APC BackUp Pro 1500 Not Showing in Energy Saving System Prefs Panel

[Anto38x]

Hi there...

I recently purchased and received (today) a brand new APC BackUp Pro 1500 and I set it all up and started up my MacPro only to find that no settings were appearing in the usual Energy Savings System Prefs dialog panel.... ? Has anyone experienced this and is there any workaround ?

All cables connected to my MacPro pro have been checked and all are correctly attached from the APC UPS to the MacPro.

My MacPro is a 12Core MacPro (Mid-Late 2010) and I'm running OSX 10.9 with 32GB RAM.

I have no control over the setting for this. I contacted APC and they emailed me on a SetUp Guide... the images in the guide look like they are for OSX 10.6 or 10.7 and their Support Lines are closed now for the weekend.

Any help or comments would be much appreciated.


Regards,
Irish MacUser & MacAddict

 

[Bear]

It wasn't clear from what you said, do you have the USB cable to the UPS connected?

I have an APC BackUPS 1500 RS I'm using with my iMac that shows up properly in energy saver preferences.

 

[Anto38x]

Hi Bear.... and thank you very much for your comments.

I have all the cables connected correctly.... the USB cable from my computer to the APC UPS 1500 and still nothing appears in the Energy Settings.

I'm also using a MacPro 12 Core running 10.9.... what OS are you running as a matter of interest ?


Regards,
Anthony

 

[Bear]

Hi Bear.... and thank you very much for your comments.

I have all the cables connected correctly.... the USB cable from my computer to the APC UPS 1500 and still nothing appears in the Energy Settings.

I'm also using a MacPro 12 Core running 10.9.... what OS are you running as a matter of interest ?


Regards,
Anthony

Currently 10.8.5. I did run 10.9.0 for about a day and the UPS did show up there. If you're running 10.9.0 have you tried upgrading to 10.9.1? And so it's in the same spot, this is on an iMac like I siad above, but which Mac shouldn't make a difference.

 

[DanielCoffey]

I have the APC SMT1000I and use the USB cable and 10.9.1.

My Energy Saver - UPS panel shows Computer Sleep time, Display Sleep time, Current Charge, Shutdown Options, Restore Defaults, Show UPS Status in menu bar and Status buttons.

It is possible you may need to ask APC to check your firmware version in the UPS and ask them for the firmware updater. You do need a good ol' fashioned Serial Port connector to update the firmware but there are some USB - Serial adapters that work well for a few quid. PM me and I'll teem you what model I bought if you need to go down that route.

 

[Anto38x]

I have the APC SMT1000I and use the USB cable and 10.9.1.

My Energy Saver - UPS panel shows Computer Sleep time, Display Sleep time, Current Charge, Shutdown Options, Restore Defaults, Show UPS Status in menu bar and Status buttons.

It is possible you may need to ask APC to check your firmware version in the UPS and ask them for the firmware updater. You do need a good ol' fashioned Serial Port connector to update the firmware but there are some USB - Serial adapters that work well for a few quid. PM me and I'll teem you what model I bought if you need to go down that route.

Thanks for that helpful info Daniel. I'm using the Serial to USB cable supplied by APC and I'm still seeing nothing. I have been onto their support people who don't seem to know much about Apple Macs at all... they keep just sending me on a startup guide showing the UPS Energy Saving controls... which ARE NOT SHOWING here on my system... so maybe this Firmware update you speak about holds the key... I will email them now again with what you said to see if this could be a workable solution.

I did get APCAgent software to install on 10.9.1, so that at least is giving me some status information on the UPS, but I still have no control over Shutdown settings.

Thanks again for your concern and help.


Regards,
Anthony

 

[chrfr]

Thanks for that helpful info Daniel. I'm using the Serial to USB cable supplied by APC and I'm still seeing nothing.

If that model UPS has a USB port, use the USB port on it. The built in Mac UPS interface won't work over serial.

 

[DanielCoffey]

The serial to usb cable is probably a firmware flash cable - just use a USB A to USB B ("USB Printer") cable.

 

[adam9c1]

Is the serial port on the back of the UPS on a card?
If so that's a management card to config the UPS unit itself.

In this picture you can see a hand sliding in or out a management card.

The USB port you need to use is below that.

 

[Anto38x]

Is the serial port on the back of the UPS on a card?
If so that's a management card to config the UPS unit itself.

Image

In this picture you can see a hand sliding in or out a management card.

The USB port you need to use is below that.

Hi there guys... thanks again for all your contributions.

I have spoken with APC Tech Support and they say it should just work out of the box with the native Energy Savings Prefs dialog box.... but it isn't.... we are going down the step by step troubleshooting process at present and with no success with that... they are now replacing the USB/Serial cable... I'm not holding out much hope of that working.... I think I will be stuck with the system with no controls and hoping that if I do get a power cut I will be there to manually shut it down myself. I work long hard hours as a self employed graphic designer so the chances are that will work. Not ideal, but it could be the end result.

Thanks again for all your help guys. Much appreciated.


Regards,
Anthony

 

[chrfr]

they are now replacing the USB/Serial cable.

By "USB-serial" do you mean the cable that's USB on one end, and a modular RJ-45 style cable on the other?
If so, it may well be the cable because I've used those without problems on Macs before, though not the Back-UPS Pro, but with other APC units.

 

[adam9c1]

Can you post a photo of what your UPS looks like (either online pic or one you take)

Is this an older unit?
If it only has a serial connection, I'm afraid it's too old most likely to interface.

 

[Anto38x]

Can you post a photo of what your UPS looks like (either online pic or one you take)

Is this an older unit?
If it only has a serial connection, I'm afraid it's too old most likely to interface.

The unit is brand new... their latest range....

http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=27

Mine is the one in the middle. I have uploaded some images of the back of the unit for you to review also. Plus the back of my MacPro plus a screen shot of the offending Energy Savings dialog box.


Regards,
Anthony

 

[chrfr]

Plus the back of my MacPro plus a screen shot of the offending Energy Savings dialog box.

Does anything appear in your System Report under USB?

 

[Squuiid]

Having the same issue with this UPS and a Mac Mini Server (2011).
We're you able to figure out how to make it work?

I'm on ML, but would consider Mavericks if it fixes this issue!

Thanks.