Cyberpower CP1500AVRLCD UPS - LCD Display 1500VA/900W AVR 8-Outlet RJ11/RJ45/Coax Tower USB
by Cyber Power
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List Price: Our Price: $142.60 You Save: $87.35 (38%) Availability: Usually ships in 3-4 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cyberpower CP1500AVRLCD UPS - LCD Display 1500VA/900W AVR 8-Outlet RJ11/RJ45/Coax Tower USB
Customer Review: Lasted 7 months....
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this unit in October, and my power only went out once since. Suddenly, in May, everything that was plugged into the device (my PC and monitor) turned off, and the UPS emitted a long beeping sound. I called tech support, and was told that my battery most likely died. I was sent two replacement batteries roughly a week and a half later. I installed the two batteries, but to my dismay, the device still did not work. I contacted tech support, and was told I would have to pay to ship the unit back to them, they would fix it, and mail it back to me (as stated in their terms of warranty). Needless to say, the unit is quite heavy and is somewhat costly to ship. When I asked what assurance they could give me that the device would not fail in another 7 months (forcing me to pay for shipping yet again), I was told that if that happens, they would mail me a new one. I asked why they could not mail me a new one now as I have already been weeks without the UPS, I was told in a snarky tone by an uninformed tech support lackey named "Jeff" it's not "how they do things".
Anyway, I will be buying a better UPS than this. It is a shame that a company which I have heard so many good things about would sell defective devices, and pass the cost on to you.
UPDATE: 7/7/2010:
For kicks, I sent my UPS in, and within a few weeks they sent me a "new" unit. The unit I was sent was actually the same one (I checked the model numbers before I mailed it out), and it still did not work. Every time I plugged anything to it (even a small lamp) it did not power the device from an outlet. It used the battery, and emitted one long solid beep. Needless to say, I was irate, and complained to their tech support. This time they sent me a label to mail the unit to them and assured me a new unit would be sent out. It's been about 3 weeks and I still have not received any word from them about the status of the unit I mailed to them nor when a new unit would be mailed to me.
UPDATE 7/21/2010:
The unit finally arrived, it is new, and finally works. It took me threatening to report them to the better business bureau, but they finally honored their own warranty.
Customer Review: Excellent value! Must-have for people with computers
Summary: 5 Stars
The 1500VA CyberPower UPS worked flawlessly. I was not sure how much load I needed for my PC and network hardware, so I opted to get the biggest unit since it was on sale. It turns out my AMD Phenom II X3 720 w/ HD 4870 GPU PC only used about 250-300W of power during full load. I added the network hardware and the total was well below the 900W estimated load capacity of the unit. The positive aspect of oversizing the UPS is to obtain extra runtime when the line voltage is gone due to a blackout. The pros of using a UPS is better protection against brownouts or intermittent power failures. A surge suppressor (which is also integrated into the CyberPower UPS) contains transient voltage suppressors (TVS) that prevent excessive voltage spikes from damaging your hardware, but it does not protect against brownouts (undervoltage) or intermittent failures. You can damage your computer from frequent hard shutoffs, much like during a power failure.
This unit is not light, it weighs nearly 30 lb but does not take up a lot of room. When the power is cut, the small DC fan will power up and it will sound an audible alarm. The blue backlit LCD screen provides useful information like input/output voltage, frequency, current power demands, and reserve time. The proper way to test its function is by turning off the power to that outlet via your circuit breaker or fuse box. Do not yank the power cord because the UPS requires the ground wire. Also make sure your outlet has a functional ground wire.
This unit does not produce a pure sinusoidal output voltage. It is an approximated sine wave which can cause transformers to hum or make odd noises. My Corsair TX750W PSU in the PC was making a weird humming noise while the PC ran off the UPS power.
Pros: Affordable UPS with lots of reserve time and capacity. It has an informative LCD display.
Cons: Heavy, does not produce a true sine wave output.
Overall: Excellent value, and it is a must-buy for gamers or people who want to keep their PC from being damaged during a brownout or power failure.
Customer Review: Does its job
Summary: 4 Stars
Pros: When utility power is on, the unit is absolutely quiet. Allows disable initial sound alarm (beeper) when utility power gets off. The noise from the fan that turns on when the unit switches to battery mode is reasonable. Overall, ok to keep it in your bedroom if power outages are rare in your area.
Cons:
1. Cannot silence sound alarms completely. If utility power is off for a long time and the battery has only 20% charge left, the UPS will wake you up even if configured to be silent.
