Post by: jcarter on November 13, 2009, 02:04:02 PM
My old Triplite cant carry both Macs, I found that out this morning. Its 7 years old and getting tired, so I bought a new unit.
My question is that I dont want to overload this one, so I dont want to plug my printer into it, Ive got both iMacs=500 watts and my router and cable modem. I think thats enuf. But I have another curcuit in this room, unfortunatly its a switched outlet, but I can tape it on and just turn the lights off by the switch on them.
BUT,,,,,,, this is a very old plug and its only the 2 prong one with no ground. My husband just found one of those cheater adapters with the 3 holes on the top. Is this OK to plug my Epson scanner/printer into that?
Thanks,
Jane
ps Ive not fired up the computers yet, as the instructions say to let the battery charge for 8 hours before using it with the battery outlet side.
Im using his Mac in a different part of the house.
Post by: pendragon on November 13, 2009, 02:11:16 PM
AFAIK (which ain't much)
You may not care to have your printer plugged in to the UPS, at least not to the plug which maintains your system in the event of an outage. Even if you do lose power while printing, the worst that can (or should) happen is that you lose what was in your printer queue. Still, your printer should be connected to a high quality surge protector.
Post by: sandbox on November 13, 2009, 07:49:49 PM
Mac
Monitor
Modem
Phone---(Broadband and Cellphone charger)
Router
.
Maybe a low watt LED light for the time it takes to SAVE data and shut it all down.
Post by: Texas Mac Man on November 13, 2009, 08:27:05 PM
I have my G4 MDD with 4 HDs, LCD monitor, printer, scanner & router connected and the window shows a load of 11% of capacity.
Post by: Paddy on November 13, 2009, 09:58:17 PM
Also, NEVER plug a laser printer into a UPS - they draw waaay too much power and will either trip the UPS or fry it. Most UPS units have a warning about this.
Post by: sandbox on November 14, 2009, 04:50:28 AM
QUOTE(Texas Mac Man @ Nov 13 2009, 09:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
My Belkin 750VA UPS has a monitor window that opens which shows the current load. Does your UPS have this feature?
I have my G4 MDD with 4 HDs, LCD monitor, printer, scanner & router connected and the window shows a load of 11% of capacity.
I have my G4 MDD with 4 HDs, LCD monitor, printer, scanner & router connected and the window shows a load of 11% of capacity.
Hey Tom iHave one of those...Belkins...and I don't think that they're making them anymore. It's been 5 years or so and still works fine.
Post by: jcarter on November 14, 2009, 06:35:33 AM
I only have the 2 Macs and one external hard drive, and my router and cable modem in the new UPS. I think its OK, since I took the other stuff out.
Things are working fine this morning, and my Macs are back on and running fine. I was using my husband's Mac yesterday.
Was thinking I would plug the UPS into my little KillOWatt meter, but in the instructions it said not to plug the unit into anything other than the main wall plug.
Jane
Post by: Xairbusdriver on November 14, 2009, 02:19:17 PM
Did you use the UPS company's site to compute which model to buy? Even though the recommendations are often too conservative, they should be an indication of what the model can do.
Buying a model very near the upper limits of the needed power will usually result in the shortest times that it can provide that power. Hopefully, that will be long enough for your computer to complete any and all critical processes.
Secondly:
Does the UPS provide unmonitored circuits?
These are for simply passing the AC to what are devices that simply don't need to be running during a power outage, like a printer/scanner/modem/Airport (usually)/USB or Ethernet hubs/switches (usually). The "usually" mean that if these devices are connecting to external hard drives, then they should be using the UPS to maintain power in case there is a write process occurring. Stopping a write to a drive before it is completed is not a good thing.
If you have those type of circuits/sockets, they will not be included in the wattage limits of the UPS. That wattage is the amount of power the UPS can provide via its batteries and the inverter than converts the DC into AC needed by the devices it is protecting.
