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Battery back up and Mac Pro?

V

Verist

macrumors member
Original poster
Hello everyone!

I'm about to pull the trigger on a MP 2.6, 1900, 4 gigs of ram, and a 30 inch Cinema Display. I'm looking to get a new UPS and I had a few questions. First and foremost, what size should I get? How many "watts" will my new system need? I may also hook up my old 20 inch Cinema Display. I don't need a ton of battery time, just a few minutes of so. I found a couple of APC models that looked good, most likely leaning that way.

Thanks in advance!
 
Verist said:
Hello everyone!

I'm about to pull the trigger on a MP 2.6, 1900, 4 gigs of ram, and a 30 inch Cinema Display. I'm looking to get a new UPS and I had a few questions. First and foremost, what size should I get? How many "watts" will my new system need? I may also hook up my old 20 inch Cinema Display. I don't need a ton of battery time, just a few minutes of so. I found a couple of APC models that looked good, most likely leaning that way.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I'm bumping this thread because I'd like an answer too. For me personally I was thinking a 1500 v - 900 watt UPS would do the trick. I'm torn between APC and CyberPower - they have a really cool LCD unit and it gets very good reviews.
 
I have the APC XS 900. I have the MP, 3 LCD screens, and 2 external drives plugged in.

works fine, and has a USB cable so it can shutdown my MP if the power is out and the battery is going too low.
 
I knew I was not the only only one! I went ahead and got a 1500 Volt APC with an LCD at the recomendation of the CompUsa staff (probably upselling me 🙂 ) It seems like a real nice one.
 
All I know is that the 550V is decent, but not good if you're using LCD monitors (I found on hot days with my G5 and some extra HDDs and the LCD plugged in, I'd get warnings whenever my fans kicked in until I unplugged the LCD).
 
Note: On a multi-screen setup, you may only need to plug in your boot monitor *(the one with the menus on it) to the UPS -- in the event of a power outage, you should be able to use the menus and dock to do a graceful shutdown.
 
my G5 dual 2.3 and a 24" Dell LCD, cable modem and wireless router pull about 200watts.

i went with a Powerware 3000VA/2100watt unit that gives my about 1hr and 40min run time.




P....
 
Verist said:
I knew I was not the only only one! I went ahead and got a 1500 Volt APC with an LCD at the recomendation of the CompUsa staff (probably upselling me 🙂 ) It seems like a real nice one.
Click to expand...

An upsell on a UPS is not a bad thing, the more power you have the longer your computer can servive woth out power.
 
The power determines the length of time the unit puts out that much power for. Your MacPro will run on anything really (350VA - 750VA), just not that long on the low power stuff. I got the 550VA 120volt pack for 60 bucks. I just need for the computer to not shut off instantly if the power were to go out and surge protection. I don't need to run my machine constantly while the power is off, I would just stop what I am doing and shut it down myself.

Anything more than 750VA for a MacPro and Cinema Display is a bit overkill unless it's imperative that you have to have your machine running all the time no matter what.
 
Digital Skunk said:
The power determines the length of time the unit puts out that much power for. Your MacPro will run on anything really (350VA - 750VA), just not that long on the low power stuff. I got the 550VA 120volt pack for 60 bucks. I just need for the computer to not shut off instantly if the power were to go out and surge protection. I don't need to run my machine constantly while the power is off, I would just stop what I am doing and shut it down myself.

Anything more than 750VA for a MacPro and Cinema Display is a bit overkill unless it's imperative that you have to have your machine running all the time no matter what.
Click to expand...

I have a APC Back-UPS 450 that a friend has offered me - guess they were throwing them out and replacing them with new ones at his work. Battery is still good. Would this be sufficient for a Mac Pro, stock with 5 gigs of ram and 23" Display? I'm mainly looking for surge protection as well as for the computer to not shut off instantly if the power were to go out.
 
olemed said:
I have a APC Back-UPS 450 that a friend has offered me - guess they were throwing them out and replacing them with new ones at his work. Battery is still good. Would this be sufficient for a Mac Pro, stock with 5 gigs of ram and 23" Display? I'm mainly looking for surge protection as well as for the computer to not shut off instantly if the power were to go out.
Click to expand...

Electrical Requirements for Mac Pro
- Meets ENERGY STAR requirements7
- Line voltage: 100-120V AC or 200-240V AC (wide-range power supply input voltage) <-- It can take that much voltage but it doesn't need it although I could be wrong, but the first voltage is the operating voltage no matter what the system specs.
- Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz single phase
- Current: Maximum of 12A (low-voltage range) or 6A (high-voltage range)

Those are the key numbers. Most backups provide four times that amount of power since you will be plugging in more than four devices that will draw power from it, and since they have to power those devices for a certain amount of time.

The specs on a backups will read:
APC Back-UPS ES, 450 Watts / 750 VA,Input 120V / Output 120V

This backups takes in 120V to charge its battery and outputs 120V when the power goes out. I am not electrician but I do know that the more VA (volt amperes: The current flowing in a circuit multiplied by the voltage of that circuit. An expression of the output rating of a transformer.) will determine the length of time the battery will keep your stuff going.

The cheap backups for $39.99 will only provide 2 minutes... just enough time to shut the computer down. The $100 one will give you 23 minutes at 750VA, just enough time for the computer to finish what it is doing and shut it down. In other words... yes, if your APC Back-UPS 450 has an output voltage of 120V then it will work with your Mac Pro. Find the VA rating and see how long it will run the Mac Pro on battery power.
 
