plug pins seem to far apart to connect APC smart UPS to Mac Pro.

[newmacuser23]

I posted a thread here some weeks ago about how to connect my UPs to my mac pro I was having problems connecting the power of my mac pro and other devices to the UPS because the plug holes on the UPS seemed to close together I decided to leave it for a while and come back to it when I had more time to look at it I have just been trying to plug one of the device plugs in for the past half an hour but it just won't fit due to the plug holes being to close together as illustrated in the picture below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16658347@N07/5408553398/

So I am confused how am I supposed to connect my devices to the UPS when the plug holes are so close together?

 

[philipma1957]

your ups is for 220volts it is not made for standard usa 120 volts. the plugs are different for safety reasons ie lots of 120v gear will burn up with 220 volts

 

[Kenndac]

Uh... you weren't trying to plug a three-prongled plug like the one in the photo straight into the UPS, where you?!

To plug a Mac Pro in, you need a male to female "kettle lead" power cable, like this.

Do NOT try to plug a standard UK plug into a UPS. You'll end up dead or in hospital from electric shock.

 

[DanielCoffey]

EDIT : removed redundant info - see below for update.

 

[DanielCoffey]

I have just re-read your original post and you say you are in the UK.

If that is the case you have the correct model but you will notice that the UPS has the male kettle plugs on the back, not the standard 3-pin wall plugs. APC gave you several female to male leads to use with your appliances so you should use those.

If you want to keep the original lead you got with your Mac Pro, you will need to chop off the standard 3-pin plug and replace it with a female socket to go into the UPS. Maplin sell them and I have bought them in the past but I did not find they were as good quality as the moulded ones APC have provided for you.

I have a Smart-UPS 1000 (SMT1000I) in front of me, so feel free to PM me if you have any further questions.

Oh, and as you were advised in the earlier post, you do not need to use the provided PowerChute software as OS-X has the necessary software built in. Just use the provided USB lead to connect the UPS to the Mac Pro and the necessary magic will happen next time you boot the Mac. That USB lead is a "handshake cable" which passes UPS status info to the Mac Pro and also controls the "battery is low so please shut down gracefully" process.

 

[DanielCoffey]

In answer to a further PM query, here is info for those who want to connect devices with power bricks to the UPS...

For devices such as routers, cable modems and phone chargers which have a "power brick" with a fitted three-pin plug, you can still connect these to your UPS by buying a standard 2-way or 4-way adaptor (an ordinary extension lead) with a relatively short mains lead. You will need to remove the 3-pin plug from the end of the adapter and replace it with a female kettle lead connector from somewhere like maplin. You will need this part... http://www.maplin.co.uk/euro-line-plug-1360

You can then plug the 4-way adapter into the UPS and your power bricks into the adapter.

APC recommend that you connect devices directly to the UPS itself avoiding multi-way adapters but with items with power bricks you have no choice. At least that type of device tends to be a low-current transformer for things like phone chargers etc. I have one 4-way for my cable modem, wifi-router and previously a USB hub but the computer goes direct to the UPS.

One thing you must NOT do is connect any type of printer into the UPS (unless your UPS has labelled sockets that bypass the battery and are specifically just for surge protection) since laser printers in particular have a very high current draw when turned on. The Smart-UPS range do not have any suitable sockets that you can connect a printer to. You will have to connect your printer directly to a wall socket on its own (though there are some very good wifi-enabled printers now which can be placed anywhere with no cable clutter).