APC UPS Battery Backup for Computer, BE550G Surge Protector with Battery Backup, Dataline Protection

Not sure if the reviews are lumped together so just to specify, this is for the BE-550G.I have historically never bothered to run a UPS, but I've been having minor power flickers in my house lately, a couple times a week that would reset my computer much to my annoyance (I run my desktop 24/7). I thought I should get a slightly bigger UPS since I have a custom built budget gaming rig, but I did some quick finger math and decided this one would work "for now". The device came with about a 95% charge if I remember correctly. I plugged in my computer and one monitor to the battery side and let it charge up to 100%, then gave it an extra hour or so. It claimed something like 150 minutes of runtime in the APC monitor program so I decided it needed a calibration. I set it all up for a worst case scenario simulation -- I used MSI Kombustor to load up the CPU and GPU and then pulled the plug. I wasn't 100% sure I'd picked one with enough wattage but it didn't flinch. It did however tell me I had 1 minute before shutdown (set to shutdown when 5 minutes remained). So I quickly set the computer back to idle and the runtime jumped back up to 7 minutes.I let it run to shutdown and everything worked just as it should. However one of the safety features caught me off guard. Forgive me for not looking up the specifics right now, but basically wait a couple minutes after power is restored if you drain the unit until it shuts down. If my memory serves, the safety feature will shut down the battery for 2 minutes (or maybe one?) after power is restored after a full drain then cycle the power. So being "that guy" who doesn't like to read directions, when it died I plugged it back up and hit the power button on my computer... It booted most of the way up then there was some beeping (from the UPS) as it cycled the power and my computer reset, and about the time it got back to the BIOS screen it cycled the power again with some more beeping. The more you know.It can't possibly be good to fully discharge a battery in 7 minutes or less, but this thing functioned flawlessly and could be a life saver. It didn't even heat up that I could tell. After my "calibration", the monitor program now says I should have 15 minutes at idle, which is probably pretty close to accurate and more than I should ever need. The next day after I hooked it up the power dropped out for a couple seconds during a storm, the UPS kicked on just like it should, and reported the problem to me in the monitor program. Now I'm just wondering why I didn't buy one of these sooner! Note that this thing takes forever to charge itself (think 12+ hours from 20% which was the magical 5 minute cut off on my system), probably to avoid unnecessary lead-acid battery related risks on your carpeted floor, but that shouldn't be an issue unless you're having constant power problems.Just a note for anyone who (like me) sat around scratching their heads about which UPS will do what you need, maybe this will help... I already told you the estimated runtimes I got, here's a rundown of the power consumers on my rig:CPU - AMD FX-4350 @ 4.2ghzGPU - MSI NVIDIA GTX-760 GamingStorage - 2x WD Red HDDs, 1x Samsung 840 EVO SSDMonitor - Asus 23.5" 1080pUpdate 10/16/2016: This unit is still doing its job without a complaint. The PowerChute program tells me that the unit has switched on twice for "blackouts" totaling 9 seconds and twice for "electrical noise" totaling 24 seconds, in the past 24 weeks. It doesn't seem to register extremely short-lived problems (a second or so), I say that because on a couple occasions I've seen the house lights flicker and heard the unit rapidly click on and off with no report. No big deal. Also the Estimated Battery Time has gone back up to 145 minutes, I haven't bothered to recalibrate because I never really look at it anyway and I know what it'll do. It periodically reports that it passed a self test, which is nice although I'm not exactly sure how it performs that test.

After having two routers that fried themselves during power failure events, I decided it was time to protect my new router and it's modem with an uninterruptable power supply. The APC 550 unit is fairly large and heavy, but it does its job well. With a power capacity of 330 watts, I placed the modem and router on two of the four backup outlets. They account for 25 wants of usage, meaning I get a little over 2 hours of backup run time for those devices. In one of the surge-only outlets, I plugged in my large screen TV which draws 215 watts. This gives the unit some spare capacity so I don't need to worry about overload. One important thing to note is that while the outlets are generously spaced, my router and modem both have longitudinal power bricks which means only those two devices have room to fit on the backup power outlets. To set up the router you need to at least temporarily connect the APC unit via the supplied USB A cable to a desktop or laptop computer running Windows or Linux. Then you download software from the APC website which allows you to tell the APC how it should respond during power outages. (e.g. keep devices running until the battery is depleted, or shut devices down after a set period of time or battery usage) and allows disabling of the audible alert. The alert is a loud beep and very annoying. The software also allows you to check on the battery health. Once the setup is done, the APC no longer requires a computer connection. As other reviewers noted, the attached computer must be running either Windows or Linux. The software is not compatible with MAC or Android. To me there are two major benefits to having a backup power supply to keep your home internet access up and running in a power failure. First, you protect your devices from being fried from a power surge when the power comes back on or it flickers on and off multiple times during a storm. Second, and this is critical if you live on an area subject to severe weather, it allows you to monitor weather radar and alerts on your laptop or tablet device while the power is out. If you're under a tornado warning, that's when you really need continuous internet access to watch the storm. APC units are made by Euopean Schneider Electric and manufactured in The Philippines and enjoy the highest ratings on Amazon. Almost all the other ups units available are made in China and seem to have rather large percentage of one-star ratings.

I got one of these APC power supply units 4 years ago locally when a store was going out of business and never had any issues with it and was surprised to find the identical unit still being sold, here this time. So I got one here this time since that store I got it locally 4 years ago is now closed. I can say that I have never had any negative issues with this APC unit...works great. We get quite a few power surges and interruptions here and never lost a thing while using this APC unit. I know a few years ago I had my home computer hooked up to this APC unit and the stuff with it and my home stereo system was hooked up to another unit from another company and we had a bad storm back in 2012 and a huge power surge hit and fried my power supply unit from another company and affected my stereo system, but the APC power supply unit kept my computer, printer and monitor safe and worked fine still after the storm cleared. So, an easy 5 star rating here for this product. It has 8 outlets, 4 for power surge protection and the other 4 for battery back up and surge protection. It has a large battery on the bottom you have to connect before using it....a very easy process to do. Anyways, I have now had this item for a little over 4 years and the battery is still in good shape and this APC is still protecting my computer....well worth the cost....indeed!

When the power is off and the UPS is powering my wi-fi, it beeps loudly. No problem during the day but at night it wakes us up and keeps us awake. I read the manual but can't find a way to switch off the beeping.Otherwise the device works as expected. During the pandemic I had students in Zoom classes on their laptops, with the UPS powering my wi-fi. A couple times the power went out and students didn't notice.