energy saver, UPS shutdown options missing in High Sierra

Question

energy saver, UPS shutdown options missing in High Sierra

MBP (Retina, 13", early 2015)

Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3

Storage 128 GB (92.87 GB free)

macOS High Sierra V10.13.4

Associated Concern: "Eaton UPS 5E850iUSB-AU" [UPS model produced by Eaton Industries P/L, Australia] - http://powerquality.eaton.com/5E850iUSB-AU.aspx?cx=22

"An uninterruptible power supply, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery/flywheel backup, is a continual power system, an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source or mains power fails......" - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply

UPS connected via USB to MBP. MBP power cord connected to UPS. UPS powered by 240V cable to wall. UPS and MBP are powered on.

Dedicated Eaton software (UPS Companion) not Mac compatible. Eaton phone support indicated that can access UPS management through Mac OSX/Settings/Energy Saver/UPS tab/Shut Down Options. Their supporting document portrays this in association with a superseded Mac OS X. For full document see http://tinyurl.com/y8jvuvue

On the MBP with macOS High Sierra installed, Energy Saver/UPS tab opened, Shut Down Options are missing.

Apple phone support indicated that Shut Down Options are apparent in macOS Sierra, and that perhaps the options have been left out in High Sierra. He didn't know why the options can't be seen in macOS High Sierra.

No driver appears to be available. The only dedicated software (UPS Companion) is for Windows.

My understanding is that macOS offers UPS management support through Energy Saver within Settings.

Anyone have an inkling as to why I am not seeing the Shut Down Options?

I would be ever so greatful to hear.

Cheers, midnorthcoast

Posted on May 21, 2018 1:55 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

John Galt

Level 10

146,360 points

May 23, 2018 8:00 AM in response to midnorthcoast

The reason you are not seeing shutdown options is that they not available on a portable Mac. It will certainly recognize the presence of a UPS, but portable Macs are never dependent upon an external power source... except (obviously) to charge their own batteries.

This excerpt from the pmset manpage explains its absence:

UPS SPECIFIC ARGUMENTS ... Note: None of these settings are observed on a system with support for an internal battery, such as a laptop. UPS emergency shutdown settings are for desktop and server only.

Portable Macs shut down according to their own battery's charge state. The UPS battery will run down, but your MBP doesn't care because its own battery is the only one that matters to it. When its charge level decreases below a specified threshold, it simply goes to sleep on its own.

(Apple) didn't know why the options can't be seen in macOS High Sierra.

They are available in High Sierra as illustrated in the following screenshot from a desktop Mac:

Summary: it's working properly.

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Answer 2

May 23, 2018 6:20 AM in response to John Galt

Of course. An answer so simple. Thank you John for helping me solve this. Many hours my researching for an answer and you have assisted swiftly.

Here are more details to consider:

other devices will be reliant on the UPS

these devices are sensitive, an outage will disrupt their critical function

they and their software need to run 24/7

the devices use little power, UPS will keep them running

their associated software is on the MBP and would need to be gracefully shutdown

their software is also not Mac compatible

the device software presently runs on Windows XP virtual machine (https://www.virtualbox.org)

host os=macOS High Sierra

guest os=Windows XP pro

have installed UPS Companion (the UPS software) onto virtual Windows XP pro

UPS Companion Driver (from within XP) not successfully installing

The problem now is how to manage the software when an outage occurs considering the above criteria?

For non business use there appears to be no UPS dedicated to macOS - although the UPS vendor has come up with a possible contender I am yet to hear more about.

The UPS company (Eaton) has suggested one of their other software that isn’t normally listed as compatible with the Eaton 5E850iUSB-AU. I will give that a go.

Anyone with a solution?

Cheers, midnorthcoast

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Answer 3

Jun 3, 2018 8:25 PM in response to midnorthcoast

Hi,

I'm from NZ and I've just come across your post after weeks (literally) of trying to find out whether these Eaton 5E UPS units are compatible with later versions of MacOS - in order to natively shut them down when on emergency battery backup power via the Power System Preferences (Not third party applications).

All documentation that I can find only states that it works with much older versions of OS X (10.6).

I'm running a Mac Mini with MacOS 10.13.5 High Sierra as a home media and backup server that I'm really keen to have a working UPS for.

Your post is the first time I've been able to see anyone running High Sierra with this model of UPS!

Are you (or anyone else for that matter) able to verify whether these UPS definitely do shut down the computer in a nice manner? I'm really keen to find out before committing to a purchase, only to find out that it doesn't work.

Your included pics give me hope!

Cheers

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Answer 4

Jun 4, 2018 7:12 AM in response to wee_jimmy_mehrts

Dear wee_jimmy_mehrts,

Including John Galt’s kind submission above, here is a summary of what I have discovered so far:

“It would appear that Eaton is devoted to Windows PC’s and Macs take the back row.

Shut Down Options is available for UPS management within macOS High Sierra/Settings/Energy Saver/UPS.

Shut Down Options is not available when using a laptop due to its own reliance on its own battery.

UPS Companion is the only available UPS management software for Eaton UPS 5E850iUSB-AU, and is not Mac compatible.

There are no downloadable drivers from Eaton’s website for 5E850iUSB-AU.

