APC by Schneider Electric Back UPS Pro – BR650MI – UPS 650VA
APC by Schneider Electric Back UPS Pro – BR650MI – UPS 650VA (6 IEC Outlets, LCD Interface, 1GB Dataline Protection)
Back-UPS Pro BR650MI by APC
At the Office
Connected Devices Runtime: How long will your devices stay connected during a power disturbance? Runtime will vary according to devices, usage and power settings
| ||
|---|---|---|
40 wattsEntry-level desktop PC with 20” monitor + internet modem and router | 119 wattsiMac computer + Network attached storage (NAS) + internet modem and router | 335 watts42” LCD television + sound bar + internet modem and router |
 |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Power | 390W / 650VA | 540W / 900VA | 780W / 1300VA |
| Battery/Surge Outlets | 6 | 6 | 6/2 |
| Voltage Regulation | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Runtime at 100 watts | 30 mins | 50 mins | 73 min |
| Dimensions: | 14.4 x 25.4 x 43.8 cm; 6.4 Kilograms |
| Model: | BR650MI |
| Batteries Included: | 1 A batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | APC by Schneider Electric |
| Dimensions: | 14.4 x 25.4 x 43.8 cm; 6.4 Kilograms |
| Origin: | Switzerland |
Discretely sits under my desk and provides battery backup for all my NAS & PC devices. Smaller than I thought and replace an APC breeze block type which had lasted for 5 years.
Display keeps you informed of any power fluctuations.
I wanted something that would keep my NAS going through a power cut so I could safley power it down.
Because of my set up, I only have 10 minutes of battery backup. I have a 2 NAS, 1200w gaming PC. and a monitor connected. The PC is the biggest power draw, so if you only have a small 300w PC, then this would be ideal. It doesn’t matter to me as I would only need a few minuted to power down my NAS.
This is a very compact UPS. Simple to use. Nice display on front tells you all you need to know. I use it to keep Tv and Router in in case of power outage.
As the headline says. Doesn’t include a 3 pin plug cable. Both cables are female to female for linking to a PC. Weasel word comments from APC is that it’s designed for computers. Apple computers don’t have kettle plug sockets – so WTF ?
Real answer – it saves them the cost providing possibly multiple cables for different regions (most NAS suppliers do this all the time. PLUS the previous version (550) did have cables.
It has 8 sockets on the back, but only comes with 2x 3-pin cables to connect devices to the back.
This isn’t a bad thing as, TBH the cables that come with the unit are awful. The female side sits loose in the back of the UPS and will disconnect your equipment.
I used one which connects to my NAS power brick and twice in the last week I’ve been (gently) moving the power brock and heard a buzz followed by my NAS power off. Move the brick some more and it buzzed back to life.
At first I thought it was the connection into the back of the NAS or the brick itself, but no, it’s the supplied cable from APC. Fortunately I got a cheap single socket adapter (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01MRPNTKT) as well as a 4 socket power strip (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08ZVCVS99) to use with the unit.
In the end I used the cheap solo socket for the NAS and it’s a good snug fit.
No more problems.
Dropped 1 star on the rating because of these bad APC supplied cables.
I bought the UPS to protect my equipment, not cause it’s own mini power outages.
This one seemed good enough for my usage and with my current devices (Ubiquiti UniFi UDM Pro + UniFi 24 port PoE Switch + Synology NAS + a few devices powered via PoE) I get about 25 minutes of battery, which is good enough to carry on working for a bit or just safely shutting down the ones I don’t actually need and increase that time.
From what I saw, the batteries are supposed to last 2y, so I will try to come back to update this review when it starts to complain and asking to replace them.
Using this with a Synology DS1520 currently only populated with 3 drives. I also have my wireless router and my modem plugged in. When the power goes off it gives me 30 mins of power. The software in the APC battery safely shuts down my DS1520 and starts it up again once power has been restored.
Working simply and easy to use. Have annoying electric buzz that’s audible but not loud. So just moving out of line of sight can make it unnoticeable. But it will different from person to person. Power limit almost reached on ryzen 9 5900x with Radeon 6800x system. Without monitor. But for price it’s acceptable considering that more powerful unit’s price goes 3-5 times. Surge protected sockets not metered and can support almost any device.
