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[tonygibbs16]

Hi all,

I bought an APC BV1000I last year, see https://www.amazon.co.uk/APC-Schneider-Electric-Easy-UPS-Uninterruptible/dp/B07KZ9LTG7

It has IEC socket outputs on it, so I use extension leads to convert them to UK 13A sockets.

It says that it does 17 minutes of battery backup at 120W load, but since I have only my router, DECT base station, and Grandstream HT812 ATA on it, then I should get a lot more than 17 minutes out of it.

We had a time last year when mains power was going on and off, and it proved its worth by keeping the DECT phones and router going, so WiFi and phone calls were maintained.

Now I have ATA and another DECT base station on it, then it is working well for those also.

Over £100 price, but since it does surge protection and Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) against brownouts as well then I am very happy with it.

Cheers,
     Tony

[Moderator edited to simplify the above link.]

[Weaver]

It does seem quite short, but that’s about the same runtime (very roughly) as I used to get in practice from my APC UPS.

[tonygibbs16]

It does seem quite short, but that’s about the same runtime (very roughly) as I used to get in practice from my APC UPS.

It does Weaver, and I have definitely have over 1 hour out of it during a power cut since I bought it last year.

My router takes 10.4W maximum, so if only that was on it then I should get about 204 minutes, i.e about 3 hours.

Cheers,
     Tony

[craigski]

Remember that UPS are inefficient running on battery at low load, say 10w on a 1000w UPS is 1% load, and efficiency probably less than 50%, so my estimate would be upto 1.5 hours 

[Chrysalis]

In my experience marketed usage time on UPS is a fairy tale.  As a rule of thumb I drop 50% off and may be approaching reality.

UPS market in the UK right now is horrible, I originally thought it was part of the global silicon crisis, but people have been posting on TPU in america they can buy a 900w cyberpower pure sinewave for $150, so it seems either the UK retailers are scalping or the UK has a supply problem.

On the battery life. So 600w capacity, 17 mins run time at just under 25% load, max charge.

In my experience the higher the load the less efficient (probably at very low loads as well like craig siad), and also run time at below 50% charge is much worse than above 50% charge.  The run time seems lower than usual, but is ok if its accurate.

Does it have a usb port to allow monitoring via software? Thats my only issue with this model you got as otherwise for UK pricing the value is good.

[craigski]

UPS market in the UK right now is horrible, I originally thought it was part of the global silicon crisis, but people have been posting on TPU in america they can buy a 900w cyberpower pure sinewave for $150, so it seems either the UK retailers are scalping or the UK has a supply problem.

I seem to recall the UK has stricter BS standards (a good thing) than the equivalent US standards for approval of mains connected equipment, so cost/time/hassle for manufactures would be far greater for UK specific products. And possibly cheaper to produce a 110v UPS vs 220v, in terms of components?

The APC I use is:

https://www.apc.com/shop/uk/en/products/APC-Back-UPS-850VA-230V-USB-Type-C-and-A-charging-ports-8-Schuko-CEE-7-outlets-2-surge-/P-BE850G2-UK

This has USB port for monitoring.

[g3uiss]

Most APC’s that use poweshoot software allow for a runtime calibration. That’s fairly accurate in my experience. 

[Chrysalis]

I seem to recall the UK has stricter BS standards (a good thing) than the equivalent US standards for approval of mains connected equipment, so cost/time/hassle for manufactures would be far greater for UK specific products. And possibly cheaper to produce a 110v UPS vs 220v, in terms of components?

The APC I use is:

https://www.apc.com/shop/uk/en/products/APC-Back-UPS-850VA-230V-USB-Type-C-and-A-charging-ports-8-Schuko-CEE-7-outlets-2-surge-/P-BE850G2-UK

This has USB port for monitoring.

Thanks shame its an extra £50, I have one lined up for my UPS (also circa £150 but has onscreen LED as well).  Cyberpower branded.  Probably would trust APC more as I have used a stepped sinewave APC before which worked fine.

When my older APC battery died I ditched the entire UPS, wish I kept it now and just got new battery.

