Uninterruptible Power Supply threads?

[Sun Baked]

Nice to see excessups.com is treating people well, I didn't know anything when I pointed them out in the UPS threads ... beyond them being an example of a company doing refurbished sales.

The units are tough, if they ever break, the batteries can be source locally from a batteries plus for a higher fee than a web business, but can be had in a couple hours.

And if there are problems beyond that, they can be repaired.

---

A lot of the cheap UPSs service life tends to be the first set of batteries, some of these APC units are still being sent out to new owners over a decade after they were made.

---

These APC units like the Hermann Miller chairs are something you want to buy used, too bad they don't have quite as many local dealers like the Hermann Miller chairs which tend to be easy to find used in most large cities.

 

[nanofrog]

And if there are problems beyond that, they can be repaired.

---

A lot of the UPSs service life tends to be the first set of batteries, some of these units are still being sent out to new owners over a decade after they were made.

They usually only need batteries and capacitors (~10 years, electrolytics start to bulge and/or leak and need to be replaced).

 

[Bubbalicious]

I can differentiate between sound coming from the Mac Pro and the UPS. The Mac Pro, on the whole, is noisier, although they are both fairly quiet.

Quick question for you. When you plugged in all your hardware in to the UPS, how many load lights went on?

 

[Ravich]

Havent gotten around to that yet. At the moment only my Mac Pro and monitor are connected to the UPS. Only 1 load light is on at the moment, but I'm not doing anything processor intensive.

 

[Bubbalicious]

Havent gotten around to that yet. At the moment only my Mac Pro and monitor are connected to the UPS. Only 1 load light is on at the moment, but I'm not doing anything processor intensive.

One load light is excellent, that's pretty much no load for that unit. Are you going to load it up with more hardware? I am really curious what a good set up would pull out of a unit of that size.

 

[philipma1957]

I got a good test today. big t-storm hit NJ/NY we had a few tornados close to me which is rare. Lost power for 50 minutes. had only the mac pro on the big unit and all the lite stuff on the smaller unit. was not doing much processing just some lite duty stuff. still waiting on ram. the units were flawless. The battery charge lite dropped from full to 4 lites in the 50 minutes of run time. I will need to rebuild a shelf to make it deeper and stronger once I do that these will work really good.

 

[bearcatrp]

Congratulations on the 12 core! When are you getting it in? I'd love to see what happens when you boot up with the 1300.

As much as I would like to, decided to build another one. Got a sweet deal on some E5640's (2.66) quads. Compared to apple's prices, Will be able to build for less than half of what apple charges. Will keep the mini for streaming my movies and stuff to apple tv. The rest will be done on my soon to be octo 2.66 pc. Had enough of apple's high prices on the pro's.

 

[Bubbalicious]

As much as I would like to, decided to build another one. Got a sweet deal on some E5640's (2.66) quads. Compared to apple's prices, Will be able to build for less than half of what apple charges. Will keep the mini for streaming my movies and stuff to apple tv. The rest will be done on my soon to be octo 2.66 pc. Had enough of apple's high prices on the pro's.

Nice, saving money is always a good bonus. You weren't impressed with the 6-8k price tag?

 

[bearcatrp]

Nice, saving money is always a good bonus. You weren't impressed with the 6-8k price tag?

Not really. After the 2008 models, ( I had a 2.8 w/24gb ram), apple started jacking the prices out of allot of folks reach. Ridiculous. Unless you being paid well to edit video, or other type of work, then it might be worth it. For home stuff, not worth it. Guess I will learn a different software package to do my home stuff.

As for hooking up the 1300 to a 12 core, probably won't cut it. I had the 1500 on the pro and my 1300 is currently on my 2.5 8 core running ubuntu. Working good so far. Just hope the 1500 can handle 16 cores when I get it built.

 

[Bubbalicious]

Havent gotten around to that yet. At the moment only my Mac Pro and monitor are connected to the UPS. Only 1 load light is on at the moment, but I'm not doing anything processor intensive.

So did you get a chance to try out the unit? How did it go? Did you end up returning it?