BR900MI – UPS 900VA
In a recent power outage, the APC kicked in seamlessly to continue to power our adsl modem and wifi network (i.e., two boxes).
It provided around 4.5 hours of backup, enabling the entire household to stay working/studying with internet access.
Only niggles:
– The meter on the box “promised” a bit over 6 hours of backup, so actual performance was around 70/75% of forecast
– Once the power came back on, it took nearly 48 hours for the battery to recharge fully
The item was as described and arrived on time, but the packaging and handling of the ppackage in transit resulted in significant damage to the packaging, although clever design of the actual product box inside was such that no damage occurred to the unit itself. The unit contains a battery which is heavy and as a result the outer packaging needs to be more resilient to be sure of arriving safely.
Product arrived on time, and well packaged. Really easy to setup and instructions are clear. Battery arrives disconnected for safety, and unit self tests and charges when plugged in. APC even include a test passed note attached to the side of the unit to confirm it has passed their internal checks. Haven’t tested the capacity of the device however I expect it to be sufficient time to power down in the event of a power loss, but not enough for sustained usage. Overall a good product.
his is my second UPS of this type. I have frequent power cut off and had to make sure that main desktop computer and my NAS do not loose information. this UPS is very nice – it is not very wide and not too tall so it fits in the space on my desk very nicely. it has large LCD screen that shows (configurable) voltage, load, state of battery. my NAS and my Mac recognised this UPS over USB cable. I will buy it again when I need a small UPS for a home office.
This product was bought is an upgrade to an existing CS350 as I needed more power to keep the NAS box, Ethernet switch and broadband router all alive during power cuts. An added benefit is surge protection as a recent storm took out my old router and phones as they were not on a protected supply. This model has a visual representation of power so is more useful. The USB port is useful in that the NAS can enter a managed shut down when there is less than 10% battery power remaining.
Let down by Amazon delivery who ‘claimed’ handed to resident despite my being out and not following the safe place to deliver the item instruction and just left the box in the drizzle. Impressed with the APC UPS, but far less so with the delivery on this occasion.
We seem to have a lot of power cuts so this device offers piece of mind and protection for my expensive PC and accessories. It is easy to set up and just works in the background.
The seller contacted me prior to shipment to advise it would come with a European power cord but they would provide a UK plug adaptor instead.
It does not however ship with any power cord, so used my PC power cable,, so the adaptor was not necessary.
The unit arrived much earlier than expected, excellent Seller and Amazon service.
Having recently purchased this item, the build quality is good, the display is clear and functional. The only downside is that the product did not come with a UK plug to allow me to plug the UPS into the wall socket.
Obviously a UPS is only any good when it’s needed… and a couple of days after I bought it, we had a series of power cuts. The APC box did really well… it’s powering a small server, network switch and broadband router. With the power off, it provides a solid 70-80 minutes of offline power. Plenty of time to work out if there’s a problem or whether someone just plugged a faulty kettle in!
Occasionally, I’ve seen the box kick in when the line voltage fluctuates, so it’s nice to see that it’s helping filter out oddball issues like brownouts as well as being there for full-on failures.
Recommended
Got this nearly 2 years ago now. Very impressed with it. I have the internet router on it, as well as the PC and a new 27″ LED monitor. It can keep going well over an hour in a power cut.
Also find when there is brownouts or other electrical issues in the area that thing kicks in, and the software on the PC tells you what has just happened. So protecting your IT kit all the time.
Just using this to guard against (probably intentional) power test outages in my department while I’m travelling. Simply backing up a high performance desktop.
Very easy to set up physically. I’ve tried experiments where I’ve switched off power at the mains and it picked up the slack without any trouble, which is the main thing. Feels solid – looks pretty decent. Allows the alarms to be silenced during sleeping ours.
Software user interface could have been simplified (for the home user – if you manage a bunch of computers then the tools for monitoring costs might be more relevant). The link on their software page for Powerchute Personal edition didn’t seem to work but their (very responsive) tech support sent me a direct link.
