[Nut-upsdev] TrippLite USB UPS

Patrick cso at satcharters.com
Sun Jan 21 21:39:25 CET 2007


Good afternoon,

I am trying to communicate with a new Tripp-Lite UPS via usb and having little 
luck. After more than a week on this I've decided to ask for help. I am very 
inexperienced at posting information to message boards, so hopefully I'm 
doing this right. I assume this is the correct place to post this message.

I will start with the equipment I have. I am using Debian Sarge (3.1 I think - 
it is the latest stable release) on a Toshiba A10-S169 laptop. The laptop 
does not have a serial port. The UPS is a Tripp-Lite SmartOnline 
SU1500RTXL2ua. I also have access to another similar laptop running WXP Pro 
(an A10-S100).

Steps I have taken:
I loaded just a bare-bones system and compiled a 2.6.17 kernel with what I 
believed were all the proper options for USB support (I used 2.6.17 to get 
the latest toshset utility to work).

I then installed the stable nut and nut-usb packages, version 2.0.1-4.

None of the drivers appeared to be capable of communicating with the UPS (I 
didn't take notes on the steps I tried with this version, but I seem to 
recall consistent "No HID/USB compatible UPS found" or something along those 
lines.

Decided to try the latest Debian package in unstable, version 2.0.5-1.

Downloaded the package source and ported it to my stable system. After 
unpacking it I still had no luck.

SVN'd the latest development version but couldn't figure out how to build it 
(I guess I've been out of things for a while because that was the first time 
I've ever heard of or used Subversion).

Read the FAQ (queequeg) somewhere along the line.

I also realized somewhere along the line that my kernel did not have USB file 
system support enabled. Fixed that.

Copied the drivers from the trunk sub-directory to the Debian 2.0.5 package 
drivers directory, and built the package that way.

That seems to have given me some partial success.
newhidups sees a device but won't talk to it:
   # /lib/nut/newhidups -u root -DDDD /dev/usb/hiddev0
   Network UPS Tools: 0.28 USB communication driver 0.28 - core 0.30 (2.0.5)

   debug level is '4'
   Checking device (09AE/4003) (002/002)
   - VendorID: 09ae
   - ProductID: 4003
   - Manufacturer: Tripp Lite
   - Product: TRIPP LITE UPS
   - Serial Number: 9530ALCPS519400017
   - Bus: 002
   Trying to match device
   This particular Tripp Lite device (09ae/4003) is not (or perhaps not
   yet) supported by newhidups. First try the tripplite_usb driver. If
   this fails, please write to the NUT developer's mailing list.

   Device does not match - skipping
   Checking device (0000/0000) (002/001)
   - VendorID: 0000
   - ProductID: 0000
   - Manufacturer: Linux 2.6.17.14 uhci_hcd
   - Product: UHCI Host Controller
   - Serial Number: 0000:00:1d.0
   - Bus: 002
   Trying to match device
   Device does not match - skipping
   Checking device (0000/0000) (001/001)
   - VendorID: 0000
   - ProductID: 0000
   - Manufacturer: Linux 2.6.17.14 ehci_hcd
   - Product: EHCI Host Controller
   - Serial Number: 0000:00:1d.7
   - Bus: 001
   Trying to match device
   Device does not match - skipping
   No appropriate HID device found
   No matching HID UPS found

So I tried the same with tripplite_usb:
   # /lib/nut/tripplite_usb -u root -DDDD /dev/usb/hiddev0
   Network UPS Tools - Tripp Lite OMNIVS and SMARTPRO driver 0.7 (2.0.5)
   Warning: This is an experimental driver.
   Some features may not function correctly.

