[X4U] Suggestions on UPS Battery Solutions & Software

[Brett Conlon]

If he wants the computer to remain running for 20 minutes when power goes 
down then he'll either have to connect very little to it or get a rather 
hefty size battery.

We purchased a number of Chloride units years back (may of the batteries 
are dead now) and the largest we have is 1200Va. We have both the computer 
and a 20" CRT connected to it and the longest it would hold up in a 
blackout was about 9 mins. Admittedly, an LCD screen requires less power 
so if he has one then this will help his up time.

If your friend wants to hold up most of his workstation (computer, 
monitor/s, external hard drives, video capture devices etc) then the 
battery size will need to be taken into consideration.

Cheers,

Coj



Rod Duncan <roduncan at telus.net>

A good friend of mine lives on a rural property where their power 
grid is unstable. Sometimes it will wildly fluctuate on and off for a 
1/2 dozen times before either going off or returning to their normal. 
I have recommended he get a reliable UPS battery backup system for 
his Mac run digital video studio.

What he needs is protection from spikes, brownouts etc. with a 
reliable battery UPS system that will automatically kick into battery 
mode and then allow a "software controlled shutdown". While there are 
lots of battery UPS systems available. (I like Belkin for price 
performance)

What software is available to allow an automatic shutdown in OSX? 
Most software is designed to automatically reboot the system and keep 
it up and running for servers etc. He just wants to be able to have 
it safely shut down from emergency battery power after a 
predetermined length of time, such as 20 minutes, if the main power 
doesn't return.

Suggestions for software in OSX for this? There was/is older software 
for system 9. Too bad Apple didn't offer a timed shutdown option when 
running on battery power. Must be something out there.

Thanks in advance.

Rod

-- 
_____________________________
Rod Duncan

        "Buy a Mac and be thought a fool
or buy a Windows box and remove all doubt."

   Still virus free...  and after all these years.