Thread: APC Power backup for the home PC

POWER CUTS REMAIN the perennial bugbear of the home computer user. APC's 550VA UPS can help with this, and seems an attempt at drawing more people who are looking for a low-cost UPS with good support. The casing is black and the design quite sober.

It offers automatic voltage regulation, surge protection, audible indicators of battery status, and self-testing. Weighing 5.7 kg, its build quality is good. It has a 1.2m long moulded power cable, power button in the front, and a resettable circuit breaker button. It contains a 7.5 Ah (Ampere-Hour) battery, is capable of supporting a maxi-mum load of 300W, and an output current of 2.4 Amperes. APC claims a typical recharge time of 10 hours, but it will be quite hard for a home user to know how and when your battery is fully charged, since this unit does not offer USB monitoring or any other visible indicator. There's less documentation than the ES series.

At the rear are only two power outlets. This is the clearest sign yet that this is a basic UPS meant only for use with a single computer and monitor. Those with a printer or modem will have to make their own arrangements. To test it, we used a normal desktop PC and a 19-inch wide screen LCD monitor. Cold booting passed off successfully without triggering the "overload" indicator. We just did the basics while on battery - playing songs, web browsing, office documents, and saving files. The UPS then lasted for 26 minutes, beeping all the way for the last 5 minutes and then shut off power. The warranty covers the battery for one year and two years for -all other parts and labor.