2. Output voltage meter shows real number only when UPS running from utility power. When running on battery, it shows fake 120V regardless of real output voltage. When on battery with 30% load my unit outputs 105-107V that is less than 110V promised by the manual but still ok for my computers and routers.
3. The software on the CD is useless and buggy. Do not install it. I could do all I need (including hibernating PC after a preset timeout when running on battery) with Windows XP built in power management configuration. When I installed the software it disabled Windows built in configuration but shutdown/wakeup schedule option provided by this software did not work. This software is just a nice GUI displaying what is already displayed on LCD of the UPS unit. When I uninstalled the software it crashed.
4. For initial trial I connected ordinary 100W bulb as UPS load and disconnected utility power. The bulb noticeably blinked. Then I connected real equipment (PC + Cable modem + Router) and repeated the test. The PC worked fine and the internet connection was stable. So the time it takes the unit to switch to buttery mode is significant but still within the tolerance of ordinary equipment.
5. The main on/off button is a beautiful big bright spot on the front panel. Very attractive and accessible for kids. If this button is pressed, all your equipment is disconnected from power.
6. The main on/off button is beautifully lit with a powerful blue LED. If the unit is in your bedroom it is a night light you cannot turn off.
Customer Review: works, stable, decent surge protection
Summary: 5 Stars
good product...bought 1, tried it out, and was so satisfied, I bought another for my brother's computer. We have frequent power outages and brown-outs, but it's held up solid (1.5 months so far). Battery time seems to be proportional to power drain and within the limits of what they said it was. Honestly, the surge protection was the reason I purchased it (due to the power fluctuations) and it looks like that's held up too. It DOES come with the charged battery already installed in it, which may be a problem for some folks but wasn't for me. It also tends to either come in just the retail box (if you shop newegg) or packed slightly better with the retail box in another box with very slight packing (if you shop amazon)...I ordered the second from amazon because I didn't like the way newegg shipped it the first time. Compared to the APC battery backups (the real ones, mind you, not the strips), Cyberpower seems to have a smaller battery run time but higher wattage capability for each price point (with cyberpower having superior surge protection). The packing of everything now-a-days seems to have gotten really bad so inspect accordingly. Also, be aware that a lot of power supply companies have installed crappy filters to save themselves 5 bucks on their all-made-in-China products, and then are trying to put the blame on you or your battery back-up saying it needs to be "pure sine-wave". Most people don't want to spend $350+ dollars just so the power supply company can save an extra 5 bucks...so, watch out and read the reviews of your power supply before you buy it! Don't be fooled, that's a power supply issue, not a battery back-up issue (fortunately, I dodged that bullet by reading the reviews). Also, this isn't pure sine-wave, but it doesn't claim to be and is priced accordingly. All-told, I'm very happy with this product, but watch out and read the reviews! Quality for most things has really gone down lately, but, fortunately, this isn't one of them...Customer Review: Nearly Perfect
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very solid and reliable power protection unit. I'm very satisfied with the purchase. It replaced my four-year-old Powercom KIN-800AP 800VA 480 watts UPS. Compared with the Powercom unit, the Cyberpower's strongest advantage is its excellent management software. You could monitor and set many things, some of them quite important. Both seem to have very high quality build, with the Powercom possibly striking more solidness.
It also has twice as much power than the Powercom, yet it is slightly smaller. The CyberPower can support my desktop PC which has a power supply rated 600W. My old Powercom failed to do so, which I find to be a bit strange because although the PC's power supply is rated 600W, the entire PC is actually running at less than 200W (confirmed on the monitor of the Cyberpower).
Anyway, the Cyberpower does a perfect job on everything, and it gives you a very satisfying experience.
Other buyers complained about the inability to turn off the alert sounds without using the software. I tend to agree with them. But at least it can be done from the software management. A hardware implementation of this may be slightly more complicated and would cost a bit more as well.
So my suggestion is to download the latest software, install it on your computer, connect the USB cable and enjoy the complete control of a first-class power protection system. Note that, if you don't want the software management, you don't need to use the USB cable for power protection itself.
But be careful, like almost all power protection units, the power outlets on the back of this unit has two types. The first column is for both power protection and surge protection, while the second column is for surge protection only. You'd be sorry if you mistakenly plug your PC into an outlet for surge protection only.
Highly recommended for small business or home desktops.