APC Back-UPS 550VA / 330W Battery Backup & Surge Protector, 8 Outlets, RJ45 Ethernet Protection, BE550G Uninterruptible Power Supply for Computers, Wireless Routers, and Home Office Electronics

Not sure if the reviews are lumped together so just to specify, this is for the BE-550G. I have historically never bothered to run a UPS, but I've been having minor power flickers in my house lately, a couple times a week that would reset my computer much to my annoyance (I run my desktop 24/7). I thought I should get a slightly bigger UPS since I have a custom built budget gaming rig, but I did some quick finger math and decided this one would work "for now". The device came with about a 95% charge if I remember correctly. I plugged in my computer and one monitor to the battery side and let it charge up to 100%, then gave it an extra hour or so. It claimed something like 150 minutes of runtime in the APC monitor program so I decided it needed a calibration. I set it all up for a worst case scenario simulation -- I used MSI Kombustor to load up the CPU and GPU and then pulled the plug. I wasn't 100% sure I'd picked one with enough wattage but it didn't flinch. It did however tell me I had 1 minute before shutdown (set to shutdown when 5 minutes remained). So I quickly set the computer back to idle and the runtime jumped back up to 7 minutes. I let it run to shutdown and everything worked just as it should. However one of the safety features caught me off guard. Forgive me for not looking up the specifics right now, but basically wait a couple minutes after power is restored if you drain the unit until it shuts down. If my memory serves, the safety feature will shut down the battery for 2 minutes (or maybe one?) after power is restored after a full drain then cycle the power. So being "that guy" who doesn't like to read directions, when it died I plugged it back up and hit the power button on my computer... It booted most of the way up then there was some beeping (from the UPS) as it cycled the power and my computer reset, and about the time it got back to the BIOS screen it cycled the power again with some more beeping. The more you know. It can't possibly be good to fully discharge a battery in 7 minutes or less, but this thing functioned flawlessly and could be a life saver. It didn't even heat up that I could tell. After my "calibration", the monitor program now says I should have 15 minutes at idle, which is probably pretty close to accurate and more than I should ever need. The next day after I hooked it up the power dropped out for a couple seconds during a storm, the UPS kicked on just like it should, and reported the problem to me in the monitor program. Now I'm just wondering why I didn't buy one of these sooner! Note that this thing takes forever to charge itself (think 12+ hours from 20% which was the magical 5 minute cut off on my system), probably to avoid unnecessary lead-acid battery related risks on your carpeted floor, but that shouldn't be an issue unless you're having constant power problems. Just a note for anyone who (like me) sat around scratching their heads about which UPS will do what you need, maybe this will help... I already told you the estimated runtimes I got, here's a rundown of the power consumers on my rig: CPU - AMD FX-4350 @ 4.2ghz GPU - MSI NVIDIA GTX-760 Gaming Storage - 2x WD Red HDDs, 1x Samsung 840 EVO SSD Monitor - Asus 23.5" 1080p Update 10/16/2016: This unit is still doing its job without a complaint. The PowerChute program tells me that the unit has switched on twice for "blackouts" totaling 9 seconds and twice for "electrical noise" totaling 24 seconds, in the past 24 weeks. It doesn't seem to register extremely short-lived problems (a second or so), I say that because on a couple occasions I've seen the house lights flicker and heard the unit rapidly click on and off with no report. No big deal. Also the Estimated Battery Time has gone back up to 145 minutes, I haven't bothered to recalibrate because I never really look at it anyway and I know what it'll do. It periodically reports that it passed a self test, which is nice although I'm not exactly sure how it performs that test.