It appears that a Driver within Windows XP (MGE USB UPS Driver) is the one to be installed by default.

The downloadable user manual is very brief for product usability.

Eaton 5E850i appears not to be manageable for graceful closure of dedicated software associated with attached devices when the Mac laptop is used.

This dedicated software is only compatible with Windows which is what I have been successfully using to date, on the Mac laptop via a virtual machine.

The devices are being used successfully via the virtual machine (VirtualBox)

Using VirtualBox (https://www.virtualbox.org) and Windows XP Pro as the guest operating system, I can install XP onto the Mac laptop.

Laptop recognises 5E850iUSB-AU though without UPS management support in Energy Saver.

VirtualBox recognises and configures 5E850iUSB-AU in it’s settings.

Windows XP (guest os) recognises 5E850iUSB-AU but installation of ‘MGE USB UPS Driver’ is unsuccessful-

[Problem installing this hardware

Device cannot start (Code 10)]

Perseverance to install Driver, to no avail.

Even though 5E850iUSB-AU is compatible with Macs via Energy Saver, laptops are not included. This is not apparent when reading Eaton’s website!

Eaton suggested using another of their software (ipp_win_1_53_150.exe) which isn’t in their compatibility list for the UPS 5E. It can be downloaded from

http://powerquality.eaton.com/Products-services/Power-Management/Software-Driver s/Intelligent-PP.asp?cx=22. My experience is that I couldn’t get the IPP software

to open within virtual Windows XP!”

Alas, wee_jimmy_mehrts, I have given up on the Eaton 5E850iUSB-AU UPS.

The vendor who sold it to me has come up with another brand of UPS to try. I have returned the Eaton and purchased an Opal 850 Line Interactive UPS from them.

Apparently Chase Power, the product’s creator, have streamlined the product to be compatible with Macs. I haven’t yet received the UPS which is still in transit, and

it remains to be seen whether it will indeed function with a Mac laptop and gracefully shutdown the software that is running the laptop’s peripherals.

Chase Power are a Queensland, Australian company. It is hard to trace details about their products and software as they will only deal with retailers and not the public,

so I am told. You will need to find a New Zealand retailer who will deal with Chase Power (http://chasepower.com.au/products/uninterruptible-power-supplies-ups/).

If all goes well with this option you will eventually know as I will post the result here.

As for your Mac Mini (which I believe does not have its own battery like a laptop - please excuse me if I am incorrect), my understanding is that Shutdown Options,

within Energy Saver, which is within Settings of High Sierra, should show as available for you. This would mean that you would not need a Microsoft Windows OS,

and purportedly be able to manage any UPS through Shutdown Options. I can’t verify that as I haven’t tried it this way, and this is all based on the assumption that

a Mac Mini doesn’t have its own battery.

Even though I found that Shutdown Options made itself available with the Eaton 5E UPS and my iMac, I didn’t test it further as my goal is to be able to manage a UPS

with a Mac laptop.

Kind regards,

midnorthcoast,

(Australia)

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

146,360 points

Jun 4, 2018 6:39 PM in response to midnorthcoast

... this is all based on the assumption that a Mac Mini doesn’t have its own battery.

You are correct. Unlike portable Macs (the MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro) a Mini does not use an internal battery to supply power. Energy Saver's Shutdown Options will appear on the Mini as they do with any desktop Mac model.

Chase Power's compatibility statement is encouraging, but it remains to be seen whether their software will provide the elegant shutdown options you seek. I don't know if it will have the authority or privileges to shut down a Mac in the same manner that macOS's Energy Saver options convey. Please let us know.

By the way—in case you are tempted to remove or otherwise disable the MacBook Pro's internal battery—please don't do that. macOS always presumes hardware to be both present and operable, and altering a portable Mac in such a manner will inflict all sorts of havoc to its normal operation. I mention that only because I have heard it suggested before, so pardon me for doing so. Besides, the Shutdown Options still won't appear.

When the UPS-equipped desktop Mac is ordered to shut down according to those settings, it does so with the equivalent of sudo shutdown -h now. That simply slams the hammer down on everything the Mac does. It doesn't have the ability to tell peripheral devices to shut down in an orderly manner. Either an attentive user has to do that, or those devices require their own independent, autonomous capability... perhaps incorporated in the UPS vendor's software... somehow.

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Answer 6

Jun 4, 2018 7:58 PM in response to John Galt

Thank you both very much for your info, it's truly appreciated.

I would have thought that the shutdown operation when called for in the UPS section of System Preferences would be as if you simply select "shut down" via the task bar - even with open applications. This in my mind would be a good enough method of shutting down whilst on UPS battery backup power, and in my case is tolerable as I don't run open/unsaved documents very often.

Or is it simply just a brutal "hard" power down as if I was holding the power button to force the shut off?

Given the fact that this UPS is even present in the Energy Saver settings section is more than what can be said for a couple of other brands that I tried a couple of years ago with nil success.

Midnorthcoast, I look forward to seeing how you get on with your suggested UPS model.

I'll continue to see if I can track down a local stockist of the Eaton UPS units, so that I can take one home and get a "first hand" experience with it.

Once again, thank you both for your input.

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