Not really. After the 2008 models, ( I had a 2.8 w/24gb ram), apple started jacking the prices out of allot of folks reach. Ridiculous. Unless you being paid well to edit video, or other type of work, then it might be worth it. For home stuff, not worth it. Guess I will learn a different software package to do my home stuff.

As for hooking up the 1300 to a 12 core, probably won't cut it. I had the 1500 on the pro and my 1300 is currently on my 2.5 8 core running ubuntu. Working good so far. Just hope the 1500 can handle 16 cores when I get it built.

I completely agree with you. The products are great, but some of the prices are absolutely astronomical and out of reach for most people. I stick to the older stuff, and not by choice either!

 

[Ravich]

Is there some sort of stress test I can do on OSX to see how high the load gets on the UPS?

The TLV is ridiculously heavy with no way to move it around reasonably and makes a slightly audible buzzing sound, making me want to return it. At the same time, when I unplugged the XS to test it, the stepped approximation to a sine wave made my Mac Pro buzz loudly and it was rather unsettling. All I want to do is shut down properly in case of an outage which we almost never get where I'm from. The XS also cut power to my display and I cant figure out why that would be.

Decisions...

 

[yoink]

The SMT/SUA 1000 is what I'm considering. But what's holding me back are the reviews stating the excessive fan cycling and noise.

Any thoughts or experience?

I have had two SMT1000s with the "fan" issue. I was told by APC (after the replacement units all had the same issue) that an updated hardware revision was made at the factory and customers requiring silent units would be shipped replacements as soon as they were available. Today, three months after the RMA was re-issued, I received a shipping notice. I should have the updated SMT1000 tomorrow. Will report back with the differences between the two.

 

[Bubbalicious]

Is there some sort of stress test I can do on OSX to see how high the load gets on the UPS?

The TLV is ridiculously heavy with no way to move it around reasonably and makes a slightly audible buzzing sound, making me want to return it. At the same time, when I unplugged the XS to test it, the stepped approximation to a sine wave made my Mac Pro buzz loudly and it was rather unsettling. All I want to do is shut down properly in case of an outage which we almost never get where I'm from. The XS also cut power to my display and I cant figure out why that would be.

Decisions...

The TLV is ridiculously heavy because it's a solid piece of equipment, unlike the XS and CS it has a real transformer inside and offers real protection!

The reason you're loosing your power to the display and your computer buzzes is because you're using the XS, which outputs a simulated wave. The TLV will never have these kinds of problems.

Look on the left side at the load bars, they'll tell you how loaded your UPS is.

 

[Ravich]

The TLV is ridiculously heavy because it's a solid piece of equipment, unlike the XS and CS it has a real transformer inside and offers real protection!

The reason you're loosing your power to the display and your computer buzzes is because you're using the XS, which outputs a simulated wave. The TLV will never have these kinds of problems.

Look on the left side at the load bars, they'll tell you how loaded your UPS is.

So I lose power to my display without a pure sine wave? I must know more about this...

 

[Icaras]

So I lose power to my display without a pure sine wave? I must know more about this...

Definitely not good news. Having just ordered one without pure sinewave, I may have to reconsider the purchase now....

Edit: I have purchased the Cyberpower 1500, but if this happens to be the same case for me, this shouldn't be an issue, as my only purpose for having a UPS is to safely shut down the MP. And I can use my iPhone, iPad, or Macbook Pro to shut my machine down remotely via VNC.

 

[Bubbalicious]

So I lose power to my display without a pure sine wave? I must know more about this...

When you plugged the display into the 1500TLV and went on battery power, did it stay on without interruption?

 

[aibo]

So I lose power to my display without a pure sine wave? I must know more about this...

Uhh, I've got a CyberPower 1350AVRLCD. It was cheap ~$130 and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have "pure sine wave" or anything fancy. No, I don't lose power to my display when the power goes out... everything works as its supposed to. The power has been interrupted a dozen times since I've gotten it and my Mac Pro (and everything else attached to the UPS) are never interrupted.