After having two routers that fried themselves during power failure events, I decided it was time to protect my new router and it's modem with an uninterruptable power supply. The APC 550 unit is fairly large and heavy, but it does its job well. With a power capacity of 330 watts, I placed the modem and router on two of the four backup outlets. They account for 25 wants of usage, meaning I get a little over 2 hours of backup run time for those devices. In one of the surge-only outlets, I plugged in my large screen TV which draws 215 watts. This gives the unit some spare capacity so I don't need to worry about overload. One important thing to note is that while the outlets are generously spaced, my router and modem both have longitudinal power bricks which means only those two devices have room to fit on the backup power outlets. To set up the router you need to at least temporarily connect the APC unit via the supplied USB A cable to a desktop or laptop computer running Windows or Linux. Then you download software from the APC website which allows you to tell the APC how it should respond during power outages. (e.g. keep devices running until the battery is depleted, or shut devices down after a set period of time or battery usage) and allows disabling of the audible alert. The alert is a loud beep and very annoying. The software also allows you to check on the battery health. Once the setup is done, the APC no longer requires a computer connection. As other reviewers noted, the attached computer must be running either Windows or Linux. The software is not compatible with MAC or Android. To me there are two major benefits to having a backup power supply to keep your home internet access up and running in a power failure. First, you protect your devices from being fried from a power surge when the power comes back on or it flickers on and off multiple times during a storm. Second, and this is critical if you live on an area subject to severe weather, it allows you to monitor weather radar and alerts on your laptop or tablet device while the power is out. If you're under a tornado warning, that's when you really need continuous internet access to watch the storm. APC units are made by Euopean Schneider Electric and manufactured in The Philippines and enjoy the highest ratings on Amazon. Almost all the other ups units available are made in China and seem to have rather large percentage of one-star ratings.

This product is just right for providing power to a few small electronic items, like a cable modem, router, and printer. It works well. I tested it by unplugging it from house current, and it worked. The connected devices kept working. This is not a real UPS, but it is fine for home use. A real UPS provides continuous power - it always provides power from the battery. This product does not do that. Instead, it normally gives power from the house current. When the power in the house goes out, this unit cuts over to the battery in a fraction of a second. So it is not continuous power. But it is fine for home use. The change to battery power is so quick that the powered devices do not go down - they stay running normally. I saw one review by someone whose printer stopped during the change from house current to battery. He said that a print job took days to finish. I am guessing that he was using a 3D printer. It is possible that those printers are more sensitive to power fluctuations, and must have a real UPS (see my description above for the difference between this unit and a real UPS). All I can say is - as soon as you install this unit, attach and turn on your connected devices, start printing something, and test this unit by pulling the plug. If any of your connected devices stop working, replace this with a real UPS (for a much higher price). I would recommend this for any home user, to power a few small items. I did not rate any of the features - WiFi signal, tech support, and sleep mode. I did not use tech support, and the WiFi and sleep mode features do not make any sense.

I've been buying APCC back up systems for home use for many years. An older ES350 with a battery barely over a year old died and instead of buying a new battery I spent a tiny bit more and bought a new, bigger UPS. I've gotten this model before but this one looks different, and finally, after decades of having telephone RJ11/RJ14 plugs for surge suppression, it now takes ethernet cables. Just where APCC needed to be - 20 years ago. Except that according to the manual these are for 10-100 mbps ethernet. Unfortunately, those are a long since obsolete ethernet standard. Another issue the batter cables are so short they are very hard to connect. You connect them, start to put the battery in, and they pop back off. Also, there is no clear way to tell what is going on with the UPS. A coule LED's hopefully tell you whether the unit is working. And the alarm can't be shut off without a computer to do it from. The unit did not come with a cd for the monitoring software. Hopefully that's not a problem since one should be able to download the software from the apcc site, where a new version shows up once every several years. The software works but is badly inadequate in terms of telling you what has been going on with your line current in detail. BTW, this unit has a different purpose; to maintain power for a cable modem and a router. Which means I've no way to see how the unit is holding up. My feeling is at this price range a small LCD should be included with status info. Keeping in mind that small LCD based calculators are available for under $1, this should not be an issue, except that APCC products - while they tend to work well, are decades behind in their abilities. Not enough outlets, especially for bricks, and no APCC product optimized for this type of use - cable modems, routers, etc. that use low power and lots of powered outlets and a good display. Still, if you need backup power at home, this is a good choice.

