MP 1,1-5,1 What's the latest in uninterruptible power supplies?

[eicca]

What do you recommend for 5,1 setups? Current reputable brands? Compatibility issues I should know about?

After using a MacBook for a decade I was caught off guard by a power flicker today and my cMP of course shut down. Thankfully I wasn't doing anything critical.

Let's assume I'm working heavy load when the power goes out. What sort of rating would be best for a UPS to give me three minutes of save and quit time?

 

[AidenShaw]

What do you recommend for 5,1 setups? Current reputable brands? Compatibility issues I should know about?

After using a MacBook for a decade I was caught off guard by a power flicker today and my cMP of course shut down. Thankfully I wasn't doing anything critical.

Let's assume I'm working heavy load when the power goes out. What sort of rating would be best for a UPS to give me three minutes of save and quit time?

Get the biggest sine wave unit that your budget allows. While the 5,1 may run at about 500 VA typically, under load it will pull more. Usually bigger UPS systems have bigger batteries, so the runtime on battery will be longer. (I have a 1500 watt APC SmartUPS for my TiVo+cable box. They pull under 100 watts, but the 1500 VA UPS gives a runtime of about three hours.)

APC's website has nice calculators to look at runtime vs. load and UPS size. (Be sure to include the load from monitors, external drives, USB hubs, network switches or anything else that needs to be up to do a clean shutdown.)

There are many other threads here - look for UPS in the title. There's a lot of disagreement in those threads - some will say that "sine wave" is unimportant - others say that their systems shut down with "stepped approximation" units. The issue is that many modern high-efficiency power supplies don't like the "dirty" power from a stepped sine wave system, and shut down. (Not much point in getting a UPS if your system shuts down when it switches to UPS battery )

When I put my money down, I go with APC (Schneider) sine wave systems. I have about ten 5000 VA 208 volt units, and many other 120 volt 1500 VA and 2200 VA. (Note that 1500 VA is the max for a US 120 volt 15 amp circuit.) I avoid CyberPower - their big advantage is to say "we're the cheapest".

If you really have a big budget - there are UPS systems hitting the market with Lithium Ion batteries instead of sealed lead acid.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

As someone who has been using UPSes at home for 20+ years, I think that sine-wave units are a waste of money. I have NEVER had a single piece of equipment at home that shut down from stepped wave UPS power. Maybe some of the overclocking videogamers put their systems in a place with little tolerance but Joe Consumer shouldn't worry about it.

Sure, if you're a corporate IT guy responsible for Oracle iron for Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, etc. by all means buy the sine-wave UPS units.

For home usage, I don't see the benefit.

If you live in an industrialized country, remember that whatever electricity is being offered by your home's outlets is probably far cleaner than most of the household electricity in the rest of the world.

Purists/geeks might think that stepped wave electricity is "risky" but it's gourmet compared to the dogchow that comes out of the wall in some places in the world. Macs (like other consumer devices) are basically designed to function with some pretty marginal electricity sources.

There are tons of ways to empty your wallet into electronics gear but a pure sine wave UPS is pretty much the last thing I'd put between my Mac and the wall outlet. Heck, I'd put the pure sine wave UPS between the wall and one of those goofy audiophile tube amps before I'd bother with computing gear.

At home, I don't plug my monitor into the battery-backup UPS outlets. Only the computer and essential peripherals (namely an external drive or two) are plugged into the battery backup outlets. If I happen to be at home when the power goes out, I can always move the monitor plug to a battery-backup outlet for quick use. The Mac itself is configured to shut down when less than 10% of UPS battery remains.

Much of this depends on the quality of your local electricity. Where I currently live, the power is pretty reliable. My guess is that there are about 6-8 power events every year but four of them are so short that they don't even reset the microwave oven, stove, and dishwasher. So maybe 2-3 outages annually and rarely does anything last more than a minute.

 

[Quu]

As someone who has been using UPSes at home for 20+ years, I think that sine-wave units are a waste of money. I have NEVER had a single piece of equipment at home that shut down from stepped wave UPS power. Maybe some of the overclocking videogamers put their systems in a place with little tolerance but Joe Consumer shouldn't worry about it.

I was thinking the same thing but then had the issue happen to me. Here is the scenario. I had a home-server that was pulling about 675 Watts from the wall outlet. Dual-socket XEON system with 24 drives, 256GB of Memory across 16 DIMM's, every PCIe slot filled with RAID cards, 10Gb ethernet cards and so forth. It was packed.

The PSU I was using had Active PFC because it was a high end power supply, 1200 Watts, Platinum rated. I had this system connected to an APC stepped sinewave UPS (900 Watt rated).

During a power cut, the UPS clicked on and the computers PSU's active PFC tripped and the server instantly shut off. I thought okay, it's a fluke these things happen.. then a few weeks later same thing happened again.

At this point I replaced the unit with a CyberPower UPS which has a pure sinewave output, when power cuts happened this same server did not shut off and weathered the cut perfectly.

Before I purchased the CyberPower UPS I contacted APC to seek advice about things. They asked me for the model number of my PSU (Corsair AX1200i) and they told me that in their opinion that PSU and that models of UPS were not compatible and that I should get a new UPS from them that is designed for high-end audio equipment, specifically because they produced pure sinewaves.

APC has since came out with a new range of UPS that produce pure sinewaves aimed more at the computer market but they're not yet available in my country so I've instead invested in three of the CyberPower units which are actually quite affordable and reliable.

 

[HDFan]

I go with APC (Schneider) sine wave systems.

Does APC have Mac monitoring software?

I have the Cyberpower PR1500LCD. Haven't had any problems with it, but the PowerPanel monitoring software isn't the most elegant....

