Setting Up a UPS

[Boots]

I recently bought a UPS which is working fine. But I am having a nightmare getting the monitoring software to talk to the UPS.

The software was written in China. Some of it has been translated, some of it has not. The manual is also a half-hearted attempt at translation. The manual entirely skips over using a USB connection, despite the UPS being shipped with a USB cable only.

I have contacted the vendor, but perhaps not surprisingly, they weren't much help. To be fair, they are reaching out to the distributor, so may come back with something, but I'm not holding my breath.

The UPS is a "Vida Armour 1500VA". I think they may also be sold as "East" in some parts of the world. The monitoring software is by IDBK, it is called upsSmartView (not very Smart in my opinion!), and may well be used by other UPS manufacturers.

There are two configuration pages; one for Device and one for Port. I did read somewhere that the Port configuration is not used if connecting by USB cable.

The Device config looks like this:


And the Port config looks like this:


Over the past two days I have tried what feels to be every combination of values, but all I ever get is the message "UPS-Communication fault with the agent" (I am growing rather sick of that message now). I have uninstalled and re-installed the software. Rebooted many times. I have also deleted and re-added the USB device in Windows Device Manager. I have tried a different cable. I have tried several different USB ports.

I have also looked through the folder to see if there is any log file which gives more information. I have found log files, but no clue as to what is wrong.

To put it in perspective, I recognise that I have 95% of the useful value of the UPS - I have a protected power supply - but I would like to be able to get the monitoring software to run.

Does anyone have any helpful information, or even just an informed guess as to what else to try?

 

[Faldrax]

Port configuration is a relic of an old style serial port - have you tried deleting the config for it (in case the monitoring software is dumb enough to assume you are using serial if you have a config, even if you select USB on the other page)?

 

[Boots]

Port configuration is a relic of an old style serial port - have you tried deleting the config for it (in case the monitoring software is dumb enough to assume you are using serial if you have a config, even if you select USB on the other page)?

Good idea, I'll try that.

 

[Boots]

Port configuration is a relic of an old style serial port - have you tried deleting the config for it (in case the monitoring software is dumb enough to assume you are using serial if you have a config, even if you select USB on the other page)?

Nope, sorry - tried that, after re-installing the software and rebooting (just in case), but no change.

 

[admirable]

What USB type are you using? A, B or C

 

[Boots]

What USB type are you using? A, B or C

The UPS end of the cable is USB-B, the computer end is USB-A.

 

[JohnMcL7]

Where it says comm type and you've set it to USB can that be changed to serial? I'm just wondering if what you've said is correct and it's either USB or serial instead of being serial over USB. I've come across older basic devices that when they update to USB they just put a USB to serial communication in place instead.

I can't think of anything really to suggest when you've tried different cables, different ports and reinstalled the software.

 

[Boots]

Where it says comm type and you've set it to USB can that be changed to serial? I'm just wondering if what you've said is correct and it's either USB or serial instead of being serial over USB. I've come across older basic devices that when they update to USB they just put a USB to serial communication in place instead.

I can't think of anything really to suggest when you've tried different cables, different ports and reinstalled the software.

It can be changed from USB to Serial. I *believe* I have tried that, with all the options on the port config, but I shall try that again.

The other thing I may have to try is a different UPS!!!

 

[Boots]

Where it says comm type and you've set it to USB can that be changed to serial? I'm just wondering if what you've said is correct and it's either USB or serial instead of being serial over USB. I've come across older basic devices that when they update to USB they just put a USB to serial communication in place instead.

I can't think of anything really to suggest when you've tried different cables, different ports and reinstalled the software.

I just tried changing the USB option for the device to Serial (COM1 was the only option). Tried address of 1 or 4 (the later being the Port# quoted for the USB cable under Device Manager). Tried all of the speed options for the port config.

After the umpteen combinations, all we got was "UPS-Communication fault with the agent".

 

[Boots]

Update - I just heard back from the vendor, who in turn had heard back from the distributor. The Device Config contains Device Protocol which was set to "EA1phase" - because it is a single phase PS, not three phase. However there is a third option "Mega" which I seem to recall is described in the manual as for a multi-UPS setup. But using that worked!!!

I did also delete the Port Config entry first as a starting point, but don't know if that was relevant.

Apparently the distributor knew straight away what the problem was... I guess he will be getting the manual changed ASAP.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

 

[Faldrax]

Update - I just heard back from the vendor, who in turn had heard back from the distributor. The Device Config contains Device Protocol which was set to "EA1phase" - because it is a single phase PS, not three phase. However there is a third option "Mega" which I seem to recall is described in the manual as for a multi-UPS setup. But using that worked!!!

I did also delete the Port Config entry first as a starting point, but don't know if that was relevant.

Apparently the distributor knew straight away what the problem was... I guess he will be getting the manual changed ASAP.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Great news that you got it all working!