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Simple UPS for UP board

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Stefano Bettega
Stefano Bettega New Member Posts: 4 ✭
in UP Board Hardware Specification
Hello,
we are planning to use UP board to expose a UI to control a device, with Windows 10 as operating system.

Our concern is about what happens when mains is switched off. You can't expect that Windows will be happy upon power restoring, so we are wondering if there is a simple way to provide an UPS-like feature to the UP board.

Requested features should be these:
1) UP should turn on when device is powered on
2) when device is turned off, power must be available for the time needed by the operating system to shut down properly
3) when mains is switched on again, UP has to boot automatically

As additional features we would appreciate:
1) automatic shutdown after power failure (with a programmable time)
2) battery check to verify a deeply discharged battery and prompt user to ask for technical assistance

Obviously you can obtain all of these features employing a standard PC UPS, but it costs a lot, requires spaces and adds weight.

We are looking for a simple solution as those exposed here
* http://www.joy-it.net/strompi-2/
* http://www.piups.net/#home
* https://www.modmypi.com/raspberry-pi/breakout-boards/pi-modules/ups-pico
but as all of these are intended to be used on a Pi board running Linux as O.S., we can't expect they are working with Windows 10.

Other solutions we found are these:
* http://raspi-ups.appspot.com/en/index.jsp
* http://homediyelectronics.com/projects/raspberrypi/ups/safeshutdown

Using the power bank seems to be a useful solution, but it has two drawbacks:
1) automatic power on is not available
2) power bank shoud be able to power device while it's charging
3) battery status might be not available
4) when you choose to turn off UP board, power bank still gives power and then battery drains

The second solution requires to build a circuit, and also to program a pin to activate the power locking mechanism. When board is shutting down without mains, the locking is released so that battery is disconnected.

Any idea?
Thanks in advance,
Stefano
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Comments

  • Marcello
    Marcello New Member Posts: 156 ✭
    edited November 2016
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    for a similar case i used THIS BOARD and a simple switching regulator after it.
    Note: I am the one selling these boards and i do it at cost. I had to buy the minimum number of them directly in china, pay DHL and customs. I am selling those that i do not need
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  • Chris Olma
    Chris Olma New Member Posts: 5 ✭
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    We´ve already developed a UPS for all UP Boards.
    Please have a look at topic https://up-community.org/forum/public-upboardhw/981-ups-compatible-with-all-up-boards
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  • Stefano Bettega
    Stefano Bettega New Member Posts: 4 ✭
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    Thank you for your support.
    What about O.S. support?
    Does with HAT shows up like a traditional USB UPS, providing full management from within Windows (using O.S. specific features), for instance?

    Thanks,
    Stefano
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  • Chris Olma
    Chris Olma New Member Posts: 5 ✭
    edited November 2016
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    You are welcome.
    We are planning to make the appropriate client software compatible with all current operating systems in order to provide a fully functional management system for the user. The corresponding software versions can then be easily accessed and updated via our online portals.

    BR,
    Chris
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  • jysd
    jysd New Member Posts: 4 ✭
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    We had the same exact (actually simpler) requirements. Unfortunately the UPS from S.USV does not work as intended, or at all, for us. We've tried 4 of them on 4 different UP boards (running latest BIOS). Some conclusions:
    1) The UPS does NOT work on Windows.
    2) The UPS does NOT work reliably even under ubilinux.
    3) Their software is crap.
    4) We've spent several days trying to make sense of it but the UPS' behave differently despite the same firmware.

    We've been in contact with them regarding the UPS', but so far they haven't answered a single question. Just sent us two "beta" firmwares, neither of which actually work properly.

    Some examples of problems:
    1) One of the UPS' powers up when battery is inserted but unit is powered off, the other 3 does not.
    2) The UPS completely loses track of whether the main power is online or not. Reports Battery powered no matter if we power the UP board via 5V regular pwr connector or external power to UPS.
    3) Starting their susvd daemon makes the UP board instantly reboot. Their client software simply calls a "sudo systemctl poweroff" (let's pray that we don't require a password).
    4) UPS' shipped got a "Incompatible software or hardware!" error when trying to read info from. The -flash option worked though.
    5) They say ubilinux is supported, but if you set a timer for shutdown 10s after power is lost, you'll have less than 10s to login on the ubilinux default login page when booting or the unit will power off. Even if you manage to login it might still power off.
    6) Windows support just doesn't exist, at all, for anything.
    7) You manually power off the device when it's on battery. The UPS at several occasions didn't notice that the power came back but kept the UP board in OFF state. Unplug power and replug, still OFF. Had to physically disconnect the main power AND battery and then replug to make it boot.

    These are some of the things we encountered. We will continue with either an external UPS or without one completely (try to simplify recovery using a USB drive instead.)

    In my opinion, these things does not come close to production quality and my unfortunate recommendation is to avoid them.

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