you could start the service there?

Note - you may be best to get specific help by posting/asking for help in one of the forum threads.