This is a superb and slimline unit that provides excellent uninterruptible mains power within the limit of its rechargeable battery. The package contains two IEC to IEC mains leads, but not an IEC to UK standard socket, nor a lead with a UK plug to power the unit. So if you need to plug in a normal 3 pin UK plug you need to buy a separate adapter, as well as a UK ‘kettle’ type lead with a male IEC plug to go into the main supply socket on the unit. With these two additional items the UPS functions very well and the display shows all the information you need. The display can also be turned off to run with only the three control buttons lit by their LEDs.
After moving and reconnecting the battery I belt a pin inside which I couldn’t mend, the technical team were great and had a replacement battery out ASAP.
Running a NAS, couple of routers 2x screens it’ll run for a few hours.
Ive got the NAS set to turn off pretty quickly, the only annoyance I had was the NAS automatically turns on as soon as the mains is back on – not before its recharged. Meaning a long outage followed by a brief on will leave your device at risk (as it won’t have battery enough to shut down).
It’s a bit annoying it only comes with kettle cable outputs, seems like a very expensive system to be plugging really cheap 3pin 4way-kettle connectors (the cheapness there was my choice). But I run lots of little things like the routers, headset basestation etc.
Would recommend if you are prone to powercuts or just overly precious about your stuff.
It has only ever been tested “in agnger” a few wtimes when we had power cuts, but the device worked flawlesly. The pwoer was never out long enough to invoke a shutdown scenario, but the included software reported the incidents as it should and works well.
It is a shame that the rack mounted equivalent is so much more expensive for essentially the same device but in a different format. So I went for the floor standing version and it sits on a shelf alongside its additional battery at the bottom of a 19″ rack.
pros:
compact
informative lcd and software
multiple connectivity options
cons:
rack mount version is expensive for the same product in a different format.
Superb UPS purchased to protect 1 x PC, 2 x Synology NAS devices, 1 x Wifi Router, 1 x MacMini, 2 x Monitors. All plugged in no issue and I used the new Synology 916 NAS as the controlling unit as both these devices contain the date I need to protect. Plugged both NAS’s in and they detected and used it straight away. We live in the countryside and suffer power fluctuations and I have had 8 of these where the UPS has trigged since purchase and the UPS dealt with them all seamlessly. Both NAS devices will shut themselves down if the UPS moves to batter, which is super and it sits silently and with my use case is never more than 70% of capacity and my PC is a powerhouse gaming PC. Highly recommended for home office use, which is my use case.
This is a good UPS, but unlike the outgoing model it now uses a custom APC battery, meaning that when the time comes to replace it you’re forced to purchase a genuine APC battery, and can’t use a generic (read: cheaper and more easily available!) battery to replace it.
I expect this is part of APC’s attempt to make these devices more consumer-friendly, as the battery just slots in and has contacts that line up, as opposed to working with the small spade connectors which do, historically, have a small risk of arcing associated with them.
The compact size and shape of this unit means I’ve easily managed to hide it behind my desk out of sight so you don’t even know it’s there. When the UPS isn’t doing anything (i.e. just running off mains waiting for a power outage) it is completely silent – no fans or anything. When it’s running off the battery powering my equipment during a mains outage it does make a noticeable buzzing noise but can easily sleep with it in the same room.
I find with it powering two TP-Link Power-Over-Ethernet Switches, one bedside clock/radio and two IP cameras the battery lasts about 3 hours 40 minutes from fully charged to flat. If I have my desktop computer and monitor turned on idling as well then battery life works out at 35 minutes precisely – more than enough time to save work and shut down. My Windows 7 desktop PC treats the UPS in the same way as a laptop would treat it’s own battery with no additional software or drivers required (i.e. just use the supplied cable to connect the Data port on the UPS to a spare USB port on your computer, then open the Windows Control Panel > Power Options and you’ll see you now have separate settings for mains power and battery power). I haven’t bothered installing the supplied PowerChute Personal software as Windows 7’s power settings are sufficient for my needs.
