Mac UPS Software
The commonest error in deciding whether to use a UPS is the argument that, because your Mac isn’t left on 24/7, it’s always attended, so should anything go wrong with the power, you’ll be able to deal with it. Even if you’re sat at your Mac, with instant reactions, there’s no way that it can shut down in time to protect it. Whether you use your Mac for half an hour a day or only power it off once a year for cleaning, it still needs a UPS.
Next in the reasons we persuade ourselves to believe is that UPSes are expensive. Yes, many are, but the more expensive ones are designed to keep things like power-hungry servers running for an hour or more. Most Macs are well-protected if the UPS keeps them going long enough to allow an orderly shutdown, a minute or two at most. It’s far better for a Mac to be given that chance than to have no UPS at all.
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Sadly, few manufacturers bother to provide software that supports Macs. CyberPower is one of those few, and although its bundled software looks oddly blurry, it has valuable features that go well beyond the basics reported by Energy Saver settings.
My Tripp Lite UPS continues to work well, but the Energy Saver integration broke with macOS Catalina, and as far as I know it was never fixed.
If you use a wireless keyboard, mouse or trackpad, or have a UPS connected to your Mac, you might wonder how often macOS checks their charge and functional status. The answer is often, typically every 2-5 seconds. You can follow those checks in the log by listing entries for the subsystem
com.apple.BatteryCenter.
Unless your Mac has a Battery widget installed, perhaps on its Desktop, Battery Center entries don’t appear in its log. When you do add a Battery widget to the Desktop, though, checks are made every few seconds, and their results written to the log, and those continue even after removing the widget, at least until the next time that Mac is shut down or restarted.
Third-party software isn’t supposed to access private services like Battery Center, so creating an independent utility to perform similar functions would have to capture its own data. However, given access to the log, it’s possible to read Battery Center’s entries there instead.
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This initial version [of Unhidden] does one job: each time you open a new window in the app, it displays the most recent results obtained by Battery Center, across all the devices that it checks.
Previously:
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I had UPS from APC in the past but they had two major issues (or the models I used did anyway): accidentally pressing the power button immediately shut down the UPS, cutting power to all my devices; and they beeped constantly when mains power was lost. The latter could be configured with Windows software but I don't have any Windows systems. (A previous UPS allowed you to mute the beep by tapping the power button. I learned the hard way that APC didn't have the same feature.)
When their batteries died I switched to CyberPower units (CST135UC2) at a decent price from Costco. They are supported by macOS and they address those two big problems I had with APC: accidental power-off is avoided by requiring you to hold down the power button for a few seconds; and the beeping can be configured via the front panel. A couple of USB charge ports in the front are a nice bonus during a long power outage.
I've been using a couple of older CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS with Mac and Linux for some years with good success, as long as you swap the batteries when they can no longer power the plugged in equipment for a few minutes. I need 1 new battery now as the Mac shut down after a few seconds when I tested the UPS by unplugging it :). A UPS w/ sinewave is generally recommended for good power quality as opposed to the cheapest stuff which isn't sinewave.
On Mac still using the old CyberPower PowerPanel software (CyberPower_PPM_v1.1.1.dmg 13MB in size) on Sonoma as opposed to the latest v2.x PowerPanel which is 150MB of Electron crap. Unfortunately the v1 is well scrubbed from the Internet don't see it anywhere other than my own systems.
I know I'm probably being silly and overly paranoid, but one of the things that keeps me from going in on a UPS is the fear that it might catch fire. It's hard for me to have a sizeable battery in my house without worrying about what happens if something goes wrong and all of that energy suddenly is no longer contained -- it's a lot of energy turned to heat, and it's not something that can be easily put out! It's bad enough with the number of small lithium ion batteries that are around all the time. And it doesn't help that pretty much every UPS for sale on Amazon has multiple reviews of people claiming it started smoking or caught fire.
> A UPS w/ sinewave is generally recommended for good power quality as opposed to the cheapest stuff which isn't sinewave.
I wonder how much that really matters these days. As soon as it gets into the power brick it's rectified and then smoothed with a big capacitor before being chopped into really nasty AC before being rectified and smoothed again and passed to DC-DC converters deeper within the device, which do the whole DC-AC-DC thing again.
Hola,
Siempre he usado APC UPS y siempre con total satisfacción, excepto por el pequeño problema de la falta de software para Mac.
Sin embargo, tengo que reemplazar uno y estoy pensando seriamente en comprar un CyberPower.
Bri12. Casi todos los UPS utilizan baterías de plomo-ácido selladas como las de los coches, no de litio. No hay ningún problema de fuego.
Lo es. ¿Y sería posible tener esa versión? ¿Qué tan celosa mantienes?
Sorry, I forgot to translate the message.
Hello,
I have always used APC UPS and always with total satisfaction, except for the small problem of the lack of software for Mac.
However, I have to replace one and I am seriously thinking about buying a CyberPower.
Bri12. Almost all UPS use sealed lead-acid batteries like those in cars, not lithium batteries. There is no fire problem.
Ed. And would it be possible to have that version that you keep so carefully?
Hello, @Bri! Good for you to make sure you're not jumping from the frying pan into the fire
HOWEVER: backup batteries use the old lead-acid technology that's been in every gas-powered car and motorcycle since a century ago when they added starter motors. (The UPSs I've used in fact used actual motorcycle batteries, tho newer ones are purpose-built.)
I'm not aware that lead-acid they pose ANY fire risk, as the new Lithium-ion ones can under some circumstances. And they are all SEALED so you won't have fumes, spilled acid or anything else like that. Ditto, the lead is well-sealed and you must recycle them so no special environmental or health risks.
Full speed ahead!
