[joelw135]

It seems that APC isn't the only company that sells UPS units that have problems with Mac. I bought a Power Sentry unit that said Mac compatible, but it wasn't Leopard compatible. No where did it say that and the software installed on Leopard but wouldn't run. Adding insult to injury the unit was not seen by my new iMac. I called their support that went through a long script of things to do and nothing worked. He finally went to a supervisor who told me the bad news. I couldn't return the unit as it was a sale item and I knew there was no return. I ended up buying a battery for my APC Back-UPS XS 800 which works well with the mac built in UPS software. I then used the Power Sentry on a Windows 7 Machine that recognized it at the start and works fine. Lesson learned from that experience.

[moose_n_squirrel]

mrbach said:

Why use Powerchute? My APC shows up in my Energy savings pref pane and works perfectly and provides full functionality.

And by that you mean, only as much "full functionality" as any Mac-only user has seen.

When I really want to know what's going on with my UPS, I fire up Parallels because I've got the Windows version of the APC software installed there, which provides far more information and control over the UPS than APC or Apple has ever provided in their software on the Mac side.

If there is anything of APC that Mac users should be asking for, it isn't to provide software that merely equals the minimal features in OS X Energy Saver. They need to give us a full Mac equivalent of their more powerful Windows monitoring software.

[Martian]

Likewise, I run my Belkin UPS with just the USB connected (through a hub) but without Belkin software.

I have the Energy preference panel set to start shutdown when the Belkin is at 35%. Even though the UPS is rated at about 1000 watts and has new batteries, the Mac Pro two monitors two modems two routers cordless phone base station can suck the UPS down to critical level in 4-5 minutes.

[JoeCarmel]

I have used APC UPS for years with no problems. I have never used the Powerchute software. At present I am using Mac OS 10.5.6.

[Neil_Anderson]

"To me this is a great annoyance. If I forget to turn off my printer and do it after the Mac is asleep, it turns the Mac back on."
Get an Airport Express and plug the printer into it. Not only do I get wireless printing from anywhere in the house, but when I turn the printer off it doesn't waken any of my Macs.

[lkrupp]

I'm using an APC UPS purchased from Sam's club, model BN1250, rated at 1250va, on a July '08 24" iMac running OS X 10.5.6. I have tested and verified every option on the Energy Saver panel, including shut down of the computer. It works without issue. Before the iMac it was used with a Dual 2.5/G5 tower, also without issues. The APC is now about three years old. I have never installed, or even considered installing the Powerchute software.

I have no problem recommending APC products. I don't know where this article is coming from.

[whitedog]

I am using an APC UPS Model: Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD FW:836.H7 .D USB FW:H7 with my 3GHz quad Mac Pro running OS X 10.5.6 without a problem. Like most others here I am not using, or trying to use, the PowerChute software. The UPS shows up in Energy Saver just fine:



I got the impression from Ted's article that what really raised his hackles was the out-of-date information on APC's web site. I can't say I blame him on that point. APC products are not cheap; for this reason alone they owe their customers up-to-date web support. Likewise, if their software does not work with a given version of the Mac OS, they should make that point clear so new customers won't start off on the wrong foot. Better still would be to update their software for compatibility. Which brings up a broader point: many hardware makers give short shrift to the software needed to support their products, especially on the Mac. Among these are some routers, modems, printers and scanners. This is not a new story in that regard.

On the other hand, the Apple Genius that told Ted's friend that APC UPS units don't work with Intel Macs was misinformed, as the testimony on this blog makes clear. And Apple even lists some APC units for sale on their web site. That said, it would seem to be APC's responsibility to work with Apple to clear up the matter as this incident indicates their products are developing a bad reputation. While returning a recently purchased APC UPS can be a hassle for customers, ultimately the damage to APC's brand equity will cost them business they likely can ill afford to lose in the present economic contraction.

Unfortunately, none of this explains why Ted's friend lost access to the Energy Saver preferences with the APC UPS attached. Since this is apparently not a common phenomenon, it suggests there is something wrong with Ted's friend's system that the UPS connection triggered.

There is a discussion on Apple's blogs about the sleep issue with APC UPS. The problem appears to be more serious for people who want their computers to restart after power is restored, which does not seem to work. I haven't tested this option myself because, since my Mac isn't supporting a network, I have no need for auto restart.

There is disagreement about who is responsible for these problems, Apple or APC (perhaps both?), but it seems to me the issues are serious enough that they should to get together and resolve them.

[tdmartin]

We have a APC Symmetra RM 6000 (6KVA). One of our XServs is an Intel running Leopard Server. We have PowerChute Network Shutdown installed on all our servers including the Intel. The RM 6000 does not have a USB connector nor is it that practical to connect the UPS to multiple servers. PowerChute utlilizing TCP/IP messaging works over the existing infrastructure and so for us is easier to administer. We have had no problems at all. The preference pane is unaffected. PowerChute is working as expected. We have had this running since 02/08 and have had several power failures in that time. I was unaware of a incompatibility because at the time we installed the PowerChute simply stated that it supported 10.4 and above. I will research it further because of your article, but again, for us, it is working.