 

[Icaras]

Uhh, I've got a CyberPower 1350AVRLCD. It was cheap ~$130 and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have "pure sine wave" or anything fancy. No, I don't lose power to my display when the power goes out... everything works as its supposed to. The power has been interrupted a dozen times since I've gotten it and my Mac Pro (and everything else attached to the UPS) are never interrupted.

Good to hear! I feel better with my CyberPower 1500 now. So it must be with something specific to the XS 1500 then?

 

[Bubbalicious]

So I lose power to my display without a pure sine wave? I must know more about this...

Mostly computer power supplies can have this problem, I've never heard of the a display power supply having this problem. I looked in to the XS 1500 and noticed that two of the outlets at the top, are surge protection only, you're not by any chance plugging your display in to those outlets? If it's plugged in to either of those two, it definitely wouldn't work once you pull the plug.

Uhh, I've got a CyberPower 1350AVRLCD. It was cheap ~$130 and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have "pure sine wave" or anything fancy. No, I don't lose power to my display when the power goes out... everything works as its supposed to. The power has been interrupted a dozen times since I've gotten it and my Mac Pro (and everything else attached to the UPS) are never interrupted.

A lot of it has to do with the type of power supply that's in your Mac pro. Some of the older ones worked with non sinewave UPSs, however a lot of the new ones that have an active PFC power supply don't.


If it works for you, great and I wouldn't change it!

 

[vogelhausdesign]

Sorry for the double post, I'm on on my phone and just posted this in a very old thread.

Hey everyone just a quick question. I found an open box like-new Rocket Fish (skeptical) UPS 1000VA with backup software although it says compatible with 10.3 . Has LCD for monitoring, 8 battery back outlets. For $60 bucks. Is this OK? Will it work for a 5-10 minute battery cycle just to safely shut my 12-core down ? I'd need to pick it up quick so if someone can tell me if that's going to be Ok or if I should shell out 140 for an ACP system with slightly better ratings.

 

[Ravich]

So I realized that the XS has 4 outlets that are surge protection only, and 4 outlets that have the backup battery. My monitor was probably not plugged until one of the backup outlets when I tested it.


I have switched the TLV and XS in and out a couple of times and I am still troubled by the noise that the TLV makes. I can only hear it through the vent, so it might be unnoticeable if I put it on the other side of my Mac Pro or something, but there's also the fact that it is inconvenient. There are literally square depressions on the floor from the RUBBER pads on the bottom of the thing.

 

[Icaras]

So I realized that the XS has 4 outlets that are surge protection only, and 4 outlets that have the backup battery. My monitor was probably not plugged until one of the backup outlets when I tested it.

Ok, so you're display now doesn't go out when you unplug right?

See, this is just more evidence that the whole pure sine wave vs. simulated sine wave thing is seriously over exaggerated in my opinion. I highly doubt companies would release such products that didn't function as stated.

 

[Bubbalicious]

Ok, so you're display now doesn't go out when you unplug right?

See, this is just more evidence that the whole pure sine wave vs. simulated sine wave thing is seriously over exaggerated in my opinion. I highly doubt companies would release such products that didn't function as stated.

It's a huge problem, just read the forums for a bit. So many people run into this problem and end up buying useless UPSs and then returning them to buy the sine wave ones. This isn't isolated to Mac's either, it's a problem with Dell machines too. This whole thing has been going on for years. The funny thing is that Apple nor Dell ever do anything about it, the customers are always left to fend for themselves and figure this stuff out.

And yes, they absolutely release these products that don't function as stated.

 

[vogelhausdesign]

So does anyone have a recomendation for a UPS under $200 new or used that can handle a 12core. I'm without a computer and research on my 3G is fruitless

 

[Ravich]

It's a huge problem, just read the forums for a bit. So many people run into this problem and end up buying useless UPSs and then returning them to buy the sine wave ones. This isn't isolated to Mac's either, it's a problem with Dell machines too. This whole thing has been going on for years. The funny thing is that Apple nor Dell ever do anything about it, the customers are always left to fend for themselves and figure this stuff out.

And yes, they absolutely release these products that don't function as stated.

Run into which problem?