[X4U] Suggestions on UPS Battery Solutions & Software

[Neil Cadsawan]

On 8 Apr, 2005, at 12:00 PM, Rod Duncan wrote:

> 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,

OS X has built in power management software in the System Preferences > 
Energy Saver if you use a UPS it recognizes.  I have an APC UPS 
attached to my G5 and even though APC has OSX compatible software, the 
UPS is recognized in the System Preferences.  There are settings to 
allow for shutdown and reboot, as your friend requires.  The built in 
power management may work with other UPS products, but I can only speak 
from my experience with an APC UPS.


-Neil Cadsawan