APC UPS Help

Brian Litecky wrote:

Other then for the imac shutdown, is there a reason for the cable? Do the UPS's need a software update?

The USB connection triggers a clean shutdown when the battery approaches exhaustion.

The threshold is programmable.

This clean shutdown is generally preferable to the hard crash that arises when the power drops out.

Upper-end supplies can have firmware. Lower-end models, not so much.

If you don’t have the APC supplied cable then you cannot connect it to your Mac. It is a proprietary cable. A replacement is available from APC.

https://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/UPS-Communications-Cable-Simple-Signalling-USB-to-RJ45/P-AP9827

$40. Yeah, highway robbery, I know.

As for the question about whether you need to connect the APC to your Mac the answer is your choice. The UPS will function just fine without being connected. Your Mac's built-in UPS management system allows you to monitor the performance of the UPS, set conditions to shut down your Mac when the UPS is at a certain remaining charge. For example, I have my APC 1500 set to shut down my iMac when there are 10 minutes remaining charge left.

If you are handy you could make your own cable...

https://pinoutguide.com/UPS/apc_usb_cable_pinout.shtml

That’s not a less-interruptible battery model (they’re never uninterruptible) with the remote network management interface and remote management support, based on the specs. That model permits only that proprietary APC USB management cable.

That and other models will work fine without the APC cable (or without using the network interface, where applicable), but you’ll have to manually shutdown the attached devices if the power outage exceeds the battery charge.

If you didn’t get the cable in a new battery purchase, check with Schneider/APC. If that was acquired used, you’ll probably end up buying a new or used cable, if you want to use the automated shutdown mechanism.

Why not just plug it in with the USB cable?

Have you looked at the instructions that came with the UPS?

https://support.apple.com/en-ie/guide/mac-help/mchlp2987/mac

Can you post the exact make/model please.

Note that the APC uses a RJ50 connector, not a RJ45 (standard ethernet). RJ50 is 10 pins, RJ45 is 8 pins, same size but different.