New user initial experience

[HunterZ]

I thought I'd share my initial impressions as a new user.

This is not a support request. I've figured it all out. I just wanted to share my experience in case it helps with development.

I just bought a CyberPower CP1500PFCLCDa, and connected it via USB to my Asustor NAS, because the latter can act as a NUT host.

Friction point 1: Connecting

My HomeAssistant Green was able to connect easily, but WinNUT-Client would not connect - and did not provide any failure message or connection diagnostic info.

After googling around, I saw someone recommend setting Polling Interval to 5. I changed it from 0 (the default value) to 1. Why does the default value prevent connection? Is there a use case for Polling Interval 0?

Friction point 2: Default Calibration settings

I noticed all of the gauges were showing wacky things. It seemed to be set to European voltages and frequencies. I guess I expected it to do any of the following:

• Ask me on first run
• Attempt to extrapolate sensible defaults from the data reported by the UPS
• Map out the UPS' reportable ranges empirically over time via data reported by the UPS

Friction point 3: Misleading gauge

After setting some reasonable Calibration values, I noticed that the Frequency gauge was still off. I started messing with it, and quickly realized that it was just always reporting whatever minimum frequency value I set. I then checked the "UPS Variable" menu and noticed that WinNUT-Client doesn't seem to be receiving frequency data. It seems like it might be good to give some indication when no data is received for a gauge, rather than assuming a value. For now I've set a range of 60 to 61 Hz to remind myself that it's not a useful gauge for my UPS.

[gbakeman]

Excellent write up, and thank you for the feedback. Those are familiar pain points and definitely things I want to address. Can I ask, what version of WinNUT were you running? There's several fixes since the last Release, and several more sitting in automated builds somewhere as well. The incorrect polling interval sounds familiar and I have to wonder if it's something that's been addressed. The incorrect gauges is also a big sore point and something that's spun off into many sub projects. 😅 The user experience over all is one that's constantly evolving. Lots of work to do. I'm afraid I've been swamped with other things and haven't been able to do much WinNUT work lately. Either way, let's keep this topic open so I can come back and reference it. Feel free to browse the Issues section since I think we have a few open that may interest you, and you're welcome to add anything too. Please make sure you subscribe to the repository so you'll be notified when there's progress!

[HunterZ]

I installed via WinGet, and the About menu says 2.0.7722.30975.

I also forgot to mention that it was frustrating that the Item Properties textbox values in the UPS Variables menu can't be highlighted for copying.

[gbakeman]

Yeah that one's quite old, latest Pre-Release I'd suggest for you is 2.3.8988. A few more patches coming down the pipe as well so you'll be notified one way or another about it. WinNUT doesn't have an official WinGet distribution, it's just supposed to directly check GitHub for any releases. If you also don't mind me asking, how did you find this repository specifically? I'm trying to spread the word and always appreciate hearing how people find out about this fork. Also, good point about the properties window... another thing that can be improved upon.