Some other reviews mention their PC’s freezing when running off the UPS power due to the modified sine wave power output. I’ve not experienced any problems whatsoever. Specs – Corsair RM550 power supply, Intel Core i5 4690 CPU with onboard graphics, 8GB RAM, 1x SSD + 3x 7200rpm hard drives, 22 inch monitor drawing about 85 watts when idle.
By default the UPS emits a loud beep every few seconds during a power outage however you can permanently silence it by holding down the mute button on the front panel for a couple of seconds.
Although the UPS comes with 2x IEC C14 Male-Female kettle leads for connecting it to a PC or monitor, it does not come with its own mains power cable so you’ll need to source one separately. Fortunately I had plenty of kettle leads lying around.
Finally, if APC happen to read this there’s one feature suggestion I’d like to make for a future version of this product – since as many gadgets these days run off 12v DC anyway (routers, network switches, CCTV cameras etc) can you include a 2.1mm 12v DC socket to run such equipment directly off the battery (and turn off the inverter to save battery if there’s nothing wanting to draw power from the 240v sockets) rather than losing efficiency converting the battery up to 240v then back down to 12v again.
I purchased this to protect my Synology DS415Play NAS. Set up was as simple as plugging it into the mains and leaving it overnight to ensure the batteries are fully charged. Then plug the NAS into one of the protected output ports on the back. In order to shut the NAS down when the UPS power levels are low the NAS is also connected to the UPS via a USB socket, the NAS correctly identified the make and model of the UPS. When tested the NAS cleanly shut down after 40 minutes of runtime on battery power. I set the UPS to power the NAS back up once run time was at 20 minutes, this worked like a dream, once the power came up on the NAS it started up and sent me an email to say it was working again.
These are a perfect pairing.
This is a small and compact unit which sits behind my NAS box. This is the first UPS I have had and found it handles my NAS box , 3 desktops, 5 monitors and a laptop with room to spare. The current load is 178 Watts, with 1 desktop in continuous use and another in partial use. I use trailing 6 port sockets to connect router, switches and monitors and connected to the UPS. I have not checked the load when everything is in use, but as there is over half the power unused I don’t really worry about how much wattage is being used, as I know it just works as it should.
The supplied software is pretty good to as it gives all the information I need, and it runs on a windows 10 machine no problem.
All in all, I am pleased with this UPS and would recommend it to others.
My UPS has given reliable service and kicked-in immediately when power failures occurred, keeping my computer and peripherals running long enough for me to complete my work and shut down. The unit has been completely reliable throughout.
I recently needed to replace the battery and received excellent support in the UK from Schneider Electrics.
Probably deserves 5 stars, but not tested for long enough or with enough power failures.
I live in a small village where voltage fluctuations and power outages are more common than in urban areas. I decided I needed to protect my iMac, and bought the APC BR900GI based on reviews from different sources. It has been in use for a few weeks, and of course since installing it there have been no power outages to test it. I will need to update this review after the next black out.
The unit is larger than I expected and is very solid and seems good quality. No IEC mains power supply cable was supplied with the UPS but luckily I had several spares that I could use. All outputs from the UPS are IEC. I could use one of the two male to female cable supplied with the UPS to replace my iMac’s power cable., but I had to buy a separate IEC male plug to 4 way UK plug adapter to connect my peripherals.
Setting up the unit was simple. The most difficult part was moving my desk to gain access to the cables and power sockets. My iMac is connected to the Master Outlet, and the 4 way adapter peripherals to the outlet controlled by the Master. When I turn off my iMac it automatically turns off all peripherals after the Mac has shut down completely.
The CD software CD supplied with the UPS is for Windows only. For Macs use System Preferences;Energy Saver;UPS. All the necessary adjustments are there. If the UPS is connected to the computer by USB cable the battery status is displayed ion the menu bar.
The panel on the UPS tells me the battery is fully charged to run my system for 62 mins, my system is drawing 20% of the maximum power for which it is rated, and the mains supply is currently 241 volts.
