APC BE350U 350VA Back-ups Es

If you find that they UPS is briefly cutting off power at computer boot up, there's something wrong with your configuration. The UPS is purposedly cutting off power in order to cause the computer BIOS to restart the computer. This happens only after the UPS has sent a shutdown signal to the computer. You should not power on the computer until the UPS is done with its power up procedure. If you want to take advantage of the automatic computer restart after AC power is back, you should set your computer BIOS to Power On when AC power is restored. Since, while the computer is off, it doesn't know when the power comes back on, when the UPS cuts off power briefly this is the signal to the computer to power itself back on.

I installed this unit on my HP AMD 64 X2 with a 19-inch LCD monitor. Installation was very straightforward, with no problems experienced. The unit has two rows of power outlets - eight outlets total. All are surge protected, but only one row has battery backup. Each row includes an outlet that is offset to allow transformer power supplies to be connected and still accommodate use of the other outlets. The unit also surge protects the incoming telephone line, and interacts well transparently my DSL service.

The unit comes with a USB connector cable that is used to transfer information between the unit and the computer. Also included is "PowerChute Personal Edition" software. This software replaces the UPS option used under the "Power" icon of Widow's XP Control Panel. PowerChute PE allows user selection of alarms and power options to best fit the user's needs. PowerChute PE automatically loads at computer startup, and resides as an icon on the right-side of the Window's task bar. It monitors the unit's status, and provides information concerning abnormal power events that have occurred for future reference.

In order to assure that there is enough battery power for this unit to operate properly, I only attached the PC and monitor to the powered row of outlets. Transformers seem to use a lot of power, and to gain the most time available for adequate shut-down times they should only be plugged into the "surge only" outlet row.

When A/C power fails, the unit immediately picks up the power load. It will then begin to shut down the PC if A/C power does not become available shortly . The default method it uses is to place the PC into "hibernation mode", saving the desktop exactly "as is" for future start-up. It accomplished this task with my PC perfectly.

If I had wanted a UPS to keep my computer running for several minutes during an A/C power outage, this is not the unit I would have purchased. However, to keep my system from re-booting due to the power being interrupted momentarily, or to shut down the PC safely should the power outage last longer, this is a cost-effective solution for those tasks.

I had the same experience as the reviewer on 11/17/2005. I tested the UPS by shutting off the power at the breaker. Within a minute, the UPS software shut down the computer (I had set for 4 minutes, so obviously the battery wasn't going to hold up long. Only load was computer, monitor, and router). At any rate, the shut down was successful. But upon power-up, about 30 seconds into the reboot, the UPS beeped and cut power to the battery-backup outlets, which killed the computer mid-bootup and killed the router for a second or so.
Absolutely worthless, as the whole reason I wanted the UPS was to prevent shutdowns during the occasional 2 minute power blips I have here.

Most people buy a UPS, plug it in and never test it to make sure it works. I tested this device a number of times to make sure the software would at least shutdown the computer after an outage. I set it to shutdown Windows after 1 minute. Only the computer and a few small phone accessories are attached to it.

After power was cut, it held the computer up and allowed it to shut down. Then I restored power to the UPS. AFter about 30 seconds, it beeped, clicked, and temporarily DROPPED power to the computer while it was rebooting! So when it switches back from battery power it causes power to be interrupted. That is unacceptable. A UPS should never drop power to the attached devices after power is restored to it.

I would not recommend this unit for most computers as the battery is too small to provide reasonable runtime. Under a 200W load it only lasted 3 minutes while the Back-UPS ES 500 lasted almost 12 minutes. The ES 500 is only slightly more expensive but provides much longer runtime. In my opinion this UPS is only good for very small loads (less than the average computer).