Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Thu, 10 Sep 1992 00:39:59 EDT
From:         Cocteau <IBY141@URIACC.BITNET>

logeived: by URIACC (Mailer R2.07) id 2134; Thu, 10 Sep 92 00:37:50 EDT
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 00:37:49 EDT
Subject: REVIEW: American Power Conversion Smart-UPS

(From comp.sys.amiga.reviews)

In article 15156@menudo.uh.edu, barrett@cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett) writes:
>
>
>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
>   Send reviews to:	amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu
>   Request information:	amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu
>   General discussion:	amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu
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