Is the Back-UPS RS 1500VA enough for us?

[Anonymous user]

Hi.

We're in the market for new UPS boxes. I tried to use the Selector but couldn't quite match our systems. We pretty much all have:

- A Mac Pro (wth 8 cores - dual 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, two video cards, one hard drive)
- Three displays for each Mac (two 24" and one 20")
- Miscellaneous accessories (nothing major - speakers, MP3/phone chargers, etc.)

Would the Back-UPS RS 1500VA give us a decent amount of time to save/shut down, etc.?

Thanks!

[Anonymous user]

Hi.

We're in the market for new UPS boxes. I tried to use the Selector but couldn't quite match our systems. We pretty much all have:

- A Mac Pro (wth 8 cores - dual 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, two video cards, one hard drive)
- Three displays for each Mac (two 24" and one 20")
- Miscellaneous accessories (nothing major - speakers, MP3/phone chargers, etc.)

Would the Back-UPS RS 1500VA give us a decent amount of time to save/shut down, etc.?

Thanks!

[BillP]

do you know what the power supply size is on the Mac? this sounds pretty beefy but i'd like to have that value before we say yes or no. the monitors we can probably look up as well as far as wattage goes. maybe 100-130 watts or so since they are fairly large in size (the monitors).

with the accessories, we'd need to know how much they draw as well. we can guess.

this UPS can handle 865 watts. just a guess here but I think this UPS will be too small, especially upon peak power draw and then we have to account for a power factor corrected power supply probably.

once we add all of these items up with wattage values, we can get an accurate number and see what would be appropriate.

from googling a little bit though, a Mac of these specs may have about a 1000 watt power supply.

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for your reply!

Computer:
I couldn't find the wattage of the Mac Pro, but as I understand it there's a way to calculate it from this info:

- Line voltage: 100-120V AC or 200-240V AC (wide-range power supply input voltage)
- Current: Maximum of 12A (low-voltage range) or 6A (high-voltage range)

I'm just not sure how to calculate the wattage from that info...

EDIT 1: I just found this link:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/8-core_mac_pro/8-core_Mac_Pro_reports.html
says that "the manual says that the 8-core can use up to 1200 watts" but also states that they couldn't get the computer to go over 584 watts.

Displays:
24" screens (x2) = 80 watts each
20" screen (x1) = 55 watts
Total display wattage = 135 watts

Miscellaneous items
Never mind about this... the items are all small (iPods/iPhones, for example) and plugged in to the Mac via USB and get their power that way. And the speakers don't need to draw power from the battery.

EDIT 2: We currently have just the computers plugged into these and they work for a very short time... but they do work:
http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BP500UC -- but it's clearly obvious that we need to upgrade since the UPS' seem to "complain" a lot and we can't have our displays plugged into them.

Does this info help?

Message was edited by: Rothgarr

[BillP]

hi,

that is GREAT info!

a BP500UC is very tiny - it only handles 315 watts where as I mentioned the BR1500 handles 865 watts.

assuming that the mac doesnt go over 600 (rounding up) and then 135 for the displays i get about 735 watts. that seems to maybe be a peak draw. i think the UPS will be cutting it close, because according to the runtime chart, at full load of 865 watts, you will get ~5 minutes of runtime. there is an optional battery pack that you can attach to the BR1500 (NOT the BR1500LCD model though), which is BR24BP. at maximum load, that bumps you up to ~22 minutes.

personally, with a high end system like this, if you can go this route, i'd suggest something along the lines of SUA1500 which is our smart UPS model. we recommend them for server class systems because they output a pure sine wave and have a smaller transfer time to battery - which server class systems usually require. [you can see that system here|http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA1500]. it also has some more LED indicators on the front. this can handle 980 watts. it has no external battery pack option and you will probably get between 6-10 minutes at a high load with the SUA1500. this would be my first recommendation but with a BR1500 and optional battery back, you probably can squeak by if you are already using a BP500UC with it, which I'd definitely recommend upgrading.

how much runtime are you looking for? we also have an SUA2200 model and an SUA2200XL (extended runtime). unfortunately, the 1500 doesnt come in an extended runtime model.

furthermore, all of the smart UPS models are able to be rackmounted if you need to by purchasing the rackmount models which have 'RM' in the part numbers.

hope this helps! let me know if you have any other questions.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Thanks again for you great info!

To answer your question, we shouldn't need more than 5 minutes to save work/shut down.

I'll look at the items you recommended.

Thanks again!