UPS for my Insteon computer?

I'm thinking of putting a UPS in place to support the Mini/powerlinc/DSL modem/router I use to control my Insteon network (to allow for notification emails etc.). True online UPS' are too expensive and I'm not even sure if a 2-4 ms response time from a line interactive supply would be enough to keep the Mini operational so I thought I would ask:

1) whether anyone else is using these and whether they work to keep a computer online in the case of a power failure and;

2) whether using something like this would cause insurmountable problems with the Insteon network itself (I've read about the need for line filters when the the powerlinc is plugged in to a power strip but not sure if a UPS would be any different).

Would appreciate hearing about any experiences others have had with similar set ups. I'm looking at something like this:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10839&cs_id=1083903&p_id=4171&seq=1&format=3#specification

Buy an APC unit. They are the gold-standard for UPSes. Sure, some are crazy expensive but not all of them (I've got a rack-mount one that was irrationally priced, but smaller units for individual systems around the house that were very reasonable).

You could find a cheaper random-brand one, but you'll likely find that they don't last as long and when they do fail you basically have to just buy a new one. With APC the batteries seem to last a pretty long time, and getting replacements is trivial, even for one of my oldest units that has long since been discontinued.

Grab a filter from SmartHome, they are only like $25 or something. When I switched some cables around in my office I inadvertently plugged my UPS directly in to the wall where the Insteon interface was, and over the next week I would very randomly have a light not go out or a status indicator in Indigo not update correctly, and it was most prominent with the thermometer since that gets polled frequently. As soon as I realized I'd forgotten to put the filter back in place I did, and it immediately cleared up the problem.

How do you select the right capacity for a UPS? Is it ok to add all the watts?
Are there other things important?
I'm also considering a UPS but don't know the right criteria to select one.

Most of the UPS sites have pages that help you pick. The APC website has a little web page wizard http://apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm

Get one bigger than what you think you need, then you'll get more run time. (and the ability to plug more things in later).

A little 450 would be fine for an average computer probably. I've got a 450 in my living room driving my TiVos Then at the other end of the spectrum I have a 1500 just for my Mac Pro tower (none of the peripherials are plugged in to it, the hub and LCDs have their own smaller one, that way if the power is out for a long time I have a chance to use the system while the power is off, but eventually the LCDs shut down without affecting the runtime of the computer itself), and a 2000 for my Mac Mini. That particular mini is the one that runs my home automation, voicemail, web server, and some other stuff, and with that sized UPS it can run for hours.

Buy an APC unit. They are the gold-standard for UPSes ...

Thanks for the tips.

Is there any way for the system to sense when a transition to the UPS has occurred? I'm wondering how a message can be sent out if I'm not home and some sort of script triggered to shut everything down tidily?

You can send an alert from indigo by watching for a 'power failure' event.

To shut things down cleanly when the battery is reaching its final reserves the OS can do that on its own if you get a UPS with a USB port.

To shut things down cleanly when the battery is reaching its final reserves the OS can do that on its own if you get a UPS with a USB port.

No need for special UPS software? I saw on the APC site that their software works with 10.4.x but not 10.5.

Thanks for that, I was not sure whether the 2 ms transition time from line power to back up would trigger a power failure event.

Completely OT but while I've "got you on the line", while reading through some of the forum posts, I came across a link to your blog where you describe thecool ambient light warning system. I was wondering about one piece of Apple Script:

First an embedded applescript one that says:
set foo to the brightness of the device "Kitchen Overhead"
dim "Kitchen Overhead" to 30
delay 1
dim "Kitchen Overhead" to foo

I'm not an AS jockey but did not recognize the "foo" syntax. Is that correct? MTIA.

foo is a variable that gets set to the starting brightness of the light in line 1, and then gets used to reset the light back to where it started in line 4. It could have been pretty much any word.

I know this discussion has been dormant, but the topic of UPS sourced power line noise interfering with Insteon performance is prevalent in the forum.

Can anyone share longterm success or difficulties with insteon reliability of running and APC UPS (or other brand) with a filterlinc?