Thurs, Dec 12th, 2019: I purchased this power backup unit specifically for my brand new LG OLED C9 65" TV. For anyone new to OLED TVs, they will run an automatic pixel refresh cycle while the television is off and in standby mode. This refresh cycle is important to reduce and help prevent image retention that might cause image burn-in on OLED TVs. The cycle runs after a specific number of hours of television use. If the TV loses power, the schedule refreshed cycle is canceled. This UPS power backup is for helping the TV maintain it's schedule refresh cycles while on standby mode and to protect the television from power surges. I have owned a couple of APC units before for desktop computers and they have come to the rescue during sudden power losses. While it is difficult to evaluate UPS for effectiveness until the unexpected happens, I can comment on other features. The Ethernet port on the unit is useless with today's gigabit ethernet speeds. The Ethernet port is limited to 100 Mbits so there are better options for protecting power surges through ethernet and still maintain full 1Gbit line speeds. Using the Ethernet protection port might cause a bottleneck with devices needing speeds faster than 100 Mbits. I run a home Plex server with Nvidia Shield TV Android TV OS as clients that run at full 1,000 Mbit (1 Gbit) speeds so this port would limit data streams and become a bottleneck for my network. This unit also lacks a coaxial cable protection port that other higher-end units have. I did appreciate the packaging the OEM used. The OEM box was reinforced with very thick cardboard corners inserts that cradled the UPS unit inside the box instead of styrofoam corners. It makes the disposal of the packaging more friendly for the environment than past units. *UPDATE: Fri, Dec 13th, 2019 .... I wanted to clarify my review is with regards to model (BE550G)*

I bought an APC UPS for my Tivo, on the advice of the Weaknees web site, and plugged the Tivo into the battery outlet of the APC UPS. I plugged other items (TV, cable box, remote charger) into other outlets. I came home after a planned power outage in my area to find that the Tivo was fried, completely not functional and with a blinking green light that indicates the motherboard was damaged (per Weaknees). The other connected items were fine. I know that there was a power surge because the line conditioner I have on my main A/V set up a floor above tripped and had to be reset. I contacted APC and found that the process of filing for product replacement takes around two months and requires mailing the UPS unit to APC at the consumer's expense. APC does provide a free replacement unit. APC then does a number of tests to determine if their unit failed. In my case, they determined that it did not and therefore I am not entitled to any compensation. I am not an electrical engineer so cannot comment on the validity of the testing, but from the consumer viewpoint I bought the unit to protect sensitive equipment in the event of a power surge. There was a power surge after which my Tivo connected to the APC UPS was damaged. Since the Tivo had lifetime service, I'm out for a $300 unit plus a $400 service policy. If you are considering an APC UPS based in part on the stated Product Replacement Policy be aware that damage to your product may not lead to compensation.

I recently purchased two of these for use with my electronics (a computer and some entertainment center equipment), and they performed correctly when I ran a test simulating a short power outage (I used the circuit breaker rather than unplugging them from the wall). I've noticed a lot of people complain about not being able to use their computers for very long - These units are meant to keep your equipment powered just long enough to shut down or stay on when the power flickers (like what might happen when there's a thunderstorm). If you need enough power to continue working, buy a generator! I have also seen some complaints about how hard it is to attach the battery - I didn't have any difficulty doing so (turn the unit over so the battery comes loose, slide the connector onto the empty terminal, then slide the battery back into the case). Other complaints are about how loud the alarm is, how hard it is to insert plugs, and that some systems don't stay powered. It's true that the alarm is quite loud - The alarm can be turned off if you connect your UPS to a computer with the USB cable that's supplied and install the software, but not with other devices (you might want to look for a different UPS if you're going to run other equipment that can't be turned off for any length of time). It takes some force to insert and remove plugs, but I didn't have much trouble (at least they won't fall out). When people complain about their systems not staying powered, the first thing to check is whether the right sockets were used - Only half of them provide battery power (look carefully when you plug your system in). When it comes to power requirements, this UPS might not be enough for someone who has a powerful unit for gaming or has a lot of external equipment that requires battery power (adding equipment such as a second monitor and more drives will increase the amount of power needed).

Best product in my opinion for electronics. For text from power surges and especially from storms. Also, the battery backup keeps the electronic functioning.

Siempre me recomendaron la marca APC cuando buscaba un UPS para mi computadora de escritorio y la verdad no me ha decepcionado. El producto llego en tiempo y forma, y en excelentes condiciones. Lo he estado usando por un par de meses y ha respondido como esperaba, ahora ya no tengo que preocuparme por estar jugando mis videojuegos favoritos en linea y tener una desconexión imprevista. La verdad recomiendo mucho el producto y el vendedor.

My 2nd one. My 1st one lasted 10 or more years, through many power outages and 1brown out and protected all my computer equipment. Awesome product

This device enables users to keep their PC running during short power cuts or safely shut down their PCs etc. during longer power breaks.

No hay mucho que comentar, el articulo en si es funcional, llego en el tiempo esperado y sin presentar mayores problemas.

Our hydro went out during the night and although we were not using the devices that were plugged in at the time, they loaded up like normal, the next time we turned those devices on. Would recommend.