From: barrett@cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett)
Subject: REVIEW: American Power Conversion Smart-UPS 400
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Keywords: hardware, UPS, commercial
Reply-To: barrett@cs.umass.edu
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel J. Barrett
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 17:54:48 GMT



PRODUCT NAME

	Smart-UPS 400


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	The Smart-UPS 400 is an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) which
protects my Amiga against power outages, dropouts, and power surges.


AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		American Power Conversion
	Address:	132 Fairgrounds Road
			PO Box 278
			West Kingston, RI  02892

	Telephone:	(401) 789-5735


LIST PRICE

	Unknown, but typical street price is $320-450 (US dollars).


SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	None, except that the total power and current rating of your
computer system should be within the specifications of the UPS.
(Even so, my system is rated "higher" than the specs, but everything
still works.  See below.)


REVIEW

	The electrical service in my neighborhood is very flakey.  We have
power outages maybe every 3 months, and power dropouts once a month, where
the electricity shuts off or dips for about 1-2 seconds.  Of course, all
this activity is dangerous for my Amiga, so I bought an Uninterruptable
Power Supply (UPS), and life has been wonderful ever since.

	The APC Smart-UPS 400 is a "desktop" model, which means it sits
underneath the computer and/or monitor.  It is made of sturdy metal and
supports my 56-pound (26 kg) monitor with no difficulty.  The unit is dead
silent, having no internal fan.  (Actually, if you listen very, very
carefully with the computer and monitor turned off, you can detect a tiny,
high-pitched whine.  It is completely unnoticable when the computer is on.)

	There are 4 three-prong electrical outlets built in.  One of them is
a special MASTER outlet.  If you desire, you can turn on the entire UPS by
turning on the device plugged into the MASTER outlet.  For example, if you
plug your computer into the MASTER outlet, then your computer's own on/off
switch will turn the whole UPS on and off!  I don't use this feature; I
just use the UPS's on/off switch because it's more accessible than my
Amiga's.

	There is also a computer interface to the UPS so you can automate
shutdowns.  To my knowledge, there is no Amiga software that supports this,
though.


PERFORMANCE

	The Smart-UPS 400 has worked perfectly since I bought it 4 months
ago.  It has protected my Amiga 3000T (280 watt power supply), 17" color
monitor, and SupraFAXmodem completely from these power outages and
dropouts.  You can literally pull the UPS's electrical cord out of the wall
outlet, and everything keeps running without a glitch.  Before I got the
UPS, my monitor image used to "jump" when I used an electric pencil
sharpener in the same room.  Now, I can sharpen pencils, run a vacuum
cleaner, do soldering, etc., without disturbing the computer.

	When the power goes out in my home, the UPS has enough backup power
to keep my setup running for about 7 minutes.  This amount of time will vary
greatly depending on how much power your particular setup draws.  According
to the test diagnostics, my system uses approximately 70% of the UPS's
capacity.

	The UPS will beep once every 30 seconds while power is out
(this gets annoying sometimes), and then once per second during its
last 2 minutes of life (so you know to shut things down now).

	The documentation explicitly states that this UPS must NOT be
used with a laser printer.  "Laser printers require too much power
and will trip the UPS circuit breaker," it says.


SPECIFICATIONS

	Output power for the 120VAC model:

	 Nominal voltage:	117 VAC
	 Output current:	3.3 Amps AC max
	 Maximum power:		400 VA computer @ p.f. = 0.63 or
	 			250 Watts resistive load
	 Waveform:		Sinewave, max distortion 5% @ full load
	 Frequency:		50/60 Hz +- 1 Hz

	Transfer time:		2 ms typical, 3.5 ms max
	Battery type:		maintenance-free sealed lead calcium,
				spillproof
	Recharge time:		5 hours from total discharge

	Protection:
	 Input:			circuit breaker, 5 Amp at 125 VAC
	 Surge:			270 Joule, 6500 Amp, zero clamping
	 			response time; tested to IEEE 587,
				Categories A and B, and IEC 664;
				Classes I, II, III, and IV.
	 Noise:			Full-time EMI/RFI filter
	 Output:		electronic overcurrent protection
	 			(inverter operating).

	Dimensions:	15.5" long x 11.9" wide x 2.25" high
			(39.4 cm x 30.2 cm x 5.7 cm)
	Weight:		17 pounds
			(7.7 kg)
	Color:		platinum (similar to Amiga beige)


SPECIFICATIONS vs. REALITY

	Observant people will notice that my computer has a power supply
rated higher (280 watts) than the Smart-UPS 400 is (250 watts).  In
addition, my system's amperage is rated about 6.5 amps, which is higher than
the 3.3 amps of the UPS.  Even so, the UPS works fine, operating at only
70% of its capacity!

	I called APC's customer support (800) number to ask about this.
They said that the amp rating on the computer is most likely very
conservative -- it won't use 6.5 amps except maybe at the instant you
power it on.  (This is called "in-rush current.")  In addition, just
because a computer's power supply is rated at 280 watts doesn't mean that
the full 280 watts is being *used*.

	In other words, the UPS is fine for my system.


LIKES AND DISLIKES

	The Smart-UPS 400 is extremely quiet (no fan) and works perfectly.
I have no complaints.


COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	I bought this particular UPS for several reasons:

	(1)	Our computer science department uses this brand for
		its workstations, and one of the systems administrators
		recommended them as reliable.

	(2)	It uses sine wave, not square wave, power.  I don't
		know the techincal details, but sine wave is supposed
		to be better (and usually more expensive).  According
		to one knowledgable Net friend,

			"...some of the products on the market are junk,
			providing square wave output and very poor
			regulation and inadequate and unsynchronized
			switchover.  With UPS systems, you DO get what you
			pay for.  Be [careful] of the $200 units."

		(My friend recommended Safe Power Systems as a good UPS
		manufacturer.)

	(3)	My local dealer carried it.  I like to support local
		dealers when possible.  (And when they deserve it. :-))

	(4)	All I need is enough power to prevent unexpected shutdowns.
		That is, if power goes out, I need a minute or two to turn
		things off myself.  If I needed 30-60 minutes of backup
		power, this unit would not be sufficient.


SUPPORT

	I contacted the company once to ask what some of the specifications
mean.  The technical support person was extremely friendly, courteous,
and professional.  He answered all my questions patiently.

	They have a toll-free (800) number for customer service.


WARRANTEE

	2 years, covering defects in materials and workmanship.
The warrantee applies only to the original purchaser.


CONCLUSIONS

	What can I say -- it works!!  It was trivial to set up, worked
the first time, and has worked without a problem for 4 months.  I
recommend this UPS without hesitation.


COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	This review is Copyright 1992 Daniel J. Barrett.  All rights
reserved.  It may be freely distributed according to the terms of the
comp.sys.amiga.reviews Charter.

---

   Dan Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
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