Post by: jcarter on November 14, 2009, 03:30:13 PM
I managed to clean up a lot of the wires under my desk, what a mess that was!
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/inclu...total_watts=200
This is mine, the BR900
And if my new iMac 24 inch one is about 300w and the old one is a bit less than 200w, then my runtime according to the chart would be about 6 minutes. Enuf for me to shut down stuff and save my Photoshop stuff.
Nothing else is in the battery side but my 2 computers.
What I really wanted to do was to put my little KillOWatt meter on one of the computers and see how many watts it took, but there isnt room for the plug.
Was wondering if there is a list on the Apple support pages somewhere that gives you an idea of how many watts that an iMac uses. Or if there might be something like iStat which could tell that. When the thing is idling, or cranking on Photoshop, or in the middle, that would be interesting.
What a cool idea for a Widget!
Jane
Post by: Xairbusdriver on November 15, 2009, 05:01:50 PM
Check the Specs on your machine on Apple's Support pages. Those should be available for any machine made in the last 5+ years and will give you the wattage, ambient room condition limits, length, width, weight and Steve's age when the model first came out. I doubt if there is any accurate app/widget that would give you the watts or amperage being used. It would not have any knowledge of what the machine is actually using unless there happen to be some sensors built into the power supply. And even then, it would only be a transient value depending entirely on what the machine was doing at the time you get the measurement. Even that KillOWatt meter may not give you the actual highest power usage at any particular time. It probably just checks at a certain interval and and averages the values for the output.
But you should be able to use that short cable to connect it between any two items. 
Post by: Texas Mac Man on November 15, 2009, 05:58:24 PM
A Guide to UPS
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/netsys/ar...uide-to-UPS.htm
Tech Tip: Macintosh UPS Buyers Guide.
http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/macintos...s-buyers-guide/
10 things to look for in uninterruptible power supplies
http://www.zdnetasia.com/techguide/disaste...39372369,00.htm
Demystifying the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
http://www.atpm.com/13.02/ups.shtml
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) FAQ
http://www.jetcafe.org/%7Enpc/doc/ups-faq.html
How big a UPS do I need?
http://www.jetcafe.org/%7Enpc/doc/ups-faq.html#04
Comparison of Power Protection Methods
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/power/ext/comp-c.html
Standby and uninterruptible power supply tutorial
http://www.powermanagementdesignline.com/h...TMY32JVN?pgno=1
Post by: sandbox on November 15, 2009, 07:15:36 PM
Jane here's a suggestion that will give you 10 minutes to shut down. 750 VA
http://www.amazon.com/APC-BE750G-10-Outlet...4004800-7352810
Of course that depends on what's plugged in, but I can shut down everything in under 2 minutes so this one would work for me too. It has 4 lines on Battery and 4 on serge protection only. It has a data line protector as well.
Details 750VA
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/inclu...total_watts=200
Post by: jcarter on November 15, 2009, 07:30:09 PM
But nobody seems to know. I guess I should just unplug one from the UPS and use the KillOWatt the way you say to hook it up, and then I would know, yes as you can just look at the screen of the little meter.
And this would obviously fluctuate with what software you are using, how hard you are pushing the machine.
Hey, thank you! I am reading the links,,,,,,
GREAT links, why does not Google come to them???, well anyway thanks for them, as I know now that my 24 incher is 280 watts, perhaps idling, and my new UPS, see link in previous post, will carry both easily.
iStat should add it to their monitoring wizard, if they could figure out how to do it. Sensors? How do they know how many RPM your fans are going or the temp of the hard drive and everything else in the innards?
Jane
Post by: sandbox on November 15, 2009, 07:40:08 PM
There is no downside to testing it and it will give you the confidence you need.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on January 25, 2010, 09:23:28 AM
Post by: krissel on January 25, 2010, 09:43:17 AM
So it looks like I'm going shopping for new backups. But not today... will be shutting down soon due to severe storms heading our way.