CyberPower PR1500LCD Smart App Sinewave UPS System, 1500VA/1500W, 8 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower

A mini-tower UPS with line interactive topology, the CyberPower smart app Sinewave PR1500LCD Provides battery backup, power protection (using sine wave output), and surge protection for corporate servers, department servers, storage appliances, network devices, and telecom installations requiring...

www.amazon.com

 

[Erehy Dobon]

I was thinking the same thing but then had the issue happen to me. Here is the scenario. I had a home-server that was pulling about 675 Watts from the wall outlet. Dual-socket XEON system with 24 drives, 256GB of Memory across 16 DIMM's, every PCIe slot filled with RAID cards, 10Gb ethernet cards and so forth. It was packed.

A perfect example of the 0.01% of computer users who isn't Joe Consumer. These are the people who should consider a stepped sine wave UPS.
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Does APC have Mac monitoring software?

I have been using APC UPS units for 20+ years and I believe they ditched the Mac version of PowerChute maybe 10-15 years ago.

If I recall correctly, apcupsd was Mac compatible at the time, perhaps it still is. I use the basic UPS interface of macOS though.

 

[AidenShaw]

Sure, if you're a corporate IT guy responsible for Oracle iron for Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, etc. by all means buy the sine-wave UPS units.

For home usage, I don't see the benefit.

In other words, you're suggesting buying cheap, low end crap for home use?

Sorry, but I buy a UPS system for availability - not to get the cheapest on the market. I've had literally decades of greate experiences with APC systems. Some of them have been running for more than a decade - just replace the battery when the light comes on.

I won't choose a UPS based on a hundred dollars or so. APC all the way.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

I think the regular stepped wave APC UPSes are fine. I did not say to buy a crap unit.

Since you did not bother to read my original reply, I mentioned specifically that I used APC units.

The UPS market has a wide spectrum of units of various capabilities, qualities, and price points produced by a variety of manufactures. It's not an all-or-nothing scenario -- something that is apparently very difficult for some to comprehend.

Even APC has a wide assortment of models from barebones consumer protection to enterprise-caliber solutions.

 

[eicca]

As long as a non-sine wave unit will still power my cMP then I should be fine. Voltage regulation is a must, though. I run some old low-watt analog audio gear that is fairly irreplaceable and the lights in my ancient apartment flicker a little more than I’d like.

I plan to run a Furman power conditioner off one of the non-battery outlets on the UPS for maximum protection.

 

[watakoola]

Happy with my CyberPower CP900EPFCLCD - running a Mac mini, 2 x displays, eGPU, 4 x bay HDD enclosure, and hub.

The big thing is to TEST it once you've installed it to see how long you've got before it runs out of power. I tested mine and was easily able to save and quit a variety of applications and gracefully shut the mini down.

CP900EPFCLCDa - Backup UPS for Computer and Peripheral | CyberPower

CyberPower CP900EPFCLCDa with Pure Sine Wave output safeguards mid- to high-end computer systems, servers and networking hardware that use conventional and Active Power Factor Correction (PFC) power supplies. Designed with GreenPower UPS™ Technology to improve UPS operating efficiency and to...

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[flowrider]

Does APC have Mac monitoring software?

They used to, but not anymore because there is no need. The MacOS Energy Saver Control Panel has all the controls you will need.

BTW, I run an APC sine wave 1500 VA unit.

Lou

 

[HDFan]

They used to, but not anymore because there is no need. The MacOS Energy Saver Control Panel has all the controls you will need.

Unfortunately that doesn't meet my needs. I have flexibility in how many of my systems are powered on and how heavily they are used. I need to see a record of power consumption. When I brought up the latest PowerPanel graph I realized that I was using almost 3 times more power than normal. With high-cost electricity (over $.20 KW/h), this is something I have to watch. Shutdown some systems and am now back to normal.

So I guess that eliminates APC as an option for me.

 

[Quu]

A perfect example of the 0.01% of computer users who isn't Joe Consumer. These are the people who should consider a stepped sine wave UPS.

All Power Supplies sold today that have a high wattage are Active PFC though. The Mac Pro 5,5 is too old. But the 7,1 is Active PFC for example. I don't think Joe Consumer is buying Mac Pro's anymore or ever to be honest.

But it doesn't really matter because the CyberPower units with a pure sinewave cost less than APC's stepped sinewave models with the same wattage output and VA capacity. They're also quieter.

 

[MarkC426]

Much of this depends on the quality of your local electricity. Where I currently live, the power is pretty reliable. My guess is that there are about 6-8 power events every year but four of them are so short that they don't even reset the microwave oven, stove, and dishwasher. So maybe 2-3 outages annually and rarely does anything last more than a minute.

This is not all that needs to be considered though.
Even a rise or fall in voltage can (theoretically) damage hardware.
Certain times of the year my UPS's kick in for a spike or drop, and nothing else in the house is affected, not even lights. It's surprising how many 'tiny' events happen that you wouldn't even be aware of without a UPS.

 

[Tiem]

APC. The two titans are CyberPower and APC. I've alway used the former and the UPSs have always just been tucked away and work till their batteries age and I replace them (usually about ~5 years).

I don't love APC but they do work. I imagine it's pretty much Seagate vs WD, you pick a camp and till it burns you, you stick to it.

 

[AidenShaw]

But it doesn't really matter because the CyberPower units with a pure sinewave cost less than APC's stepped sinewave models with the same wattage output and VA capacity. They're also quieter.

If the runtime is the same or better, that would be good.

 

[AidenShaw]

I imagine it's pretty much Seagate vs WD, you pick a camp and till it burns you, you stick to it.

Good analogy

 

[Upgrader]

I have issues on my 5,1 with low level but audible glitchy, bleepy static on all audio outputs. Would using a UPS solve this issue if the power source is causing it?