APC Network card question - SMT1500

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tullnd

Member
Apr 19, 2016
59
7
8
USA
Not sure where to put UPS stuff, so I figured I'd start here. I purchased a SMT1500 for my home equipment. I'd like to grab a network card for it, to automate the shutdown of various devices via the network. This is not mission critical, just trying to protect everything and have it all setup to shutdown elegantly and reboot in order, so I don't have to interact with it in case of power outages.

I've noticed how much cheaper these cards are on ebay. I have two questions. First, is there any reason NOT to get the environmental monitoring version of the card? I don't need those functions, but I've seen more of them available and often priced cheaper. Is there a drawback to getting those functions and just not using them?

Second, do I HAVE to use the version 2 cards? Will earlier revisions possibly work with the newer devices, with just perhaps limited functionality? The pricing I see on the version 2 cards is acceptable, but I've seen some older ones for even half that. Figure this may be a "just depends on the individual unit" type thing that no one can answer, but thought I'd ask, in case it's known they still work and you just lose some small inconsequential feature.
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
1,140
594
113
New York City
www.glaver.org
I've noticed how much cheaper these cards are on ebay. I have two questions. First, is there any reason NOT to get the environmental monitoring version of the card? I don't need those functions, but I've seen more of them available and often priced cheaper. Is there a drawback to getting those functions and just not using them?
Nope. AP9631 has two universal I/O ports (RJ45) which can connect to environmental probes, relays, or contact sensors. You don't need to use them at first. Note that there are 2 kinds of environmental probes - AP9335TH is temperature and humidity, AP9335T is temperature only. There's a Dell-labeled version of the AP9335TH called H621N and when they're available, they're usually less expensive. The latest firmware (as of today) is 6.4.6.
Second, do I HAVE to use the version 2 cards? Will earlier revisions possibly work with the newer devices, with just perhaps limited functionality? The pricing I see on the version 2 cards is acceptable, but I've seen some older ones for even half that. Figure this may be a "just depends on the individual unit" type thing that no one can answer, but thought I'd ask, in case it's known they still work and you just lose some small inconsequential feature.
You really want the V2 card (AP9631). The older AP9618 card is slow as molasses doing SSL, doesn't support any ciphers required by modern browsers, and doesn't work with newer APC UPSs. If you insist, the matching environmental probes are AP9512T and AP9512TH (a further suffix, "BLK" indicates black plastic instead of the old APC beige). The latest (and probably last) firmware is 3.9.2.

Newer APC UPSs with LCD front panels need the AP9331. That doesn't mean that all non-LCD UPSs will work with the AP9618, though - the changeover happened at different times on different models.
 
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