what APC UPS to get?

[MonsterMac]

anyone have any recommendations on what a good budget level UPS would be? I'm not familiar with them at all, and have been thinking of purchasing one for quite some time, any and all comments welcome! It will be used for my computer (and monitor(s)) only. i'm thinking about going APC but i'm not sure what wattage/model to get, so recomendations should be focused there.

 

[HO]

What are your needs, wattage wise? If unsure, try the APC product selector here.

APC makes 3 levels of UPS units. The most basic units (Level 1, Standby) don't do much, if anything, about conditioning the power coming from your outlet. If you have clean power, it may not be a concern. If you don't, you may want to insert a good line conditioner between the wall and a low level UPS. Additionally, line conditioners also offer surge protection that usually is a step above what the econo UPS units offer. The output from this type of UPS is *usually* a stepped "sine" wave (as opposed to a square wave) that looks not too horrible if the UPS isn't loaded down too much, but it can look really nasty if you're pulling anywhere close to the rated output of the unit. If you find yourself running on battery power, best to shut down ASAP.

The SMART UPS units (Level 2, Line Interactive) are probably the best buys in the APC line IF you buy them here. SMART UPSes offer true sine wave output and (mostly) acceptable line conditioning. You can run on battery power without worrying about torturing your computer's PSU (and your monitor's, for that matter). The APC Pro units are OK too, but I think they have been discontinued.

The final level of UPS unit is a Level 3, Online unit. Too expensive for home use.

 

[wolfman11]

Very good information above. I recently had to replace an underpowered APC unit and decided to go with this Opti-UPS model. I've had it for 3 months now and been very happy, but you can't go wrong with the APC! It was the right size when I bought it 5-6 years ago, but systems and power needs change over time.

This Opti-UPS unit seems like a very good quality unit (particularly for the money) versus the APC Back-UPS 500 I had before.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16842107140

Steve

 

[Blain]

CyberPower 825AVR...
* 825VA rating
* 1260 Joules of surge protection (APC units won't offer anything near this)
$58 + cheap shipping cost :thumbsup::laugh:

 

[MWink]

Originally posted by: Blain
CyberPower 825AVR...
* 825VA rating
* 1260 Joules of surge protection (APC units won't offer anything near this)
$58 + cheap shipping cost :thumbsup::laugh:

Don't worry about the Joule rating on APC's units, they WILL protect as good as any other brand.

As for the OP, the lowest APC UPS I would use is the Back-UPS ES 500. The ES 350 is just too small for any realistic computer IMO (it uses a tiny 3AH battery as opposed to the 7AH battery in the 500). The Back-UPS CS and RS series are much better units but they cost a bit more. If you have the money I would go for the Smart-UPS SC series as they are similar to the old Back-UPS Pro's which were my favorite. The Smart-UPS is their best UPS a consumer would likely use but they are fairly expensive. (Note: the Smart-UPS SC is not quite as good as the Smart-UPS)

If you don't mind a reconditioned unit, I would check out APC's Factory Outlet. They have UPS's for MUCH lower prices AND they have a valid Equipment Protection Policy. If you buy a used APC UPS from anywhere else the Equipment Protection Policy will NOT be valid.

 

[HO]

Here is a good primer on UPS devices. Take some time to read through all of it and you will be ready to make an informed choice.

PS: good idea re the APC factory store?I've never given equipment warranty a thought.

 

[MonsterMac]

a refurbished unit from the APC factory store seems like a good idea to me. My computer PSU is 430W, and I have 4 HDD's and may add more, and have two external hard drives (which I will probably power off a surge protector if I run short of space). I use a 17 inch LCD monitor, but may move to dual monitors if I feel it necessary. I'd like to keep maybe 20% more wattage space available to me if I upgrade anymore, with this information do you guys think that the Back-UPS RS 1000VA would be a good buy (I used APC's wattage meter thing and I was sort of confused because it said I hsould get something lower than waht my PSU even was). Anyways, thanks for the responses very much guys.

 

[MWink]

Just because you have a large PSU doesn't mean it's pulling anywhere near its rating. I think people are starting to way OVERsize PSU's today (which is not necessary if you use a good brand). I have a 330W SeaSonic but even when my system is running at full power, my computer and 19" LCD combined pull less than 200W.

Given what you've said, I think the Back-UPS RS 1000 would be a good choice. The Smart-UPS 700 might also be a good choice (The Smart 700 and the RS 1000 both have the same capacity batteries). Also, hard disks don't draw much power at all. I would run your external hard disks off the UPS since power fluctuations could damage them, or cause you to lose data.

 

[MonsterMac]

does anyone think that the apc smart ups 700 would be overkill for me to get? do i really need the line conditioning aspect of it if I live in the US? If i were to get it, i'd be getting it from refurbups.com (are they reputable, has anyone had to deal with them and know what their warranty/service is like?). Thanks again!