The UPS is sitting quietly beneath my desk doing what it is supposed to do. UPDATE: Since writing my original review there have been several short power cuts in my village. My UPS has kept my iMac and peripherals running without interruption until the power was restored.
I was a little confused by the connections and interfaces (a USB to RJ45 cable…really?!), but that may just be because I’m used to the commercial kit. After thoroughly reading the manual though I did get everything setup as I needed.
Works exceptionally well with my Synology NAS, once plugged in the NAS set itself up before I even found the options! I was having quite a few issues with input voltage irregularity prior to getting this, but once I set the UPS to it’s maximum sensitivity, everything is working perfectly. This capacity will run a four-bay NAS for two and a half hours however, so I’m going to get a smaller unit for the NAS and move this to my main rig setup instead.
The only downside is that although you can set the screen to turn off after a set time, there seems to be no way to disable the button LEDs so the unit always gives off a white glow which can be a little annoying at times.
As a final note, I had my NAS running straight from the mains for around 5 months prior to getting this UPS and never had an issue; after only having it setup for a few weeks, something blew and caused a huge surge which took out a many other electronics. You really never know when your luck is going to run out so make sure you’re prepared, I could have lost 10TB of data if I didn’t have this UPS.
Excellent power capacity and auto shut off for Windows PCs. I left the PC doing housekeeping one night and the UPS alarmed and woke me up. The dodgy RCD (now replaced) had tripped and half the house (including freezers) had lost power. Quite a large footprint and expectedly heavy because of the battery. I particularly like the idea of automatically shutting down and starting up other devices connected to it. e.g. The desktop PC takes a couple of minutes to boot up so I have programmed it to delay the power up of the monitor for two minutes. On switching off the PC, I have told it to switch the monitor off a few seconds after the PC has shut down.
Switch on your new UPS, and supply the power to your iMac as you would expect. Also, plug in the cable that has an RJ45 connection at one end into the Data Port on the rear of the device (at topmost, on the right). Then plug the USB cable into your iMac – you may see a quick bit of action in the system icons menu of your Mac desktop (top, right of desktop) but in fact in my case I couldn’t see a new icon until I told the computer to shutdown, when it dutifully appeared for the remaining few seconds until the computer was shutdown.
Once you have booted up your iMac again then right click on the new icon (looks like bolt of lightning in a box) and click on “Open Energy Saver Preferences”. This will take you into the Energy Saver page of the System Preferences window, but this time there will be a new tab called UPS (I mention this specifically because the few Internet searches that I read spoke of this tab but it wasn’t obvious that the tab only appears once it can see an appropriate device. On the UPS tab you then press the Shutdown Options button and tell your iMac at what point you want it to shutdown.
I bought it and came in before schedule, the unit is a little bit longer than expected but looks great next to my computer, even in plain view.
On the back you have 8 IEC connectors 4 of them are battery operated and 4 surge protected only. Two of the 4 battery operated connectors are called Master, these ones are managed by the ups internal firmware and when the power goes below a set value of Watts the 2 controlled by master connectors on the left are powered down, saving you money on the energy bill, you can set this value along with other setting by connecting the UPS to the computer using the given USB cable or a serial connection.
To provide the unit with the right threshold you will then need to monitor the power used by your computer when running idle.
I have connected my computer on a master battery powered connector along with my screen, on the controlled by master instead my speakers and a second monitor, when I shut down the computer after 4 seconds screen and speakers are powered down, also this time game is customizable.
The unit provides also a number interesting information such us the daily estimate cost for running the units connected at the actual power request, the running time on battery, the actual power consumption, etc…, and protects both your phone and data network thanks to the RJ11 and RJ45 surge protected connectors on the back of the unit.
The main reason for buying this unit, was to protect the my Synology Server, after setting up all with my computer I plugged the usb cable in the Synology running DSM 5.1 and after a couple of clicks in the control panel everything was setup, I posted a picture showing the estimated battery running time and the other information provided by the DSM utility.
