Something worth to buy -- APC UPS general review

 

UPS - uninterruptible power supply, not the UPS for delivery... It's a device to pass thru constant power to your device when your external power is functional yet it has an internal battery which is charging 24/7 just in when your external power source is cut off, this internal battery will kick in and provide temporary power until it's drained, just think of an external powered cellphone when charging (not a very good analogy, but can't think of a better one)...

I did this topic in my speech communication class, introduced this essential electronic device to my fellow classmates. When I first submit the topic, the teacher read out to the classmates, everyone was like what the fu*k are you talking about and laughed at the topic. But after I brought the actual product to the class and made the speech in front of everyone (wearing my lucky shirt that day, first speech failed due to over time, second made it within 5 minutes...)The feedback turned out to be good, some guys just started to ask me the price and functionality about it. I actually demoed them by unpluging the power cable from the wall (not good practice, should bring another plug with switch and turn off the switch...), and the desktop computer I hooked up was still running strong, they were impressed.

-So what does this product do?

To provide a short yet enough time to turn off the computer or any other electronics powered by it when you have a power outage or other power problem.

-How much does it cost?

With the lowest entry price $40 on a 350VA, and gets higher and higher on larger model.

-Do I really need it?

I think it's essential, just adds protection to your electronic devices as you would buy life insurance, car insurance etc...

This particular UPS has four outlets, which is way more than enough. Just pay attention don't overload the UPS, the protection circuit will shut itself down if it's overloaded, which means your devices are not protected. The rule of thumb is to connect only one computer to one UPS, and don't connect electric hog device such as mircrowave or laser printer... I got bite once not long ago when my PS3 and computer are on the same cyberpower 485VA UPS, the UPS stops working when my dad turn on an electrical vacuum, I was in the middle of deleting a file on PS3 and encoding a clip on the computer... This particular UPS will give you about 6-10 minutes of protection before it drains its battery, so you should have enough time turning of your computer or any other devices. You can also install the powerchute software and connect the USB cable to the UPS to monitor it. Just in case you are not at home, the powerchute will turn it off for you, but only good on computers, you're out of luck if you connect to other devices and they happen to be running...

Above is a screenshot on the powerchute software, pretty interesting to fiddle around, watching the voltage on your wire.

The lifetime on the UPS depends on the lifetime of the internal battery, according to the manual APC claims their product has a life span of 3 years. So after 3 years you should replace your battery. But I have an APC 725VA running 4 years, and don't have any issue with it and still going strong...

The end, I have purchased 9 UPS after I moved to US and discover the device and what benefits it brings. Of the total 9 UPSes, only one Belkin 650VA has failed within 1 year, the other 8 have served well.