 

[pkme2]

I use a APC 650 Back UPS and a Cyberpower 1250 AVR formy various rigs.
The APC is on my 1 computer for about 3 years.
The Cyberpower handles a hookup of 3 computers.
Never had a problem with either. Very reliable in brownouts.

 

[MonsterMac]

anyone else have any thoughts/comments?

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Originally posted by: MonsterMac
anyone else have any thoughts/comments?

Yes, search this forum "General Hardware" for UPS. Search the archives also

Much good info will come up.


...Galvanized

 

[John]

Originally posted by: MonsterMac
does anyone think that the apc smart ups 700 would be overkill for me to get? do i really need the line conditioning aspect of it if I live in the US? If i were to get it, i'd be getting it from refurbups.com (are they reputable, has anyone had to deal with them and know what their warranty/service is like?). Thanks again!

Great pure sine-wave UPS (especially for TV's) and a great company to deal with.

 

[MWink]

Originally posted by: MonsterMac
does anyone think that the apc smart ups 700 would be overkill for me to get? do i really need the line conditioning aspect of it if I live in the US? If i were to get it, i'd be getting it from refurbups.com (are they reputable, has anyone had to deal with them and know what their warranty/service is like?). Thanks again!

Why buy a Smart-UPS 700 from RefurbUPS when you can get it from APC's Factory Outlet (Here) for only $5 more. Plus it will have a valid Equipment Protection Policy.

As for if it's overkill, that depends on how important the stuff you're protecting is to you. The fact that you live in the U.S. doesn't mean you have good quality power. There are plenty of places in the U.S. (if not the majority of places) that have low quality power. IMO you can never buy too high end a UPS, just one with more runtime than you need.

 

[Makaveli]

good point Mwink

 

[HO]

no USB interface on the 700 tho...

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: MWink
Don't worry about the Joule rating on APC's units, they WILL protect as good as any other brand.

How can a sub-500 joule rated APC protect as long as a UPS with 1k or more of protection?
Each surge chips away at the total protection.

 

[MWink]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: MWink
Don't worry about the Joule rating on APC's units, they WILL protect as good as any other brand.

How can a sub-500 joule rated APC protect as long as a UPS with 1k or more of protection?
Each surge chips away at the total protection.

For starters, APC seems to determine the joule rating of their products differently from other companies. Their ratings are much more conservative. Secondly, the joule rating is not necessarily a very important spec of a UPS. See Here for more info. If you want a high joule rated APC, then get This.

 

[HGC]

I think the Backups LS is a good value. I have two of them. They have more sockets than some models, and the unit has a nice shape that makes the sockets easy to access. They also have built in line conditioning. They're often available cheap on the APC refurb site, but even full price I think they're a good deal.

 

[Zach]

Originally posted by: Blain
CyberPower 825AVR...
* 825VA rating
* 1260 Joules of surge protection (APC units won't offer anything near this)
$58 + cheap shipping cost :thumbsup::laugh:

I've had bad luck with Cyberpower UPS's. Three have died on me. An RMA unit, which is a newer model, is hanging on though. I did get to keep the batteries from the RMA's on two, so overall I can't complain too much since they were Fry's specials. I guess I mean to say you get what you pay for.

 

[nwrigley]

Originally posted by: HGC
I think the Backups LS is a good value. I have two of them. They have more sockets than some models, and the unit has a nice shape that makes the sockets easy to access. They also have built in line conditioning. They're often available cheap on the APC refurb site, but even full price I think they're a good deal.

I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure out which UPS to buy. I don't want to spend more $ than I need to based on bad information, but I don't want to waste money on something that isn't going to provide me with what I need. I?m looking at APC models and let?s stick to those for the sake of comparison

Using the APC selector tool it recommends a UPS 500VA or higher. I really don't care about how long it can run off the battery since I would just shut it down as soon as it kicked on. I do want a model with Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR), as this is as important to me as the battery backup feature.

Are higher priced models with the same VA rating better at powering that same system (my thinking is along the lines of how not every PSU with the same wattage rating is the same)?

Do I need to connect a UPS directly to my computer (USB or serial) or can I configure the computer to shut down automatically with a low battery under XP Pro (such as with a laptop)?

Here are a couple of models that I?m looking at right now from the APC factory outlet:

APC Back-UPS LS 500VA

APC Smart-UPS 700VA

Any thoughts/help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Rubycon]

Smart UPS units put out pure sine wave?

That's news to me! I'll have to Dranetz one of them to see.

 

[nwrigley]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
Smart UPS units put out pure sine wave?

That's news to me! I'll have to Dranetz one of them to see.

According to their tech specs they do, check the link in my previous post. How important is this feature?

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: nwrigley

According to their tech specs they do, check the link in my previous post. How important is this feature?

It's only important if the manufacturer of the protected equipment states that it must run on pure sine wave A/C power ONLY.

 

[nwrigley]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn

Originally posted by: nwrigley

According to their tech specs they do, check the link in my previous post. How important is this feature?

It's only important if the manufacturer of the protected equipment states that it must run on pure sine wave A/C power ONLY.

Which would typically be what?