Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) on OS X

[roadbloc]

My area is having new electrics fitted, and unfortunately, this results in a lot of power failures and fuses tripping at the moment. Since I write stuff for my my income, loosing bits of my work as I haven't saved or autosaved has failed on me is becoming more than irritating, and I am considering getting a UPS as replacing all of the electrics in my area could 'take up to or over a year' according to the council.

So basically, I was wondering if OS X provided native support for UPS's and if so, what kind and how do I change the settings for it? And if they don't is there any application I can get which will support UPS's for me?

 

[old-wiz]

The APC UPS devices seem to work fine and they include a cable to go from the UPS to the Mac USB port. They give you enough time to have the system save and shutdown.

 

[MisterMe]

My area is having new electrics fitted, and unfortunately, this results in a lot of power failures and fuses tripping at the moment. Since I write stuff for my my income, loosing bits of my work as I haven't saved or autosaved has failed on me is becoming more than irritating, and I am considering getting a UPS as replacing all of the electrics in my area could 'take up to or over a year' according to the council.

So basically, I was wondering if OS X provided native support for UPS's and if so, what kind and how do I change the settings for it? And if they don't is there any application I can get which will support UPS's for me?

The primary mission for an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is to supply uninterrupted power. The secondary mission of a UPS is to provide clean power. Based on your description of the power in your area, this sounds very important to you. All UPSes perform both of these missions. It is all good and fine to have the ability to manage the UPS and to have the UPS automatically initiate a graceful shutdown in the event of a power outage. However, these management functions are tertiary in importance for the vast majority of users.

My recommendation is to get the highest capacity UPS that you can afford. It will give you the longest grace period following a power outage and the cleanest power while the power is on. If it also includes MacOS X management software, then so much the better. However, I would not let management software play a significant role in my purchasing decision.

 

[stroked]

The primary mission for an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is to supply uninterrupted power. The secondary mission of a UPS is to provide clean power. Based on your description of the power in your area, this sounds very important to you. All UPSes perform both of these missions. It is all good and fine to have the ability to manage the UPS and to have the UPS automatically initiate a graceful shutdown in the event of a power outage. However, these management functions are tertiary in importance for the vast majority of users.

My recommendation is to get the highest capacity UPS that you can afford. It will give you the longest grace period following a power outage and the cleanest power while the power is on. If it also includes MacOS X management software, then so much the better. However, I would not let management software play a significant role in my purchasing decision.

I have an APC UPS for my imac. It come with windows software, that i just tossed. What good is management software, for something as simple as a battery back up?

 

[hwojtek]

However, these management functions are tertiary in importance for the vast majority of users.

The largest post in the thread, some truisms a bit of cliche, no help at all, though.
An UPS without proper computer interface is just as good as a power outage, only the actual outage happens 15 minutes later.
I've heard the http://www.apcupsd.com/ is quite good a management daemon for APC UPSes. They are also well known for their quality, so I'd stick with one of them. Got 3 x APC Back-UPS 800 at home and no problems with them.

 

[roadbloc]

Thanks for the advise guys. An APC UPS it is.

 

[MisterMe]

The largest post in the thread, some truisms a bit of cliche, no help at all, though.
An UPS without proper computer interface is just as good as a power outage, only the actual outage happens 15 minutes later.
...

Nonsense. I live in a city with the least dependable and dirtiest power of any place in the US that I know. I have relied on a UPS since moving here. Currently, I use an APC Back-UPS ES 750. I do not use management software. The UPS benefits me every microsecond because it ensures the cleanliness of my power. I am not aware of any benefit to clean power by management software. Many power outages last much less than 15 minutes. So a UPS that lasts 15 minutes will tide me over until the power is restored. Your power outage 15 minutes later is my power outage that never happened.

However, I will not bet on a short-duration power outage. In the case of a power outage, I use it as intended. I finish what I was doing. I then shutdown. I can do this well within the time that my UPS allows me to work in the dark.

 

[stroked]

The largest post in the thread, some truisms a bit of cliche, no help at all, though.
An UPS without proper computer interface is just as good as a power outage, only the actual outage happens 15 minutes later.
I've heard the http://www.apcupsd.com/ is quite good a management daemon for APC UPSes. They are also well known for their quality, so I'd stick with one of them. Got 3 x APC Back-UPS 800 at home and no problems with them.

I just checked out the link that you posted. It's basically an iStat Pro for your APC. There is nothing that I need with it.

Nonsense. I live in a city with the least dependable and dirtiest power of any place in the US that I know. I have relied on a UPS since moving here. Currently, I use an APC Back-UPS ES 750. I do not use management software. The UPS benefits me every microsecond because it ensures the cleanliness of my power. I am not aware of any benefit to clean power by management software. Many power outages last much less than 15 minutes. So a UPS that lasts 15 minutes will tide me over until the power is restored. Your power outage 15 minutes later is my power outage that never happened.

However, I will not bet on a short-duration power outage. In the case of a power outage, I use it as intended. I finish what I was doing. I then shutdown. I can do this well within the time that my UPS allows me to work in the dark.

Well put

 

[smithrh]

UPS monitoring capabilities and actions are built right into Mac OS X.

Go into the Energy Saver system preferences pane after you've connected your UPS to the Mac (APC supplies a RJ-45 to USB cable), you'll see a UPS button you can click on.

Once you've done that, you can set a few timers and actions, as well as being able to monitor via the menu bar.

I never even considered loading the APC SW.

I've been protecting my router, cable modem and Mac mini server with 6TB of SW RAID 1 storage for a few years with this setup now, works great. One thing I think some people have missed is that you may not be around when a power failure happens - the APC lets me ride out the interruptions, to be sure, but it also shuts down the server & disks if the outage is long-lived even if I'm not there.

 

[RichardBeer]

On the question of OS X support, if you open up system profiler and go to power, under hardware configuration it says (in my case) 'UPS Installed: No'.

This to me infers that that OS X can support UPSs in at least some manner or else why would it be even mentioned?

 

[Bear]

On the question of OS X support, if you open up system profiler and go to power, under hardware configuration it says (in my case) 'UPS Installed: No'.

This to me infers that that OS X can support UPSs in at least some manner or else why would it be even mentioned?

As others have mention support for having a UPS connected to OS X is built right in. I also have an APC UPS and when I plug it in to a USB port, you get additional options in Energy Saver preferences.

There is no need to install any software from APC.

 

[QuantumLo0p]

The APC UPS devices seem to work fine and they include a cable to go from the UPS to the Mac USB port. They give you enough time to have the system save and shutdown.

I second that. I have an APC BackUps, cannot remember the model atm, perhaps a 1000 or 1200. At any rate, I borrowed it from my old PowerMac set up. I used to have on that system and it had enough power to run my dual G5 LC and an ACD for a short time.

It still works great on my 2010 Mini. I have it set, in control panel, to shut everything down after a short period of time when power is completely lost. You can specify a timed shutdown or by percentage of battery remaining; very nice. I did this so it properly shuts down in my absence. Also, I have experienced some momentary power dips as well as short black outs while I have been working and never experienced any hiccups; not even any visual anomalies. Every few months I pull the UPS power plug out of the wall to test it and make sure it still functions properly. Brute force testing, yes, but it has proven to be 100% reliable to date.

 

[dysamoria]

As others have mention support for having a UPS connected to OS X is built right in. I also have an APC UPS and when I plug it in to a USB port, you get additional options in Energy Saver preferences.

There is no need to install any software from APC.

This does not happen for me on my iMac with High Sierra and a Tripp Lite SMART500RT1U.