For who is thinking between the BR900GI 540W and the 330W, consider the following: My computer is a Asus Maximus VII Gene and Intel i7 4790K, 2x 4TB Hard Drives, 2x SSD Drives, 32GB DDR3 Ram and powered by 620W Corsair PSU, when playing or other intense activity, the power absorption is never more 130/170W, I also run 4 VMs (3x Win Server 2012 and 1x windows 7) I also have connected a Synology Server and 2 LED 24″ screens.
Unless you want more battery running time and you have a similar setup, you can go with the APC 330W RS LCD 550 that will save you some money.
I am getting old and remember the days of needing a crane to lift a UPS, bought from Amazon with free delivery as most other suppliers wanted an arm and a leg to deliver to Scottish Highlands ( apparently we have suffered continental drift and are now offshore to many carriers)
The unit arrived promptly and required only a simple connection to the battery to get it up and running, very compact but powerful and effective, only 2 days in there was a short outage of around 5 seconds and the unit performed perfectly, I have a PC and monitor attached as well as a a couple of NAS drives and unit suggests I have enough battery power for around 18 mins. That is ample to get machine shut down and drives to power off instead of crashing.
Overall very pleased with this unit so far and the powerchute software is icing on the cake simple to use and setup.
The item was purchased to deal with electricity dropping out rather regularly in my area, generally only for a couple of seconds, but can be much longer. The initial item received seemed faulty, but that got rectified very quickly by APC, and have since been enjoying continuous power. The first time it came to action it showed that the time on battery power is only a rough estimate and can change very quickly, so be aware of that. Eventually my power was out for several hours, which tempts me to buy the additional battery unit to increase running time. Considering that this is nothing more than a battery and an inverter, (and the additional unit is only a battery), these are quite expensive batteries, but they do do the job.
This extra battery has been designed to be exactly the same size as the UPS itself and have exactly the same appearance (minus the LCD display of course) This means, aesthetically, it doesn’t look weird either.
It’s completely simple to connect to your UPS, requiring just a single lead connection and the UPS immediately recognises it without any configuration. (I’m not sure if you can connect it when the UPS is powered on, I chose not to). After connecting, the UPS will hum for a few hours whilst it’s charging this extra battery and after that, it’ll return to its usually quiet self.
Nice… very nice.
The APC UPS is attractively styled and much smaller and lighter than my previous UPS. It was easy to set up, is very quiet in operation (just an almost imperceptible buzz) and has kept my computer and router going through a number of short outages. I haven’t checked how long the battery will last, but as it’s not under heavy load it should last a while, and in any case the comms link with my computer should ensure a soft shut down before the battery dies.
My only very minor gripe was that it came with two IEC main-female leads but no lead to plug it into a 13Amp socket. Maybe this was a packing error. In any case I had spare 13a-IEC leads so it was no problem.
My 4star rating is only because I haven’t had it long enough to fully judge its performance.
Main PC – quad i5 with GTX460 graphics card and a couple of hard drives
HP Proliant N40L microserver
Draytek router
Pair of KRK active speakers
Dell 24″ LCD monitor
Total: 250W under normal use (ie: not gaming which adds about another 100W)
With all that lot running, I expected it to die pretty rapid and while the readout does indeed show a quick decline in the expected number of minutes, it was more than 15 minutes indicated. Shutting down the main PC dropped off enough Watts to bring it back up to over an hour and then turning off everything but the N40L showed a stunning 3+ hours!
The LCD readout is really handy, you get to see how many Watts you’re eating along with other geeky bits like input and output voltage – quite surprising how far from 240V your mains can get!
And the surprise Brucey bonus for me was it has completely removed all electrical spike noise on my speakers. Not just toned down, totally gone. I wish someone had suggested this earlier – I’ve tried ferrite rings, RF reduction adapters, the lot.
As a lot of other users, I opted to get a 4-gang IEC adapter for the non-essential peripherals – saves you buying a load of IEC cables.
I purchased this Unit following a series of powercuts over the christmas period that eventually destroyed my PC. The APC UPS has 4No. battery backed outputs and 4No. surge protected outputs so the critical equipment can be battery backed and equipment such as printers etc can be surge protected.
