What UPS to get for an Apple Mac Pro?

[Anonymous user]

I'm in the market for a UPS for my Mac Pro. My box is a 3.0 GHz 6 GB RAM, 4 internal HDDs, 2 Superdrives, XT1900, 7300GT system driving two 22" LCD and one 24" LCD displays. I'm thinking I want something in the 1500AMP range but I want it to be able to shut my Mac down if the UPS is getting low and I absolutely must be able to turn off any audio warning beeps forever.

Any Suggestions? Does APS's Smart UPS 1500 (SUA1500) fit the bill? The no beeping thing is a hot button for me.

Thanks for any help!

[BillP]

If you're buying or already have a new Mac Pro, do not bother to install any APC software. First of all, the PowerChute software that's available is not fully compatible with the latest iterations of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, which you have on your Mac Pro.

Secondly, you're right that just by connecting the USB data cable to your Mac from the UPS, your Energy Saver System Preference will know exactly which APC UPS you have and a little UPS icon will appear near the clock in the top right of your menu bar. Energy Saver will be able to tell you your battery capacity and will allow for UPS specific shutdowns.

Congrats on buying such a great computer and UPS!

[BillP]

Apple says this unit has a maximum draw of 12A, which just happens to be the full amount of current you can safely draw from a single 15A circuit. With your configuration, your inrush current may actually come close to that 12A mark, especially if you have any other peripherals plugged into your UPS.

I would say the minimum UPS would have to be the SUA1500 (yes, you can permanently disable alarms via software). Maybe get a Kill-A-Watt for $25 and just see how many watts you draw when using your Mac Pro, and also when your system boots up from completely off state.

If the specs of the SUA1500 cover you, then you'll be OK with that model. Chances are you leave your Mac Pro on most of the time and it's nominal amp draw is well below the 12A max listed.

You'll no doubt get quite a few suggestions on which UPS to buy, especially if you require significant runtime (which you didn't specify).

[Anonymous user]

I'm a little confused by the products APC offers. There are several 1500 APCs offered, will they all try to shut down my Mac if batteries run too low or only the Smart-UPS?

Thanks for your help.

[Anonymous user]

I ended up going with the Smart-UPS 1500. My understanding is that when I plug in the UPS with a USB cable, the Energy Saver control panel or system preference from within OS X will offer new features to control the UPS. Although impossible to find on APC's web site without somebody posting a link, PowerChute v1.3.4 may allow OSX to fiddle with UPS's settings.

The trouble with all of this is APC's web site is bewildering and difficult to find answers on?and then, conflicting answers are often found. Figuring out what UPS to get shouldn't be hard. The most useful information I found was from this disccussion forum:

APC Discussion Forums : Back-UPS ES 700 and OS X software ...

APC should have a line chart with what products support what platforms that includes links to the products and supporting applications. Why has the obvious escaped marketing? Why did I have to fiddle around trying to learn what product would work with my Mac?

[Anonymous user]

The beeping on a Smart-UPS 1500 can be disbaled, but only through software that runs on a Windows based computer. The PowerChute software for Mac doesn't have as many features as the Windows based, and this includes the ability to turn the beeping off. If you were able to load the Business Edition software on a Windows machine just to disable the beeping, that setting would stay with the UPS even after you disconnected it, and moved it to the Mac computer.

[Anonymous user]

Thank you dirtfoot, JoeMomma.

On the Mac OSX side, the Mac immediately recognized the Smart-UPS 1500; but as dirtfoot said, OSX doesn't have the ability to shut off the noise maker. So I fired up on a XP boot drive and downloaded PowerChute 2.0 for XP. On installation, the PowerChute application refused to install because I don't have a supported UPS connected. What do I need to do? I plugged in the UBS cable between my Mac and the Smart-UPS and I checked the "Add Hardware" control panel which has told me that the UPS is connected and functioning. In the Device Manager the Smart-UPS shows up as HID UPS Battery, not as a Smart-UPS. I presume that HID UPS Battery is a generic entry but the end result is that i am unable to install the PoweChute 2.0 for XP software. Is there more to it?

Message was edited by: EricTheOracle

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

In order to get the ability to turn off the sound, you will need to install PowerChute Business Edition.

[http://www.apcc.com/tools/download/login.cfm?software_id=DBUE-6TCJWP&sw_sku=SFPCBE705]

The installation for Business Edition can be complicated, but for what you want to do, you won;t need to install the whole thing.

1. Before you start with business Edition, get rid of Personal Edition.
2. Start the installer for Business Edition, choose to install the basic version, and install only the Agent.
3. At some point of the Agent installation, it should attempt (and succeed) to discover your Smart-UPS.
4. Enter a username and password of your choice when prompted.

At this point, you would normally go on to install the other components, but you can use the Agent by itself, through its web interface, to disable the sounds. You can log into the web interface by opening a java enabled web browser, and enter the address of the computer that has the Agent installed on it - specifying port 3052.

For example, your URL should look like this: http://:3052 where would be substituted by the actual IP address of the Windows computer you installed the Agent on. You may even be able to use the computers loopback address by setting the URL to http://127.0.0.1:3052.

Once you get the browser pointed to the correct address, you should be prompted to log into the PowerChute Agent. Use the username and password you specified in the installation. I think the option to turn off the beeping is in the Diagnostic menu, but if its not there, fish around and I'm sure you will find it in one of the menus.