Today I finally dumped my old UPS. It wasn't that old (only a year or so) but I dumped it for an APC 650V Back UPS. I did not have good view for APC UPS as I had very bad experience with them about 8 years back (MANAGEMENT LESSON #1: CUSTOMERS NEVER FORGET BAD EXPERIENCES) when it was newly launched in India. But the strong recommendation from RAVI Bhaiya (City's biggest Computer Dealer and my guide) and his replacement guarantee (YES I could have changed it for any other company I liked ) made me go for it.(MANAGEMENT LESSON #2: A COMPANY'S DEALER INFLUENCES THE CUSTOMER LIKE NO ONE)
The main reason for changing the UPS was that these days my PC is Powered ON on a 24x7 basis and given the superb power conditions in my area (black outs for at least 4 hrs daily at unpredictable times like 4 AM) was taking a toll on my Hard Disk. My machine was shut down improperly at least 4 - 5 times daily and I also lost a few files because of this. So I had no option but to go for a UPS Solution that offered PC connectivity options so that my PC would automatically shutdown in the proper manner (managed shutdown) when say there is only 5 minutes worth of battery life left.
I had to wait for this UPS for 3 - 4 days as Ravi Bhaiya forgot ordering it twice and I finally got it today. Installing it was very easy (as with any UPS) just one additional data cable to connect the UPS with Computer (USB interface). I popped the CD into the drive and the Power Chute Personal Edition Software from APC was installed in about 5 minutes. It took a while to configure the security softwares' (Zone Alarm etc.) to trust the various modules of this software and then I fired on the Application. Now I knew that this was a really wise decision to go for this UPS, the level of details provided by this bundled software is amazing, for the first time I knew what my Line Voltage was, How much load I was putting on the UPS (and I relaized I purchased a really decent capacity UPS for my job) and other line problems like Over and Under Voltage and most importantly Electrical Noise. There were regulars like the estimated battery backup time remaining and the status of the battery.You can see the slideshow of the Screenshots just above this post.
The main reason for changing the UPS was that these days my PC is Powered ON on a 24x7 basis and given the superb power conditions in my area (black outs for at least 4 hrs daily at unpredictable times like 4 AM) was taking a toll on my Hard Disk. My machine was shut down improperly at least 4 - 5 times daily and I also lost a few files because of this. So I had no option but to go for a UPS Solution that offered PC connectivity options so that my PC would automatically shutdown in the proper manner (managed shutdown) when say there is only 5 minutes worth of battery life left.
I had to wait for this UPS for 3 - 4 days as Ravi Bhaiya forgot ordering it twice and I finally got it today. Installing it was very easy (as with any UPS) just one additional data cable to connect the UPS with Computer (USB interface). I popped the CD into the drive and the Power Chute Personal Edition Software from APC was installed in about 5 minutes. It took a while to configure the security softwares' (Zone Alarm etc.) to trust the various modules of this software and then I fired on the Application. Now I knew that this was a really wise decision to go for this UPS, the level of details provided by this bundled software is amazing, for the first time I knew what my Line Voltage was, How much load I was putting on the UPS (and I relaized I purchased a really decent capacity UPS for my job) and other line problems like Over and Under Voltage and most importantly Electrical Noise. There were regulars like the estimated battery backup time remaining and the status of the battery.You can see the slideshow of the Screenshots just above this post.
I now started to test the UPS. I Configured the UPS to shut down the machine automatically whenever there was just 5 minutes of backup time remaining. So I switched off the mains supply and tested whether this was done properly. The UPS shut down the machine properly and I was delighted everything was working properly. This was the most important reason for which I purchased the UPS. TEST 1: PASSED
Another Problem I was facing with the Old UPS was that my ADSL Modem / Router automatically restarted when the Mains was tuned off. I tried this with APC and was disappointed to find that my router still restarted so my internet connection would disconnect and my dialer would automatically dial after 1 minute and if the server was not busy I’ll be online again. TEST 2: FAILED
This UPS also had a telephone line surge protector which APC claims to be DSL compliant so I hooked my ADSL router though the UPS the Green ADSL LINK Light was green in the normal time and I was able to connect to the net. GREAT!! But after some time my connection got automatically disconnected and I then connected the router directly to the phone line (without surge protection) My Net connection was kicking again. SO again TEST 3: FAILED
The UPS gets 33.33 % and it FAILS the test Overall but that’s the Arithmetic Mean. Since automatically switching off the PC was single most important reason for me to purchase the UPS I give it 60% marks overall.
Now I’m Looking for a solution that would automatically turn on my PC, Log me in, connect to the Internet and Start / Resume all my Downloads whenever the Power Supply is back. ANY SUGGESTIONS???
1 comments:
Nice review dude. I'm also changing my UPS
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