Nut upsuser - Jan 2013 - Dell EMC 118031985 SPS - nothing but questions

I was wondering if anyone has seen anything like this standby power supply for 
Dell servers.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200824909297?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I made up a cable and can connect to it at 9600 baud 8N1. The problem is that 
all it ever does is respond with a "?" and ends it with a LF
it does this whenever it recieves a LF - I'm begining to think its mocking
me!

I've tried each of the NUT drivers in turn, none of them like what they see.

Under the covers theres a PIC controller so the protocol could be anything. 
Has anyone got any ideas where to start?

BT W it is in full working order and nothing comes out if I cut the supply.
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On Jan 2, 2013, at 4:26 PM, Richard Collins wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone has seen anything like this standby power supply
for Dell servers.
>  
>
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200824909297?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
>  
> I made up a cable and can connect to it at 9600 baud 8N1. The problem is
that all it ever does is respond with a "?" and ends it with a LF
> it does this whenever it recieves a LF - I'm begining to think its
mocking me!
It is possible that the protocol has a checksum, or it is expecting a certain
number of characters.
 
Do you know what software it was originally designed to work with?

-- 
Charles Lepple
clepple at gmail