Sorry one more UPS thread, APC SUA1500 vs SMT1500

[Ryan P]

I am looking at these two UPS's and am finding myself a tad bit confused. My purchasing options are limited, as I live on a little bitty island in the Caribbean.

I've got a quote on a APC Smart UPS 1500 and I'm trying to get clarity on which version it is. The shipping costs are so high on a UPS I'd prefer to deal with a local vendor and it makes dealing with a refurbished unit not really worth it in my opinion.

This is for use in my living room to power my Mac Pro and I've seen a lot of complaints about the SMT's loud fan, but also something about a firmware upgrade (quickly followed by a locked thread). I don't want any loud fans, although I do slightly prefer the SMT's aesthetic, even if they are both big ugly black bricks that are going to be hard to hide.

Perhaps the older SUA is the better bet? The power is so flakey with all the rain lately I've been leaving my Mac Pro at work and plugged into our gigantic server UPS's there, where I know it is safe, until I sort a UPS out at home!

 

[thaniel98]

I am looking at these two UPS's and am finding myself a tad bit confused. My purchasing options are limited, as I live on a little bitty island in the Caribbean.

I've got a quote on a APC Smart UPS 1500 and I'm trying to get clarity on which version it is. The shipping costs are so high on a UPS I'd prefer to deal with a local vendor and it makes dealing with a refurbished unit not really worth it in my opinion.

This is for use in my living room to power my Mac Pro and I've seen a lot of complaints about the SMT's loud fan, but also something about a firmware upgrade (quickly followed by a locked thread). I don't want any loud fans, although I do slightly prefer the SMT's aesthetic, even if they are both big ugly black bricks that are going to be hard to hide.

Perhaps the older SUA is the better bet? The power is so flakey with all the rain lately I've been leaving my Mac Pro at work and plugged into our gigantic server UPS's there, where I know it is safe, until I sort a UPS out at home!

The firmware on the SMT have been changed to reduce the fan noise. (UPS FW 5.0) Any new units should have this new FW on them. If for some reason it is the old FW, tech support will instruct you to flash the FW, if that somehow fails they will replace the unit for you. I've flashed over 40 of them with no issues.

The SUA and SMT are pretty similar. The major differences are the SMT has the LCD, a higher online efficiency (green mode), and utilizes a micro-link language instead of the old APC link language.

Honestly you can't go wrong with either, both will work great for your mac pro.

 

[nanofrog]

The SMT1500 is the replacement unit for the SUA1500. Both are Line Interactive units with pure sine wave outputs (essentially the same unit).

As per the firmware, contact APC, as there's no firmware file available on their site (they may expect users that have noise issues/concerns to contact them directly for a download link).

 

[Ryan P]

Interestingly, my reseller said his distributor said the SMT has export restrictictions so it looks like I am getting the SUA after all. Thanks for the clarifications though. I'm curious if they are still producing it as there are a few places stocking it still.

 

[thaniel98]

Interestingly, my reseller said his the SMT has export restrictictions so it looks like I am getting the SUA after all. Thanks for the clarifications though. I'm curious if they are still producing it as there are a few places stocking it still.

Production of the SUA has stopped but there are still very large stocks of them.

 

[nanofrog]

Interestingly, my reseller said his distributor said the SMT has export restrictictions so it looks like I am getting the SUA after all. Thanks for the clarifications though. I'm curious if they are still producing it as there are a few places stocking it still.

As mentioned, some places may still have new stocks. But refurbished models will be available for some time (they're a good value, and there's usually no problems with them in my experience; batteries, and once say ~10 - 12 years old, electrolytic capacitors will need to be replaced).

BTW, there is a SUA1500I, which is the same unit for international markets still in production (230VAC). But the US/Can version, SUA1500 (120VAC), has been replaced by the SMT1500 (it seems the 120VAC version of the SUA1500 is still available in Mexico according to APC's site; uses the same power spec & wall plug as the US).