The APC Back-UPS 650
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Specifications
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The
product
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- Output power
capacity 650 VA
- Output power
capacity 400 Watts
- Nominal output
voltage 120 V
- Waveform type
Stepped approximation to a sinewave
- Typical recharge
time 11 hour(s)
- Interface port
DB-9 RS-232
- Surge energy
rating (Joules) 320
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A
study by IBM has shown that a typical computer is subject to more than 120
power problems per month. The effects of power problems range from the subtle
keyboard lockups, hardware degradation to the dramatic complete data loss
or burnt motherboards.
According to a survey by the Yankee Group,
almost half of the corporations researched put their down time costs at upwards
of $1.000(US) per hour, with nine percent estimating costs up to or more than
$50.000(US) per hour. Clearly, businesses are becoming more and more reliant
on utility power supplies that are pushed beyond their capacity. Of-course
these realities don’t only concern companies or big corporations. They are
also touching a very big portion of home users: a slight power problem could
result in anything from losing your precious work to serious hardware damage
to your PC.
A Slight Overview
The front panel of the back-ups 650 features
an I/O switch with a Green LED that indicates when the power is ON. There’s
a second switch on the right that features two functions: Test and Alarm disable.
The Test tests the UPS system by emulating a power outage. The Alarm switch
can disable the warning beep when a power outage occurs.
The back-ups 650 comes with a FAX/Modem surge
protection that will guard your PC from "back-door" surges. You
can only use one telephone line on it as it only features a line in and a
line out to your computer.
The back-ups 650 comes with two surge protection
outlets that are designed for equipment that needs surge protection and not
power back-up during an outage. The 650 model also features two BlockSafe
outlets; they are basically corded sockets that can at the same time accept
block type plugs without covering other outlets.
400 Watts of output capacity power should be more
than enough for most users. If you own a lower end system at home and are
not using one of those 21" Monitors, you may simply pass on the 650 model
and take a look at a lower end model in the back-ups series.
Installation
The very first step to do when you get your APC
product will be reconnecting the black wire to the battery. All of APC’S units
are shipped with a battery wire disconnected due the compliance with the Department
of Transportation (DOT) regulations. To do so, place the unit on its side,
open the battery protection door, and slide
the battery out. After these steps have been done, connect the black wire
to the battery, slip it back in the unit and close the battery protection
door.
When these steps have been completed, you will
need to connect the unit to a power source. The UPS battery charges whenever
it is connected to utility power and typically requires around 5 hours to
charge fully. After the charge, you can proceed connecting your equipment
to the UPS.
The test
Having your PC connected to an UPS system is
great, but did you ever asked your-self how long these systems could keep
up with your PC? Well before going further let me just explain that every
single UPS has it’s own specifications. This means that the 650 model sold
by APC performs somehow better compared to let’s say the 500 model, the price
difference is not only based on the exterior features, but it is also based
on a reasonable improvement over the time it can hold your PC up.
We decided to perform a simple "UP"
test on our Pentium III 550E system featuring the Asus P3V4X motherboard,
128MB of memory and a G400 video card from Matrox. This was tested on a mid-tower
case running on a 300Watt Furtron power-supply. The display of choice was
Sony’s value 17" ES monitor. We started the test at 9:25am, just by unplugging
the electricity source the back-ups started out-putting an alarm sound: sending
out an warning that the electricity has been completely cut off and the system
fully operates from the UPS system. The beeping lasted until 9:53, which was
then replaced by a continues alarm: sending out an warning that the UPS battery
is discharging. This alarm lasted until 9:55 and 27 seconds. The UPS system
gave up and the PC turned off. The back-ups 650 showed us a very impressive
back-up result: 35 Minutes and 27 seconds are much more of what we expected
of this $199 USD product.
APC’s PowerChute software
You will need to fill out a form and send it back to ACP in order to receive
the interface cable and PoweChute plus software. No extra charges will apply
on that option. I still don’t understand why ACP didn’t include it in the
bundle directly.
APC’s PoweChute plus software supports Windows
NT and Windows95/98. A good example of it’s use is, when power fails, APC’s
WorkSafe feature will start saving all open files, and will close all opened
applications. It will then automatically shut down the operating system. The
connection between the APC back-ups and your PC is made using a standard serial
cable.
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Positives
(+)
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- Reasonable
Price
- Good Back Up
Time
- Telephone Surge
protection
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Negatives
(-)
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Conclusion
There are two different types of computer users, those who lost data due power
problems and those who are going to. The more you use your computer, the sooner
you’ll have to pay for that loss. Power problems wreak havoc on today’s networked
and stand-alone PC’s. If you don’t want to be in one of these two categories
and if you really look in to protecting your home or business PC, we highly
recommend you to take a look the back-ups 650 from APC. You may want to take
a little tour at APC’s site to choose the right back-ups product for your
PC.
Oleg
Mitskaniouk
00/05/24