Really, what I should ask is: What system / combination has worked well for you?

I'm looking at the APC BR900.

I know this discussion has been dormant, but the topic of UPS sourced power line noise interfering with Insteon performance is prevalent in the forum.

Can anyone share longterm success or difficulties with insteon reliability of running and APC UPS (or other brand) with a filterlinc?

Really, what I should ask is: What system / combination has worked well for you?

I'm looking at the APC BR900.

I've had no problems running a Back-UPS APC RS1500 connected to a filter.

Couple things to think about:

1) APC's warranty/protection guarantee may be void since it's not directly connected to the wall
2) If your Indigo computer is on the UPS, you have a path that won't be protected (PLC/PLM->USB->Computer). You may be able to surge protect the PLC/PLM, but I haven't tried it.

[matt (support)]

I have several UPSs including some APC models. They definitely cause noise problems, but I've personally only had to filter the ones on the same circuits as my PowerLincs.

This is all anecdotal of course but I have been successful using the smart-ups 1500 without a filter on my indigo Mac (and router, switch, another server, hard drives and stuff). Of course the PLM is plugged in directly, not through the UPS. I also have a couple of the little ones sprinkled around for my access points. I have tested my system with and without filters and have not found them to be a problem. YMMV but I have had good experience with APC, from their $35 Fry's special all the way up the the fridge-sized data center units.

Thanks Jamus, Matt, and Sean for your responses.

I plugged an APC BR900 UPS into an outlet near my 2413U PLM this morning and connected the Mac Mini that runs Indigo into the APC.

When the Mini powered up, it was unable to locate the 2413U. That had never happened before. Without powering down the Mini, I added a Filterlinc between the APC and the outlet, then quit and reopened Indigo. It found the 2413U as usual.

I'll update with any notable performance problems with the APC connected to the Filterlinc over time.

Is the noise that UPS's generate transmitted to the electrical system in all directions? For example, while I saw improvement by adding a filterlinc between the wall outlet and the UPS, would there be any benefit in plugging a filterlinc into the back of the UPS, then connecting the Mini to the filterlinc? (I suppose this is asking if the filters operate bidirectionally or unidirectionally)

Also, does the "noise" potentially travel from the UPS's USB cable to the mini then back out to the power lines via other devices connected to the Mini or from the UPS's T10/100 network cable?

PLMs are "transformer isolated", which means that the USB interface is on one side, and the power line interface is on the other side. In fact its USB interface chip is actually powered by your Mac's USB port. As such I would not expect any nasties on the power line to interfere with your Mac's ability to communicate with the PLM - from a hardware perspective it is actually equivalent to just talking to a USB->RS232 adaptor cable. You might test that issue again to see if it's reproducible or if something else is going on. You might be thinking power line noise is your problem when in fact you have a flaky USB connection or malfunctioning PLM.

Secondly UPSes can operate in a variety of different modes. Most will simply pass through the incoming AC power unchanged as long as it meets certain quality metrics. In this case the only noise coming from the UPS would be from its own power supply and control circuitry, not from the business of actually converting power. Some UPSes can also increase or decrease the voltage while still running off of utility power, in order to keep it at a regulated level. Then there's the mode where the power is out and you're actually running off of batteries - this is going to be the noisiest by far because the unit is actually cranking out a waveform at high power... but you are probably less concerned about insteon performance here unless this is a very frequent occurrence.

So does it go out in "all directions"... yes, although to varying degrees depending on the design. I do not think you need to worry about your Mac's power input. They are certainly designed to tolerate UPS-generated power and again, it should not affect your PLM because the USB side is separated from the modem's view of the power line. The filter should go on the input to the UPS.

One more thing you might try is to run an extension cord and test the PLM on a completely different branch circuit. Have you tried the iHealth script?

You also asked about network cables... ethernet is also transformer-isolated on both ends and operates at much higher frequencies and lower power levels than your power lines. As long as you're using proper UNshielded cable, they are not going to create the kind of RF / ground loop issues that interfere with low frequency signaling.