UniFi - USP-RPS: Setup and Features

The UniFi SmartPower Redundant Power System (USP-RPS) is a proprietary redundant power system designed to protect up to six UniFi SmartPower supported devices from sudden power supply module failure. The USP-RPS continually monitors all attached devices. In the event of an internal AC/DC power supply failure, failover is automatic so the network continues to operate with no interruption in service. With a 950W (12V 350W, 54V 600W) DC power budget, the USP-RPS can protect a variety of high-power devices, including UniFi PoE switches. Readers will learn how to make the most of the USP-RPS, exploring some of its features and use cases.

• Installation
• Failover Mechanism
• Power Architectures
• RPS States
• Power Overload
• Priorities
• USP Plug Recovery Mode
• FAQ

The following table lists the supported RPS models and their power budget. 

Installation

Back to Top

Follow the USP-RPS's Quick Start Guide (QSG) to connect it to devices.

After RPS auto-senses and allocates power to devices, the RPS's LED will be ON and the port icon turns green on the UniFi Network application. The device's Liquid Crystal Monitor's (LCM's) port property screen will also show a Connected status.

Summary of power utilization will appear under Devices > Select the USP-RPS to open Properties Panel > Details > Power Utilization.

Failover Mechanism

The USP-RPS automatically triggers a seamless failover in the event of an internal AC/DC power supply failure or AC circuit failure on the connected devices. Keep in mind that the failover mechanism is first come, first served. When detecting the failover, the USP-RPS sends the event that indicates which port is delivering power and shows the status information on the port property panel of the UniFi Network application and LCM.

Power Architectures

Back to Top

Users can select different power architectures to protect the different levels of power failure.

• Internal power supply failure
• AC circuit failure
• Interruption of utility power

The recommended power architectures are the ones mentioned for case 2 and 3.

RPS States

Back to Top

The USP-RPS will show these states on the UniFi Network application and the LCM of the device.

RPS State	UniFi Network Port Icon / Event	USP-RPS's LCM	Description
Disconnected			The USP cable is not connected or is not fully inserted.
Connecting			The USP cable is connected, but the USP-RPS has not successfully negotiated with the attached device. The attached device may not boot up or is currently booting.
Connected (Standby)			The USP-RPS is backing up the connected device. The USP-RPS has negotiated and the allocation of power is done.
Delivering Power	RPS is delivering power on port {port}. Connected device is experiencing internal power supply failure/loss of AC power.		The connected switch/device is experiencing internal PSU failure or AC power loss, and the RPS is currently delivering power to it. Please check the device the RPS is delivering power to, to determine if there is an issue other than power outage. For example, make sure the AC power cord is plugged in all the way and hasn't loosened.
Out of Power Budget (Insufficient Power)	RPS is out of power budget. Available power is less than required power on the port {port}		The RPS port will only show this state when another port is delivering power to the device with power failure. The USP-RPS's remaining power is not enough to back up the device on this port. Please recover the power failure of other devices. After fixing the power failure, the device attached to this port will go back to a Connected state automatically. See Out of Power Budget for more.
Port Power Overload	Port {port} is overloading or short circuiting		Check the device that is connected to this port. Make necessary fixes, and once you have confirmed there is no short circuit, please click the "reset" icon on the port properties panel of the UniFi Network application. See the Power Overload section below for more.
PSU Power Overload	Port {port} is denied power because of PSU {12V|54V} overloading	When it's a single port power overload	Check the interruption of utility power on the attached devices. If there is no power outage in the USP-RPS's power source, the USP-RPS will automatically try to recover the attached devices by the priorities and recorded topology. See the Power Overload section for more. NOTE: If using firmware version prior to v5.8.0+, please click the "Reset" icon to recover the overloaded port on the port's properties panel in the UniFi Network application.
Disabled			Disabled ports won't provide power to connected device.

Power Overload

Single Port Power Overload

To prevent short circuiting, the USP-RPS monitors power continuously. If the power limit threshold is exceeded, the USP-RPS will cut off power on the port to protect the device and the port's circuit.

PSU Power Overload

The primary purpose of the USP-RPS is to recover the device experiencing the internal power supply failure. For the resilience of power policy, the total backup power can be greater than the PSU capacity of the USP-RPS. In the event of an interruption of power for all devices, the pulse of power could be over the RPS PSU capacity.

If the USP-RPS with proper power architecture keeps RPS power up ( see cases 2 and 3 in the Power Architecture matrix above), the USP-RPS will automatically recover the devices one by one depending on the priorities and recorded topology. For the first priority device, with a critical priority level, the USP-RPS will optimize the power policy and provide best effort to keep the device (e.g. UDM-Pro) with zero downtime.

Priorities

After firmware v5.8.0+, the USP-RPS supports prioritizing the backed up devices. The priority is automatically determined by the model of the device and the port number. The USP-RPS will utilize power to keep the first priority device running. 

Priority Classification

1.  Model Priority

2. Port Priority

Port priority is used if the connected devices have the same model priority. The USP-RPS will prioritize by port number, with number one (1) being the highest priority and decreasing priority with each consecutive port number. 

USP Plug Recovery Mode

Recovery mode on the UniFi Smart Power Plug (USP-Plug-US) is used to recover application firmware as a last resort.

FAQ

Back to Top