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APC UPS not detected in power settings?

M

mluters

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 25, 2010
44
0
I have a 2010 MP (OSX 10.8.1) with a APC Smart-UPS SMT1500 connected and it has worked fine since I purchased in Dec 2011. However, I just noticed that it is no longer detected in the power settings...but it IS listed as connected on the usb tab under system profile?

I connected the UPS to my mac mini (OSX 10.8.1) and macbook (OSX 10.8.1) and it is detected right away and works as advertised on those 2 macs. I talked to APC and they say it's working fine if it's detected on the other two macs. Things I've tried:

1. PRAM reset
2. SMC reset
3. Deleted the power management plist file
4. Switched usb cables and ports

No luck so far...any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
 
Are your other USB devices working properly. Are you sure it worked with 10.8.1 on the macpro. I've read that some have had USB issues with ML on the McPro, something about the airport card.
 
I have 10.8.1 and the APC SMT1000I and I see the following (let me know how it compares to yours)...

1. On the top right menu bar "Power" icon - Unknown time remaining, Power Source: power adapter

2. On the Energy Saver page - UPS tab - Current Charge 100%, Shutdown options : UPS Model Smart-UPS 1000 FW:COM 02.1 / UPS.05.I

It looks like the Mac Pro only half-knows that it has an APC UPS. Well spotted. I think we need to point this out to APC.

EDIT : What did we have on those locations under 10.7? I can't remember. The UPS has always just worked and I had forgotten what was displayed.
 
As far as I am aware, I do not have apcupsd installed... After all, that thread was 4 years old and no apps are needed now to get full functionality on an APC ups.
 
I have now checked and APCUPSD has never been installed on my Mac.

Can one of our APC users still on Lion check their Power Settings icon and see what is displayed please.
 
I have an APC UPS on Lion and I just use the power management built into Mac OS X. Its status shows up in my menu bar just fine.

Menu bar: 100%, unknown time remaining; Power Source: Power Adapter

In Energy Saver: Back-UPS BR1500G FW:865.L2 .D USB FW:L2
 
Hmm... so when did the USB cable link stop displaying the UPS name and status on the Power Settings icon then?

The UPS functions so reliably that I long stopped paying attention to that icon. Sure it works, but I would like to know what it *should* say there now.
 
I have just done a small test of the UPS status and there is an issue with the reporting...

1. On mains power, UPS in standby...

Unknown time remaining
Power Source: Power Adapter


2. mains off, running on battery...

Unknown time remaining
Power Source: Power Adapter

I thought that the display when on mains might actually be appropriate but since it doesn't change when running on battery it looks like the handshake through the USB cable is not functioning as I would expect.

Is this an Apple issue or an APC issue?
 
Same problem here. Mac Pro 3,1 running OSX 10.8.2 and SMT1500I
(Actually, I never managed to get this working properly under 10.5, 10.6 or 10.7 either.)


Notice how OSX actually does display the actual remaining charge and runtime if you unplug and reconnect the USB cable on the UPS unit.

It seems like some sort of polling/interval issue.

Has anyone reported this to APC and/or Apple yet?
 
Under 10.8.2, if I pull the USB to the UPS, the Power Status icon vanishes from the bar as expected.

If I plug it back in, it reappears but the information showed is still the same. Percentage and Power Source are still greyed out.
 
I have asked them about the UPS firmware too. Mine was seriously out of date.

Of course to update it you need to use that stupid RJ45 to Serial cable they gave us. Serial? Hmm... At least USB to Serial adapters are available and emulate a serial port.
 
Yeah… just got the upgrade firmware talk from APC, but nothing on what and how to do this on a Mac. And I seriously forgot about that stupid serial cable!

Have you tried it? Did it fix the situation?
 
I am still waiting to hear back from them, I am afraid.

The RJ45 end goes into the UPS and you will need one of the USB to Serial adapters for about a tenner but a quick google shows it does work. There is a small micro-controller inside the adapter that emulates a serial port which is simple enough to fool the firmware update software.

I assume the updater will be a windows .exe however. Not a problem for those of us with Bootcamp.
 
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Mine seems to be working with 10.8.2. When the UPS does a automatic self-test and switches to battery power, I get a pop-up dialog box warning me that the computer is running on battery power.

On my EnergySaver/UPS/ShutdownOptions I see 3 selectable shutdown slider bars plus:

UPS Model: Smart-UPS 1500 FW:601.3.D USB FW:8.1


The menu bar icon has 4 selections:
Unknown time remaining (greyed out)
Power Source: power adapter (greyed out)
Show Percentage
Open Energy Saver Preferences



-howard
 
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It is the Status Bar display which is incorrect under 10.8.2 - the time remaining and the power source. It doesn't change even when the UPS is on battery.

