APC BACK-UPS RS BR1500 1500VA/865W UPS System Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This item is BR1500, which also called RS model vs. the BX1500 called XS models. External battery BR24BP can be used for both BR1500 and BX1500. The capability to connect external battery is great, since that can help reduce the downtime when California experiencing "rolling black" in the summer.
There are basically 2 differences between the Back-UPS RS(BR1500) and the Back-UPS XS (BX1500) models besides their names.1. The Back-UPS RS models have both 1-line 2-wire phone/fax/modem data-line protection and 10/100base-T ethernet protection, where as the Back-UPS XS models only has 1-line 2-wire phone/fax/modem protection.
2. The Back-UPS RS models have both Boost* and Trim** as features of Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR), where as the Back-UPS XS only has Boost. When the input voltage increases above the high transfer point of a Back-UPS XS model it will only go to battery.*AVR Boost: The UPS is compensating for a low utility voltage. While the UPS can run in this mode indefinitely without any negative impact on the UPS, the circuit should be checked by a qualified electrician if the utility voltage is consistently low.
**AVR Trim: The UPS is compensating for a high utility voltage. While the UPS can run in this mode indefinitely without any negative impact on the UPS, the circuit should be checked by a qualified electrician if the utility voltage is consistently high.
BX1500 does not have the AVR trim feature, when AC line voltage is higher than spec, it will switch over the battery power till the line voltage drops into the spec range.
Please note this is called "backup UPS", not the "smart UPS" line. Backup UPS does not produce pure sine wave. When power lost, it will take some milli-seconds to switch over to battery power. "Smart-UPS" produces sine wave and the output AC was from DC source all the time. When AC input lost, the AC output will not have any interrupt.
For most computers, the "backup-UPS" is good enough, since the power supply inside PC always have capacitors that can hold for about 100MS or longer. When "backup-UPS" switched over in about 20MS, the computer will continue operates without much impact. But for A/V equipment, this may be an issue, especially the output is not pure sine wave. I would not recommend use this UPS for A/V equipment.

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APC BACK-UPS RS BR1500 1500VA/865W UPS System

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Belkin Conserve Insight F7C005q Energy-Use Monitor Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The Belkin Conserve Insight is a very nice piece of hardware and has a number of advantages over the Kill-A-Watt. Firstly, there are three outputs.
1) lbs/CO2 per year (or month)
2) $/year (or month)
3) Watts
Both the CO2 and $ setting can be adjusted to account for the cost and CO2 intensity for your local utility.
Averaging. One very nice feature is that after 45 minutes, the Conserve Insight goes in to averaging mode and displays the projected CO2 and $ per year. This is excellent for appliances that are turned on and off like a laptop or a refrigerator. The Watt display, however does not average. It shows the realtime updates.
Location, Location, Location: The small display for the Conserve Insight is located on the end of a 5 foot long cord. This is much better than the Kill-A-Watt that requires you to crawl on your hands and knees to get a reading. Also, the Conserve Insight is very nicely styled and looks great on a desktop. The Kill-A-Watt is much more utilitarian.
Simple: The Conserve Insight is very simple and easy to use. Personally, I do not have any problem with the Kill-A-Watts ease of use, but I have had trouble explaining it to other people.
Range: The Insight Conserve goes down to a much lower range than the Kill-A-Watt. Whereas the Kill-A-Watt bottoms out at 1 Watt, the Conserve Insight goes down to 0.5 Watts. This is a great help when trying to understand the power usage of wall hanging bricks (AC/DC converters). I am always frustrated with the Kill-A-Watt reading either 0,1, or 2. With the Conserve Insight, I can see the difference between 1.0 and 1.2. Nice.
Limits.
There are a couple of things I do not like.
Jumping Display: The watt reading updates a little to frequently. When reading the power to my laptop it jumps quickly from 30 watts to 40 watts and back again. This makes it impossible to get a sense of average power consumption.
KWH?: There is no KWH measurement. However, this can be back calculated from the $ reading and the $/KWH setting you applied to it.Overall:
Highly recommend this product.


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Belkin Conserve Insight - Energy Cost Monitor (F7C005q)

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