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UPS Battery Back up for iMac

C

Cobra2001

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 5, 2007
104
0
SoCal
I just got my iMac back in November and now I'm looking for a UPS for it. I'm leaning towards going with APC since I already have one of their units in my home theater and I very pleased with it so far. My only question is if 650 VA is enough or if I should look with something with a higher rating?

I really only have the 24in iMac, an external HD, cable modem and wireless router to worry about. I have a networked Brother printer also, but I heard that they draw a good deal of power when they kick on and thus, should not be plugged into the same UPS as the computer. This is fine with me and I have no problem plugging the printer into another outlet.

I just want to protect the iMac from the occasionally power outages that I experience in my home, especially since I usually keep my iMac on in sleep mode most of the time. Also, I'll be glad to finally have some back up power for my cable modem since I have VOIP running through it.

Thanks for any feedback. :)
 
I'm a big APC fan too. That's what I'm using.

The specs on the 24" iMac list the maximum power as 280W so I would think 650VA would be fine for you. The EHD, cable modem, and wireless router aren't drawing that much.

I would just plug the printer in an outlet that is surge protected but not on the battery.
 
GregE said:
I'm a big APC fan too. That's what I'm using.

The specs on the 24" iMac list the maximum power as 280W so I would think 650VA would be fine for you. The EHD, cable modem, and wireless router aren't drawing that much.

I would just plug the printer in an outlet that is surge protected but not on the battery.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. From your sig, I can see we have the same specs for our iMacs. So I guess I'll trust your judgement ;):D
 
APC is good

The 24"iMac uses about 450 VA. so the APC 650 is fine. To future-proof mine I went with the APC 750. A bit of overkill but it was on sale. Not just for power failures though. It also conditions the incoming power to the computer. I see mine has switched to the battery for voltage noise once. Make sure you use the Power Chute software that comes with the APC. My only regret is my broadband service is fiber, with an RJ-45 connector. The APC doesn't have an in/out for this, except for the RJ-45 to USB cable that goes from the APC unit to your computer. Hope this helps.
On edit: You can plug your printer in the surge-supression side of the APC just fine. You are correct in not wanting to plug a printer into the battery-backup side. It will eat batteries is what I hear.
 
I can recommend APC over Belkin - I have both. A Smart-UPS would be my recommendation, but that is a big investment, especially if all you have is an iMac and not a Mac Pro. I could never justify it myself...
 
Does anyone know if a UPS will protect against power surges if it is plugged into a non-grounded outlet. My building has old wiring and although the landlord has installed 3-prong outlets, they are not actually grounded. I'm pretty sure this means that a simple surge-protected power bar will not actually protect my iMac, but would a UPS with the ability to even out power fluctuations protect against power surges?
 
Morod and Jimmdean, thanks for the information. It's good to know I can plug the printer into one of the surge outlets of the UPS and not have to worry about it affecting the battery outlets.

If I decide to step it up to the 750VA, does anyone know how the BE750BB compares to the BE750G? Is the G a newer model that has the same specs as the BB? From APC's website, that looks to be the case. The G is just dimensionally smaller. Anyone have the BE750G?

Thanks again.

Edit: Just found this online regarding the BE750G: link. In your opinion, would the feature of the new master controlled outlets be good or bad?
 
I only wish there was a small form factor UPS with a single battery-backed power outlet that blended nicely with the size of the iMac. Throwing a massive battery back near such an elegant device makes me just deal with the bad power now and then. On a secretary desk in the kitchen, there is just no room for an 8-outlet plus 6-8 jacks for phone/cable massive brick. I only need 1-2 minutes to cover flickers, beyond that I can deal with a shutdown.
 
Cobra2001 said:
Morod and Jimmdean, thanks for the information. It's good to know I can plug the printer into one of the surge outlets of the UPS and not have to worry about it affecting the battery outlets.

If I decide to step it up to the 750VA, does anyone know how the BE750BB compares to the BE750G? Is the G a newer model that has the same specs as the BB? From APC's website, that looks to be the case. The G is just dimensionally smaller. Anyone have the BE750G?

Thanks again.

Edit: Just found this online regarding the BE750G: link. In your opinion, would the feature of the new master controlled outlets be good or bad?
Click to expand...

I don't think I would care if there was a master on off switch. I've never wanted to turn outlets off.

I'm with Morod, I would go with the BB since it has a longer runtime.
 
I have an iMac on an APC Back-UPS 500 at work without problems, but if I was buying for myself I'd go for the 650 to give a little more headroom
 
For Twig

I'm unsure if a UPS would protect you using an ungrounded outlet, but it can't hurt. You are absolutely correct that a surge supressor won't help at all, as there is no ground for the surge to go to. Have you considered installing a self-grounding outlet into the box where you plug your computer into. For this to work your outlet box would have to be metal. Maybe something to look into.
Morod
 
I use a APC Back-UPS ES 550kVA on my iMac listed below, it gives 13.8 minutes of backup time till it hits 10% and I have OSX shut down the system. Which is a perfect amount of time for me, I rarely have power outages that last anything over 10 seconds, it was cheap only $55 at Office Depot.

That 13.8 minutes is with external HD running, and Linksys wireless router + Comtrend ADSL modem.
 
RevToTheRedline said:
I use a APC Back-UPS ES 550kVA on my iMac listed below, it gives 13.8 minutes of backup time till it hits 10% and I have OSX shut down the system. Which is a perfect amount of time for me, I rarely have power outages that last anything over 10 seconds, it was cheap only $55 at Office Depot.

That 13.8 minutes is with external HD running, and Linksys wireless router + Comtrend ADSL modem.
Click to expand...

That's a good amount of time with all that stuff running. Thanks for chiming in.
 
I use an APC Back-UPS 1200 and it has worked fine during the handful of power losses I have. I set the machine to auto-shutdown after 5 minutes on the UPS because I want it to keep my cable modem and router up (which I can access with my MacBook on it's own internal battery).
 
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