Once I have update to the latest Firmware I will test it and report it to APC.
 
Hi hfg,

It seems you have a newer firmware installed.

To see if the percentages get updated as they should, try this: unplug your UPS from mains while leaving your computer running and see if OSX displays updated remaining run time and battery percentage.
If you have a UPS with an LCD screen you can cross check those readouts.
 
I have been given the APC Firmware Updater tool now and can confirm that it is Windows-only, needs Java Runtime installed (remember to say NO to the "Make Ask.com your default search tool and install our "helper" toolbar..." question) and also insists that you update via the UPS's RJ45 port.

I have no idea if an RJ45 to USB cable would work but I have ordered a Serial to USB adapter anyway. There seem to be two sorts - the "dumb" ones with a basic serial emulator and those with an embedded hardware serial controller with a USB interface. The price difference is around £3 compared to around £9.

Once it is here I will use it and report back.

EDIT : I have just been informed it is not an RJ45 connector anyway - it is actually a 10-pin serial connector in a package the same shape as an RJ45... just with more pins. Good job I didn't buy one then... I had assumed based on the outward appearance without counting the pins. Phew.
 
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Right... I have just updated the multiple firmwares in my SMT1000I using the supplied serial cable and a serial-to-usb adapter under Win7 and it worked on the second attempt. First time the comms over the cable dropped while uploading the firmware but the Updater App is well enough written that it will check before doing anything final.

My observations on the process are as follows...

1. You MUST disconnect everything from the UPS before doing the update as it will power itself off at several points and must not lose comms with the Mac at any time. Run your MP and monitor from the mains while updating.

2. I had to disconnect the USB-USB cable for the updater to start.

3. Transferring the firmware file over the cable took around five minutes on the second attempt. The first time failed after a few seconds but I repeated it and everything was fine.

4. Once the UPS has verified the firmware file it will power itself off and update which is fairly fast. When it has completed and the Mac knows it is done, the UPS will remain offline.

5. The Updater app reported the following firmwares changed...

OLD
===
UPS 05.0
COM 02.1
UBL 05.0
CBL 5.21

NEW
===
UPS 07.1
MCU 05.0
UBL 7.20
MBL 05.0

Once I had plugged everything back into the correct outlets and rebooted routers, I checked the Status Display in the menu bar.

On Mains : Unknown Time Remaining, Power Source: Power Adapter

This is as we would expect and was unchanged from before. I then pulled the plug from the wall...

On Battery : Time Remaining 0:52, Power Source: UPS

So, with the new firmware, it works. The time remaining is in hours and minutes. My MP and Monitor displays 27% load on the UPS panel which equates to about 185W draw on the SMT1000I. Their Runtime Chart for the SMT1000I estimates between 0h55m and 0h48m for that sort of load which is excellent considering the battery is now two years old.

I then went over to the Energy Saver : UPS panel and saw something that I had missed before... a current charge percentage value. I can't remember if it was ever there before but it is now.

==

TL;DR - ask APC to help updating your firmware and you will get the correct Menu Bar display.
 
hfg said:
Mine seems to be working with 10.8.2. When the UPS does a automatic self-test and switches to battery power, I get a pop-up dialog box warning me that the computer is running on battery power.

On my EnergySaver/UPS/ShutdownOptions I see 3 selectable shutdown slider bars plus:

UPS Model: Smart-UPS 1500 FW:601.3.D USB FW:8.1


The menu bar icon has 4 selections:
Unknown time remaining (greyed out)
Power Source: power adapter (greyed out)
Show Percentage
Open Energy Saver Preferences



-howard
Click to expand...

My UPS just went through the periodic self-test where it switches to battery power for a short time (It was too difficult to reach the plug behind furniture to unplug it for a run test. :) ). While it was running on battery power, the menubar pulldown did show "xx minutes time remaining" and that it was running on the UPS. Also the "% remaining" icon label drifted down from 100% while the test was in progress.

So, with the firmware level shown above for the Smart-UPS 1500, the interface is working with Mountain Lion 10.8.2.


-howard
 
Ok, so I got the usb-serial adapter (also got a model with FTDI chipset) , ran VMWare with WinXP and used the firmware updater supplied by APC.

That seems to do the trick! Status gets updated as it should.

Funny thing though: upgrade process failed the first time too and the second attempt, which took way longer, did work. Seems like a small bug in the update software.

Thanks all!
 
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