   debug level is '4'
   Checking device (09AE/4003) (002/002)
   - VendorID: 09ae
   - ProductID: 4003
   - Manufacturer: Tripp Lite
   - Product: TRIPP LITE UPS
   - Serial Number: 9530ALCPS519400017
   - Bus: 002
   Trying to match device
   Device does not match - skipping
   Checking device (0000/0000) (002/001)
   - VendorID: 0000
   - ProductID: 0000
   - Manufacturer: Linux 2.6.17.14 uhci_hcd
   - Product: UHCI Host Controller
   - Serial Number: 0000:00:1d.0
   - Bus: 002
   Trying to match device
   Device does not match - skipping
   Checking device (0000/0000) (001/001)
   - VendorID: 0000
   - ProductID: 0000
   - Manufacturer: Linux 2.6.17.14 ehci_hcd
   - Product: EHCI Host Controller
   - Serial Number: 0000:00:1d.7
   - Bus: 001
   Trying to match device
   Device does not match - skipping
   No appropriate HID device found
   No matching USB/HID UPS found

Decided to try hidups and got a bit more info:
   # /lib/nut/hidups -u root -DDDD /dev/usb/hiddev0
   Network UPS Tools: HID UPS driver 0.13 (2.0.5)

   Warning: This is an experimental driver.
   Some features may not function correctly.

   debug level is '4'
   Detected Tripp Lite       TRIPP LITE UPS
   on port /dev/usb/hiddev0
   addhidvalue(850066, battery.charge): obtained 100
   addhidvalue(850068, battery.runtime): obtained 1903
   addhidvalue(840035, ups.load): obtained 24
   addhidvalue(840056, ups.delay.start): obtained 0
   addhidvalue(840057, ups.delay.shutdown): obtained -1
   event(840062, 0)
   Unhandled event: 0x840062 (0)
   event(840069, 0)
   event(8500d0, 0)
   event(850042, 0)
   event(850046, 0)
   Unhandled event: 0x850046 (0)
   event(850044, 0)
   event(850045, 0)
   event(850047, 0)
   Unhandled event: 0x850047 (0)
   event(85004b, 0)
   Unhandled event: 0x85004b (0)
   event(850066, 100)
   dstate_init: sock /var/run/nut/hidups-hiddev0 open on fd 5
   event(840062, 0)
   Unhandled event: 0x840062 (0)
   event(840069, 0)
   event(8500d0, 0)
   event(850042, 0)
   event(850046, 0)
   Unhandled event: 0x850046 (0)
   event(850044, 0)
   event(850045, 0)
   event(850047, 0)
   Unhandled event: 0x850047 (0)
   event(85004b, 0)
   Unhandled event: 0x85004b (0)
   Signal 2: exiting
   ^c

I am assuming the unhandled events are other status signals from the ups that 
hidups does not know what to do with.


At this point I decided to load the WXP box with the software that came with 
the UPS. The UPS was detected as soon as I plugged the cable in, and the 
PowerAlert SW seems to work just fine. It appears to communicate with the 
UPS, and it displays what appears to be valid information about status, 
battery charge, time remaining, battery age, etc. It also shows the 
manufacturer as Tripp Lite and the model as TRIPP LITE UPS.

So I said the heck with it, let me try to load the Linux Tripp-Lite software 
on this box and see how that works.

Took my wife and I to our optometrist appointments (not that that has anything 
to do with this subject, but dilation made working on the computer a blast 
for a few hours).

Spent the better part of the afternoon loading and configuring KDE, and 
disabling the touchpad tap feature.

Tried the PowerAlert sw on the CD. It is version 11, and the scant 
installation instructions leave a lot to be desired. I never did get it to 
work.

Downloaded the latest PowerAlert (version 12) and installed it. Found out I 
needed Java. Downloaded it and got the PA console to load. It shows the 
device is on battery power (it is not). It also shows the manufacturer 
correctly as Tripp Lite, but the model is GENERIC.


So, bottom line is I don't know where to go from here. I decided I would see 
if anyone was willing to point me in the right direction for my next steps. I 
can pretty much do anything with this system to obtain any information asked 
for, but I might need some help in obtaining it. I am also going to try 
connecting the UPS to a slightly older Sarge desktop with a serial port to 
see what happens there.

Didn't mean for this to be as long winded as it turned out to be, but I wanted 
to supply as much pertinent information as I could.
Thanks,
Patrick



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