Problems with ATEN UC232 & apcupsd

[J. Seth Henry]

Hey guys/gals,
I realize this may not be a FreeBSD problem, but I thought I'd post it and see 
if anyone else has seen it. I want to connect an APC SmartUPS to a 
"legacy-free" FreeBSD system. I recently used another of these USB to serial 
converters with a home automation system, and it seems to work fairly well - 
but for some reason, the apcupsd software will not work with the converter. 

Here is the dmesg output for the device:
uplcom1: ATEN International Serial adapter, rev 1.10/0.01, addr 3

I don't get any errors in the dmesg output, but the apcupsd daemon errors out 
saying it can't communicate with the UPS.

I know the converter "seems" to work, as I can cat /dev/ucom1, and I get a 
stream of "SM" messages (from the UPS), and I can even log in interactively 
using tip (I have a management card in the UPS).

Any ideas what's going on?

Alternately, this UPS does have a USB port. Is there a way a to get FreeBSD to 
use it via that method?

Thanks,
Seth Henry