OD: APC Back-UPS 500VA $19.99

[kaborka]

Good deal on a UPS. Today and tomorrow in-store only. The OD website shows the BE500R, and I could not find the BE500U on the APC website. The one I got has three UPS outlets and three surge-protected outlets, and a USB cable connection to the computer.

 

[Poohbee]

Thanks for the heads up on this.!

 

[FeeNixed]

THANKS- I didn't see any advertisement on this. Can you give the item number so we can phone for local availability?

 

[mshan]

119295

Ad says "available in store only"

 

[kaborka]

I didn't bring the ad back with me, so you'll have to try the item# mshan posted above. The number printed on my receipt line item is 731304118541.

They also printed out a $10-off-25 coupon for me, and gave me another $5-off-25. Neither are usable for tech items, though.

 

[nealh]

my store sold right out..Staples has a cyberpower with 8 outlest(looks to be 2 more than OD APC) but it is a Cyperpower brand 485VA/260W for $19.99 a well

 

[Poohbee]

how is cyberpower?

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: Poohbee
how is cyberpower?

I have no idea but I could not find another OD easily and I like the idea of extra outlets and will use this on a TV,DVR box, stereo receiver, dvd player and VCR

 

[allisolm]

Originally posted by: FeeNixed
THANKS- I didn't see any advertisement on this. Can you give the item number so we can phone for local availability?

It's in their Thanksgiving ad if you want to check it out. Back page. Bottom row. Good Fri and Sat.

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: Poohbee
how is cyberpower?

I've had the Cyberpower 525SL for about 2 years and it still keeps my PC up and running for about 10 minutes with no power before the voltage drops below 95 on the 120 line. At this point the PC will still run, but start to undervolt I'm sure, so I've never let it drop eblow that without plugging the thing back in during tests.

My specs:

19" CRT - - Power Hog

PC:
P4 2.8 533Mhz FSB
1.5 GB of Corsair PC3200 Value Ram
Maxtor 100 GB SATA Primary
Seagate 400 GB SATA 7200.10 Secondary
Leadtek 6600GT AGP With Zalman VF-700
2 Case fans : 92mm in back and 80mm in front
Horribly inefficient ThermalTake Silent Purepower 420 Watt PSU (I think it's about 65% efficiency).

So I'd say that it's a good backup supply. The software that comes with it is lacking in that it doesn't allow you to monitor the voltages or give you a countdown before the backup is going to die, but it does automatically save any open documents you have and shut down your PC for you.

 

[WT]

I picked up the Cyberpower @ Staples ... was going there anyhow for the Netgear $19.99 wireless router so it seemed a very comparable UPS to the OD APC deal. I would have preferred the larger unit, but for $20 this will do the job on one PC.

 

[FeeNixed]

Out of stock for me locally. Thanks to all above for quickly providing the Item # 119295 and receipt line item of 731304118541. Good luck to others in finding it.

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: WT
I picked up the Cyberpower @ Staples ... was going there anyhow for the Netgear $19.99 wireless router so it seemed a very comparable UPS to the OD APC deal. I would have preferred the larger unit, but for $20 this will do the job on one PC.

the cyberpower has the advatange of 8 outlets...

for me the UPS on cpu is to keep it up and running with the million quick power split second power outages in florida

otherwise I will power it down with longer outages

 

[kaborka]

I've got a 500W PSU on my Opty 165 rig. I put the computer alone on the new UPS and put the monitor and everything else on the old one. I had found from experience the old one (an older model APC 500W ES UPS) would not back up both the computer and the monitor. Hopefully this configuration will work well.

I'm wondering if we really need to install the PowerChute software? WindowsXP recognized the UPS on the USB port, and now my Power Options CP applet shows battery status. Anyone have an answer?

I'm also wondering if these models will do brownout protection. That's the biggest problem in LA, and not all UPS will do voltage boosting without going on battery. I have an Energizer UPS that will boost voltage for an indefinite time without going on battery, but I wasn't happy with its other functioning.

 

[WT]

kaborka, the software allows the UPS to power sown the rig after an allotted time that you set, so fort an extended outage you are obviously better off shutting down the PC, so why not let the software do that in case you aren't home ??

One huge advantage to LCD panels is their low power draw, so running a 19" LCD is going to take about 50-66% less juice than a CRT, which will realy show when that UPS is working during an outage.

 

[kaborka]

WT: The Windows power management on my notebook will also do that. That's why I wonder if PowerChute is really needed, if XP treats the UPS the same as a battery.