Digital Skunk said:
Electrical Requirements for Mac Pro
- Meets ENERGY STAR requirements7
- Line voltage: 100-120V AC or 200-240V AC (wide-range power supply input voltage) <-- It can take that much voltage but it doesn't need it although I could be wrong, but the first voltage is the operating voltage no matter what the system specs.
- Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz single phase
- Current: Maximum of 12A (low-voltage range) or 6A (high-voltage range)

Those are the key numbers. Most backups provide four times that amount of power since you will be plugging in more than four devices that will draw power from it, and since they have to power those devices for a certain amount of time.

The specs on a backups will read:
APC Back-UPS ES, 450 Watts / 750 VA,Input 120V / Output 120V

This backups takes in 120V to charge its battery and outputs 120V when the power goes out. I am not electrician but I do know that the more VA (volt amperes: The current flowing in a circuit multiplied by the voltage of that circuit. An expression of the output rating of a transformer.) will determine the length of time the battery will keep your stuff going.

The cheap backups for $39.99 will only provide 2 minutes... just enough time to shut the computer down. The $100 one will give you 23 minutes at 750VA, just enough time for the computer to finish what it is doing and shut it down. In other words... yes, if your APC Back-UPS 450 has an output voltage of 120V then it will work with your Mac Pro. Find the VA rating and see how long it will run the Mac Pro on battery power.
Click to expand...

I brought home the APC Back-UPS 450 and I have one of those kill-a-watt meters hooked up to it and the wattage I'm getting from the Mac Pro, stock video card, 5 gig of ram and 23" cinema display = 251-254 watts at most. So my question is, why would anyone (me) need anything more than say 550 watts? I don't know how much time the 450 will give me. It's old and I can't find much info on it, but if I can get a few minutes to shut down the computer myself, I'm happy. What I don't know is whether it's got AVR built in. I don't have many issues with outages where I live but I don't want to have one bad outage ruin my equipment so I'm thinking if it is best to invest in a setup like the CyberPower UPS with AVR but am unsure if I should go beyond 550 watts. I'm still confused, please advise and excuse my ignorance. Thank you.
 
I have a 23" ACD with a stock 2.66 MP and 3GB RAM connected to a cyberpower 550VA I bought from BestBuy. With my setup I get 11 minutes which is more then enogh to save my data and shutdown 🙂
 
I like the APC BackUPS XS 1500

I am running a Mac Pro 6GB with 4 750GB disks and the 30" monitor. I was getting occasional overload warnings with the APC 650 UPS I used to use and sometimes the display would fail to light up on wakeup. Apple warned the the wakeup surge could cause the display lamps to not come on.

I replaced that UPS with the BackUPS XS 1500 and have had no further overload warnings and the display problem is much improved, but occasionally it still fails to light and I have to turn the display off and on again. I need to address this issue with AppleCare soon. The run time is plenty adequate for everything to shut down (including a parallels VM) before the UPS shuts off.
 
Fry's Sale On Belkin 900VA - 540 Watt UPS $70 vs. $132 List On Belkin Site

Digital Skunk said:
The power determines the length of time the unit puts out that much power for. Your MacPro will run on anything really (350VA - 750VA), just not that long on the low power stuff. I got the 550VA 120volt pack for 60 bucks. I just need for the computer to not shut off instantly if the power were to go out and surge protection. I don't need to run my machine constantly while the power is off, I would just stop what I am doing and shut it down myself.

Anything more than 750VA for a MacPro and Cinema Display is a bit overkill unless it's imperative that you have to have your machine running all the time no matter what.
Click to expand...
I like Belkin more than APC because APC doesn't keep their USB software current for OS 10.4.10. It doesn't work. While I have a 1500VA 900 Watt APC that cost me $160 on sale a while ago, two 900VA 540 Watt Belkins can do a similar job when you only plug the MP into one and the displays into the other.

Today I bought two of the 900VA 540 Watt Belkins at Fry's for $70 each although on the Belkin website it says they cost $132 each, i.e. two for the price of one. It's prudent to have UPS systems that deliver way more power than your system needs if you want enough time to shut the system down or have it shut itself down while you're away in the case of a long term power failure. Moreover, you want a brownout to never phase your system. I experienced a brownout Thursday morning and it was such a pleasure to see the systems and all their screens keep right on trucking thoughout the whole 1-2 minute episode. 🙂
 
Multimedia said:
I like Belkin more than APC because APC doesn't keep their USB software current for OS 10.4.10. It doesn't work.
Click to expand...

Why are you using their software in OS X? OS X's built in Power Mgmt works fine with my APC UPS.

I guess unless you get some extra benefit from their software, I'd stick with the OS doing the management.

I just picked up the APC BX1300LCD for my Mac Pro. The added Pref options in Sys Prefs work great....10x better than XP does.

-Kevin
 
Multimedia said:
I experienced a brownout Thursday morning and it was such a pleasure to see the systems and all their screens keep right on trucking thoughout the whole 1-2 minute episode. 🙂
Click to expand...

BTW Multimedia....on your Intel Mac Pro....did you happen to notice your power supply buzzing louder during the brownout? Although....did the brownout cause it to switch over to full battery power?

You can see my posts in this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/337561/

Just curious to see if anyone else has the buzzing issue.

-Kevin
 
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