APC UPS BX1500 - use extra features?

[Slickone]

My Back Ups came with a USB->RJ45 cable (and an RJ11 cable) and software. Do most people use the features you get with the cable and software? Is it worth it?

 

[Slickone]

^

 

[Mday]

you get warnings about: surges, noise, battery life...

i mean, if power goes out, and the UPS kicks in, all you get is the beeps without the cable. you wont know if you have time to shut off your computer. also, the software will shut down the system for you if power goes out. otherwise, power goes out -> battery dies, the system just loses power. worst case scenario, you get corrupted system files.

 

[Slickone]

So with the cable/sofware, when the power goes it, it will show you how long you have before the battery goes out? Can you have it do this without it automatically shutting down your PC?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Slickone
So with the cable/sofware, when the power goes it, it will show you how long you have before the battery goes out? Can you have it do this without it automatically shutting down your PC?

You should be able to; I don't have an APC UPS, mine's a Cyberpower. It gives you configuration options, like the battery output voltage, how long it should run until it does just outright shut down, how long it goes until it starts to shut down applications, event logging...etc.
I'd expect APC to offer something similar, if not even more sophisticated. But then, I could be wrong.

 

[Slickone]

Anyone know? Also is the program that runs in the background a pretty small footprint?

 

[Slick5150]

I have an APC, and you can actually just use the default WinXP power settings with it. So you set up your power configuration as normal, and also for when the computer is "on battery" (much like you setup a laptop). So that way when the power goes out, Windows knows it's running on a battery, and will warn you, and then shut down the computer (if you want it to). So really there's no software running at all in the background

 

[Slickone]

But I'd be interested in knowing how much juice is left. Can WinXP show that?

 

[Slickone]

^

 

[brxndxn]

Originally posted by: Slickone
But I'd be interested in knowing how much juice is left. Can WinXP show that?

ya.. I have two UPS's hooked to my computer (one for monitor, one for computer) and it shows the power capacity for each. It's in power options in the control panel. Just make sure you have a UPS (the APC one does) that supports being detected by Windows XP.

 

[Staver]

Actually APC PowerChute software runs inplace of the UPS service in WinXP. It has more options for a Smart type UPS like statistics and testing. It's also free.

 

[Slickone]

Yes, I have the software CD that came with my UPS BX1500, but if WinXP could natively do it, it's just one less thing I have to have running in the background.