[craigski]

Thanks shame its an extra £50

I wouldn't buy direct from APC, can be got for £50 cheaper:

https://www.comms-express.com/products/apc-be850g2-uk-back-ups-850va/

LCD display can be useful though, to check mains voltage, runtime etc. Re pure sinewave, my understanding is this is only required for an induction load, eg a induction transformer, motor,  etc. Any modern switch mode PSU will be fine on a stepped wave. This must be the case because they specifically say they are suitable for computers and electronic equipment.

[Chrysalis]

I am not bothered about pure sinewave, just want to be able to auto shut down the NAS when battery is below certain level which requires the ability to monitor it.

Thanks for the link I will check it out later today.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I wouldn't buy direct from APC, can be got for £50 cheaper:

https://www.comms-express.com/products/apc-be850g2-uk-back-ups-850va/

LCD display can be useful though, to check mains voltage, runtime etc. Re pure sinewave, my understanding is this is only required for an induction load, eg a induction transformer, motor,  etc. Any modern switch mode PSU will be fine on a stepped wave. This must be the case because they specifically say they are suitable for computers and electronic equipment.

I read that modern switch mode PSUs (particularly PCs) its bad to use anything but pure sine wave as stepped wave doesn't play nice with their power factor correction.

There seems to be a lot argument about if that is true or not, personally I figured just not worth taking the risk.

[craigski]

I read that modern switch mode PSUs (particularly PCs) its bad to use anything but pure sine wave as stepped wave doesn't play nice with their power factor correction.

If that was the case the UPS manufacturers wouldn't be able to advertise that they are compatible, eg from APC website

"Battery backup and surge protection for computer systems, home networking, external storage, gaming, home servers and other electronics"

https://www.apc.com/shop/uk/en/categories/power/uninterruptible-power-supply-ups-/computer-and-peripheral/N-a4lk5l


From Eaton website:

"The Eaton 3S Gen2 range offers affordable and reliable UPS for home and small business. This offline UPS provides surge and power protection for internet gateways, desktop computers, and other critical electronics."

https://www.eaton.com/gb/en-gb/catalog/backup-power-ups-surge-it-power-distribution/eaton-3s-gen2-ups.html

I'm sure these consumer UPS are fine connected to modern electronic devices, but I probably would use it with one of these with a line transformer 

http://www.righto.com/2019/11/understanding-and-repairing-power.html

[Chrysalis]

I read that modern switch mode PSUs (particularly PCs) its bad to use anything but pure sine wave as stepped wave doesn't play nice with their power factor correction.

There seems to be a lot argument about if that is true or not, personally I figured just not worth taking the risk.

My stepped sinewave APC was fine on my PFC PSU in my PC.

Bear in mind the marketing materials for pure sinewave show a very large stepped sinewave that doesnt accurately represent stepped sinewave products, at least not the one's typically purchased for computer use.

As a side note I discovered the UPS I brought for my modem could work on my NAS, its 360w, I thought was much lower, but I am still keen on replacing it as it has no monitoring or line interactive capability.

[Alex Atkin UK]

That's true, I think both PSUs and modified sine wave UPS have likely improved to mitigate the issue.  There's just so much conflicting information and urban legends.

I've seen some claims that it causes coil whine too, which seems utter BS as coil whine happens in the secondary side due to the high switching frequencies, I can't see how the low frequency AC would make any difference to that as it will have already passed through smoothing capacitors and low frequency wont make them whine.

[Chrysalis]

Yep there was no oddity on or off the battery, off battery the power is not stepped anyway, is from the mains passed through with only corrections for the voltage regulation.  The stepped is on battery, the UPS did make a buzzing noise on battery (which neither of my cyberpower units do), but there was no noises or oddities from the PC or anything else attached to it.  In addition APC units do automated battery run tests so every so often it switches to battery for about 5 seconds automatically as well never a problem at all.

Of course one SKU been fine doesnt mean every other SKU will be, so I suppose its a little gamble buying from a different family of products, but I think the evidence would be over the internet if people had issues with these units on PFC PC's.