Anyone here had any experience with TrippLite UPS products. I have always used APC's stuff, but Costco has a good price on TrippLite and I need to another UPS.

I have an eight year old Tripplite (I've replaced the gel cells once) on my mac. When the transformer on the pole in front of my office caught fire last year, and my microwave and fridge got cooked, my Mac safely let me shut it down, nice and safe. Whatever brand you get, pick something big enough to last for twenty or thirty minuites

I have a couple of them from Costco, so I'll assume they are the same model you are looking at. No problems except that the batteries are not replaceable. I didn't realize this until awhile after my purchase. Otherwise, they work well. I also have an APC unit that has been good, but I need to replace the battery at this time. That's what led me to the discovery about the TrippLite units. If they last 4+ years, I won't be too fussed about this though.

The most important factor in choosing a UPS is software support. Most UPS models have a USB cable to signal the attached CPU to shut down or warn the user to shut down. I've used Belkin UPSes in the past, their software "Belkin Bulldog" had good MacOS X support. But when I bought a new machine and plugged in the Belkin UPS, before I installed Bulldog, I noticed a new battery icon up in the right of the menu bar. MacOS X automatically connected to the UPS and was monitoring it for shutdown signals. Options for power fault shutdown appeared in System Preferences. I had a recent power failure and the shutdown warnings worked perfectly, my 900VA battery gave me plenty of time to shut down my Quad G5 and 30in Cinema Display.
I don't know which models of UPS are supported officially in MacOS X, but it would be a good idea to check before buying.

We had tripplites on our ship and when going from ship's power to shore power they would tend to fry the Tripplites that we had. When contacted they said we should Unplug all of their UPS's when changing power DUH. we bought APC's UPS's and never looked back. Now granted this was many years ago, but I don't trust em after seeing what I saw.

I personally have 5 APC's here in the house for TV and comps, phones, ect.

We had tripplites on our ship and when going from ship's power to shore power they would tend to fry the Tripplites that we had. When contacted they said we should Unplug all of their UPS's when changing power DUH. we bought APC's UPS's and never looked back. Now granted this was many years ago, but I don't trust em after seeing what I saw.

I personally have 5 APC's here in the house for TV and comps, phones, ect.

Even if the Tripplite UPS's appear to not have replaceable batteries, you can however always pop open the case and replace the batteries yourself, just make sure to match the AH rating when you replace. Many battery wholesalers such as Interstate Batteries can get you the sealed gel cell you need at a far cheaper cost than from the manufacturer. Most of the smaller UPS systems use a 12vdc 9ah battery, larger ups systems use dual 12vdc 9ah or dual 12vdc 18ah in series for 24vdc, these batteries are very common in backup emergency lighting and alarm systems so an alarm company should be able to hook you up.

I may pickup one of the Costco TrippLites.

I have no experience with Tripplite products but I have had several APC UPS. APC's support has been superb. APC had a battery exchange program that was cheaper than buying a new battery from them or a local source. They sent the new battery and a label for me to send back the old battery. They also helped troubleshoot a minor issue.

Just installed two APC units... along with the supplied Power Chute personal edition... one for my wife's PC and one on my 3GHz MacPro.

I was pleased with what the PC software allowed monitoring of and expected the same with the Mac version.

Unfortunately, all you get is support for OS 10.3.9 to 10.4.1... and it won't open on my MacPro, at 10.4.8.

Firing up my trusty Lombard laptop running 10.3.9, I was able to see what Power chute for the Mac was: Just a pane in "System Preferences" with two options. Setting how quickly your Mac is shut down after the UPS goes to battery... or how much battery time it keeps in reserve and shuts your Mac down when that time is reached.

I'd expected to be able to set the same kind of parameters the PC software allows, like:

Hi and low voltage thresholds for battery operation,
Recording of tests and events
Monitoring of current voltage, load and other "right now" parameters...

and all the other cool things this APC UPS is set up to let you know and control.

It's pretty piss-poor customer service to fail to keep even the basic software even with the latest OS. The Mac version of Power Chute personal ed. (v1.3.3) was posted on June 2, 2005.

APC posted their Vista version on March 7, 2007 (three days ago as I write this.)

Mac keeps marching on... yet APC's software support does NOT.

And so, ten years after buying my first APC UPS, I'm in the same boat, software wise: Power Chute was PC only back then, so I had no benefit.

GRRRRR!

Ted L
North of Sacramento

I just bought an APC Back-UPS after searching the market. I was advised by the local Apple Authorized Dealer that although he recommended Tripplites they don't have software support for the Mac. I have owned an APC for several years (now needs new battery and I needed a larger battery to meet current system needs), so I chose the APC. When I received it, I found that PowerChute 1.3.3 (included) was not Intel compatible. After accessing APC Tech Support by chat, I found that version 1.3.4 is now available to support Intel processor-based machines. A quick download and I was up and running. It's true that the settings are simple (as described above), but that's sufficient for me.
Bela

Two things:

Protect the net connection to the computer as well. Most PCs AFAIK use a cheap NIC card for this. Apple puts this on the motherboard. Not cheap if your building takes a lighting hit to one of the cellphone towers on the roof.

I've been there.

There is heavy construction/redevelopment going on where I am. The upgrading of the local power grid has not quite kept pace. Small under voltages that persist and do not trip the backup seem to fry CPU and CRT monitor power supplies. Configure your backup to kick in if anything occurs.

Hi i am from india i have APC ups. the battery in which is of 7Ah can i use 9Ah battery insted of 7Ah battery for better run time,