50 Chapter 2 Introducing the BCM50 hardware
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Uninterruptable power supply
An uninterruptable power supply (UPS) is an optional device that maintains continuous operation
during power interruption or failure conditions. The UPS provides power source monitoring and
battery backup activation so that critical BCM50 functionality is maintained.
In a power failure situation, the UPS provides sufficient time to either correct the problem or
activate a contingency plan to sustain services. The UPS is configured to perform a graceful
shutdown of the BCM50 two minutes before the UPS battery power is drained.
The BCM50 supports American Power Conversion (APC) UPS devices that use a USB control
interface. These include the APC UPS-Smart family (for example, UPS-Smart 750, UPS-Smart
1000) and UPS-Back family (for example, UPS-Back 500 ES, UPS-Back 350 ES). The UPS
control software enables the configuration of various operational settings.
The USB port on the UPS uses a different communication speed than the USB port on the BCM50
system. Due to this difference, you must use an industry-standard USB hub (USB 1.1-compatible)
to connect the UPS data connection to the BCM50 system. The USB hub not only provides
additional USB ports, it also converts the data communication speed so the UPS and BCM50
system can communicate properly.
On BCM50 systems with more than one unit, the power supplies for all of the units must be
connected to a single UPS.
The interaction between the UPS and the BCM50 occurs in three stages:
1 Configuration — This stage sends configuration information to the UPS device and requires
minimal user interaction.
2 Monitoring — This stage is a steady-state, periodic monitoring cycle where the BCM50 reads
the status of the UPS. This stage requires minimal user interaction.
3 Failure condition — This stage initiates an action when a threshold value is surpassed.
The BCM50 system requires user interaction in the case of a planned system shutdown. You must
manually power down the UPS and the BCM50 main unit when performing a system shutdown.
The UPS feature is supported in all markets (110~120V and 220~240V power standards).
Note: For the UPS to function correctly, it must be connected before the BCM50
system is powered up. If you connect a UPS to a running system, the UPS will not
function.