I am running a custom graphics intensive PC with one 28″ LCD monitor and one 20″ monitor and with these connected to the battey backed side of the UPS I am currently protected for 24 minutes in a power failure which is more than enough time to save my work and shut the PC down.
In the event that I am away from my PC the supplied software will shut the PC down safely 5 minutes before the batteries run out so the PC is always protected. I think there is even an way of the software automatically saving files for you but haven’t gone that far into it as yet.
For the money this is probably one of the best investments I have ever made! I highly recommend this little machine!
I work from home so I bought this power my PC and monitor. It’s over-spec’ed but I wanted some in reserve if I decide in future to connect other things. The advantage of course is that I have more battery time available in the event of a power failure – 66 minutes according to the readout and this seemed to bear up with a 20 minute test. I find the APC Pro very easy to use despite never having used a UPS before. This is just as well because the instructions are quite brief. The transition to battery power is seamless and the versatile LCD display gives you all the information you need to keep on top of things. My only gripe, aside from the brief instructions, is that they could have provided more than two connectors, or at least a couple of plug-to-connector adapters so that electrical items without detachable power cords can be used.
Absolute fantastic product and gives real peace of mind. I have connected 1 x LED 24″ Monitor; 1x Draytek Router; 1x Virginmedia Modem; 1x HP 8 Port HUB; 1 x Netgear ReadyNas with 2x 1.5TB Hard Drives,1 x PC QuadCore 3.0Ghz,8GB Ram,6 Hard Drives, 2 ATI 4670 Graphics cards, numerous 120mm system cooling fans etc. All this consumes only 200 to 280 watts approx. according to the APC LCD screen display. I have connected it to the ReadyNas for monitoring which in turn communicates with the PC in the event of power failure. PC PSU is an Enermax 720w Infinity with PFC. I have had no problems regarding the PFC and sine wave issue during the APC operation. But the PC is set to shutdown within a couple of minutes of going on to UPS battery power. All round excellent product, a must buy!
Bought to replace a couple of Belkin units from PC World. The APC model is in a different price league but it is in a different quality league also. I have tested it by disrupting my electrical supply and it kicks in and runs modem, screen and PC without a hesitation. No work is lost, internet connection is not disrupted. Splendid protection out in the coutryside where power hiccups are fairly frequent. I am delighted with the performance. I use a APC Back UPS ES8 Power Saving Outlet 700VA APC Back UPS ES8 Power Saving Outlet 700VA to protect my Sky Box and that keeps on running through a power cut too. APC is also the UPS of choice for an IT Director that I used to work with.
I’ve had a previous (lower power) model for about 15 years and on a few occasions it has saved me from loosing a great deal of work. You get a warm feeling inside when the lights suddenly go out without warning but the PC goes on as if nothing has happened – even half way through rendering a film or burning a DVD. It controls periferals such as monitor and powered speakers and will power them down when the PC goes to hibernate and power them up again when required, which is handy.
This new model is just as good – just fit and forget.
(As it uses American conectors (screw-fit ones easy to get from Amazon) you might need to make up a short extension lead to take those mains converters which are built in to 13A square pin plugs for things like powered speakers, but leads for PC and monitor are supplied. APC Back UPS RS Pro 900VA 540W 230V with IEC-320 C14 and IEC-320 C13 Connections – Black
I have two desktop PCs (core7 with several HD and 4x DVD drives each), a laptop, one 24″ monitor and ADSL modem, hub etc all running from it and it shows about 35% total capacity used !!
I had a lot of trouble when amazon tried to ship it to me in Finland though. They put a large warning label “contains a lithium battery” on the side. I don’t know why they did this since the large battery inside is a sealed lead acid type (like with most UPSs). The item kept being delivered to scotland and not to me in Finland. Eventually after contacting UPS it was because it was being returned to the amazon warehouse (amazon did not tell me this). Only by changing the delivery address to the UK (and collecting it and bringing it home myself in a suitcase) did I realise it was because of the lithium battery warning and the dangers of shipping items by air that contain lithium batteries.
Amazingly after telling amazon this (wrong label on the box), ordering another one saw it get to east midlands airport and be returned exactly as before.
Overseas buyers beware.