Introduction
Hi there. In this article, I'm going to go over how you can setup a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) on macOS. I'll be doing this with an APC UPS on macOS 26, but the process will be similar for other UPS's, although some vendors may require additional software to be installed to get their UPS to work with macOS.
YouTube Video
If you would prefer to see a video of this article, there is a YouTube video available below:
Connecting the UPS
The first thing you need to do is to connect the signal cable to a USB port on your mac and the other end into the data / signal port on your UPS.
Checking the UPS has been detected
If you're on a Desktop Mac, You'll see the battery icon appear on the right-side of the menu bar. This would normally be there if your on a MacBook.
Clicking on it will show that there is a UPS connected and the battery level.
After that, the UPS should then appear in system information under both Power and USB.
Configuring
With the UPS showing up correctly, the UPS settings are configured in the Energy Settings in System Settings.
Once you are in Energy Settings, you can see the UPS level at the top and a button to configure the UPS options.
Clicking on UPS Options, there are three settings you can configure in there.
Which one you use is up to you. Personally, I opted for shutting down when the UPS level is below 25%. This will give me more than enough time to save everything and shut down my Mac.
To confirm the change, click done.
That's all there is to setting up a UPS on a Mac, assuming it doesn't require additional software from the UPS vendor to make it work!
Now, in terms of what will happen when the UPS loses mains power. The first thing you'll notice is that the UPS will beep. After that, a warning message will appear on the screen, indicating that the system is now on UPS battery power and that you should save your documents and shutdown.
This will be the only visual warning you will get.
Once the UPS battery is below 25%, or whatever threshold you set, the system will shutdown.
I hope that was of use to you. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!
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