 

[ATCipher]

Hey kaborka. I thought I may be able to help ya out. I've actually used this forum for perhaps almost 5 years now, but never registered. I tend to read a lot but never post on forums, lol. Great hot deals here! ;-)

As far as the PowerChute software is concerned, it is not mandatory for basic functinality. Although I would recommend that you install it and at least play around with it for a while. Specifically for the options to control the over/undervoltage points where the unit switches to battery power. Also for the option to control the threshhold for line noise. I personally use the tightest settings across the board for the best power at a trade-off of wear'n'tear on the UPS (which is still minimal where I live). Now I'm not sure if these settings are stored in a non/volatile chip in the UPS or if they are sent via the USB cable at OS load. I would hope that the unit stores the voltage level settings instead of resending them every reboot, therefore allowing the one time use of the PowerChute software. I havn't tested on that point. I hate running extra services/apps on boot. I'm currently running 4 copies of XP-Pro on one harddrive using partition hiding and a boot manager. Each OS install is custom tailored to specific purpoes on the points of performance, functinality, and security. On this old Athlon XP running at 1.65ghz, XP-Pro (set for offline gaming) boots in 11 seconds. I currently use niether the PowerChute software nor the UPS service. (Although I have for years in the past.) As a matter-of-fact, I'm currently not even running the USB cable as I dont require auto-shutdown. I don't even have USB turn'd on in the BIOS, lol.

As far as brown-out protection goes, you can set them to switch over to battery at a fairly high voltage setting but the Back-UPS ES line does NOT come with AVR (automatic-voltage-regulating). So there's no circuitry to compensate for small sags w/o the battery. As a matter-of-fact, as far as sags are concerned, the unit is either on battery, or doing nothing.

Also, the model on sale was actually the BE500U (6 total outlets) and not the mis-advertised BE500R (8 outlets, newer revision). I'm not sure if the BE500U has been or will be discontinued but I imagine that it has been since it is no longer listed at APC.com. I've had one for about 4 years now, and this computer is running on it at this very moment. It still runs great and the battery is still in good condition. I probably average 20-30 "quick-clicks" to battery and back each year with perhaps 5 total brownouts+ in the 4 years I've owned this and the computer was actually running. Works great every time. I bought 3 more Friday morning. Relatively speaking, the deal was barely listed online. At 11AM my OD had 8 remaining with over 20 at stores withen a 10 mile radius of me. If I had more liquidated capitol I would have probablly bought 20+ that morning to sell to customers with system-builds. Great deal for your customers.

BTW, I've used APC UPS's from 3 different product lines and currently own 7 APC products. Personally I think the Back-UPS ES is the best line from APC (under ~$100+) unless you went to the very expensive Smart-UPS line. (Which kicks A but is major overkill for any sub-$3000 system) Some of the units from slightly higher families (including ones with AVR) have often caused horrid transformer harmonics when on battery. (The first stage of power circuitry inside monitors would often produce a LOAD of noise for instance). Some UPS's batteries contacts are only spring clips and if jostled they many break contact for a second... (bad) The ES line uses wire terminals with a very snug fit and doesn't require the user to twist and stretch the crap out of the internal battery cabling like some other models.

Anyway, enjoy my encyclopedia posting! I type 90 WPM and tend to ramble... LOL now you see one of many reasons I often don't post on forums.

----> Since it is 4:30PM PST on Saturday and allisolm mentioned it is still good today, you may want to check out your local OD if you havn't already. At this price, it's a steal!

 

[kaborka]

Thanks for all the info, ATCipher -- guess you've been holding back all these years I'm disappointed this model does not have AVR, since that is a very important feature for my area. My Energizer UPS 650VA has it, but it caused my rig to lock up once when it was running on battery during an outage, so I don't trust it for battery backup any more. I wrote to APC to confirm about the AVR. Where did you find this info about the BE500U lacking this feature?

 

[kaborka]

APC responded promptly to my email. Here's the reply:

1) What's the difference between the BE500U and other models? Is it
the same as the BE500U-CN?

Sol: Technically there is no difference between BE500U and BE500U-CN.
The only difference is that BE500U-CN is available only for Canada
customers.

2) Does this model have automatic voltage regulation (AVR)?
Specifically, can it correct a brownout condition without going on battery power?

Sol: No. There is no AVR option in BE500U or in BE500U-CN. In Back-UPS
the only models that have AVR protection is BX/BR models. This feature
is available in all Smart-UPS models.

3) What does Powerchute software do that the native Windows XP power
management functions does not do? XP recognized the UPS and apparently
treats it the same as it does a notebook battery, so is Powerchute
really needed?

Sol: In Powerchute software you will find more options that are not
available in native Windows XP, namely.

[*]a. It protects your files and computer system during electrical power
problems. The solution does this by initially providing battery power
and, during a prolonged power problem, by initiating hibernation. Power
problems can be blackouts, low voltage, over voltage, and
electromagnetic noise.

[*]b. It enables you to monitor the operation of your battery backup and
your AC utility power supply.

[*]c. It enables you to customize your usage of the battery backup through
the Configuration options. For example, you can change the sensitivity
of the battery backup to power quality.

So, it's as ATCipher said. No AVR. Look for the Back-UPS BX or BR models or Smart-UPS for this feature.

 

[13Gigatons]

PowerChute is not neccessary, Windows XP will go into Hibernation if you set it to when the battery reaches a certain level.