Customer Reviews

APC BACK-UPS CS BK500BLK 500VA/300W UPS System

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bottom-Line: Final analysis: the "CS 500" does what it is supposed to do--protect my computer from harmful electrical events and provide a source of emergency power.

APC targets the "Back-UPS CS 500" at home and or small office users. The "Back-UPS CS 500" is a 500VA/300W UPS designed to provide short-term emergency (battery) power to a computer, monitor, and perhaps one essential peripheral in the event of a power outage or electrical noise. According to APC product literature, the "Back-UPS CS 500" can provide up to 14 minutes at half load (150 watts), and approximately 2 minutes with a full load (300 watts). This should be enough time to enable you, or the system itself, to save your work and shutdown the attached computer in an orderly fashion.

On the front of the off-white, smallish "Back-UPS CS 500", are four rectangle status lights which illuminate yellow or red when activated; they are: Online, On-Battery, Overload, and Replace Battery. Also on the front is a lone round gray switch for turning the unit on and off, as well as performing a self-test.

On the back panel the "Back-UPS CS 500" is equipped with three battery-powered/surge protected outlets and three regular surge protected outlets on the back of the unit, with one of the three outlets on each side spaced to provide room for those ubiquitous transformer power blocks.

The "APC Back-UPS CS 500" is equipped with a USB connection to the CS 500 to your computer in order to "speak" APC's proprietary Power Chute Personal Edition software, which is included free with the UPS. Power Chute helps to manage the functionality of the UPS and how it interacts with the computer. Power Chute displays data on the UPS, including current estimated load, current status; electric service line status information (monitors power line faults, power fluxes, and actual voltage). More importantly Power Chute can be configured to shut down your computer after a certain amount of time after the CS 500 goes on battery power.

Testing and Use

I have attached two "Back-UPS CS 500's" to two file servers with Pentium 4 3.06GHz processors powered by an Antec 300W power supply's, running Windows 2003 Server Enterprise Edition, mated with a Dell 19-inch monitor, tied together with a four-port KVM switch.

After charging the battery for 12 hours, I put them in place, connected the USB's and installed the PowerChute Personal Edition software. PowerChute initially indicated that I had about 35 minutes of battery backup time on both servers but I knew that could not correct; wishful thinking on the UPS's part but not correct. So in order to get a more accurate estimate of battery backup time, I simulated a power outage by unplugging both units from the wall outlet, and let the units their thing. The "Back-UPS CS 500" can only keep the system on as long as it battery holds out, and through PowerChute it will dynamically update the estimated time remaining on the battery as it starts discharging.

As soon as the "Back-UPS CS 500's" was unplugged they went to battery power and I received a popup box on my screen that stated: "your battery backup is now supplying battery power to your equipment." An (annoying but effective) audible alarm sounded and produces four beeps every 30 seconds. This alarm can be thankfully disabled via the software. After approximately 7:00 minutes, battery power had dropped to 25% and the computer went into hibernate mode. Bear in mind that the only electrical equipment I have attached to the "Back-UPS CS 500" is the computers and one shared monitor.

My results were on-par with what APC has posted on their Website where they provide a runtime chart to help you decide what size UPS is best for your applications. The chart indicates that system comparable to mine with a 300W power supply should get about fourteen minutes of runtime with half a load; I think I qualify. Of course I didn't get quite that much; around ten minutes on both was the optimal.

Problems

APC has issued a recall for the "Back-UPS CS 300 & 500," to wit:

"APC Press Release: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) maker American Power Conversion (APC) has recalled some of its Back-UPS CS systems after half a dozen of them melted. The recall potentially affects 2.1 million units sold worldwide -- about 900,000 of those are being used in the United States.

Specifically, two models have been recalled: the Back-UPS CS 350 and the Back-UPS CS 500, both in 120 and 230 volt capacities. Both models were made between November, 2000 and December, 2002. If you have one of these units, check the serial numbers. Units affected by the recall include those with the following serial number ranges:

' AB0048 through AB0251
' BB0104 through BB0251
' JB0125 through JB0251

If the serial number ends in "R," it's not part of the recall, according to APC. Users whose power supplies have been recalled are encouraged to call 866.272.7359.

According to APC, the problem causing this recall results in the outer case of the UPS to melt. No one has been hurt by the problem, although it has caused minor property damage in three recorded incidents."

I have owned my two "Back-UPS CS 500's" for about a year I am happy to report that my UPS units are outside the recall parameters, and that I have not problems to report.

Conclusion

In the final analysis my "Back-UPS CS 500" do what they are supposed to do--protect my computer from harmful electrical events and provide a stable source of emergency power. With enough power to support almost all of today's power-hungry computers, monitors and printers, "Back-UPS CS 500" is the idea solution for home and small office users.

This a great value for an inexpensive UPS that does everything that the manufacture states in the advertisement. I have purchased many UPS but APC Pro always delivers where others have failed. The only con is that it takes a serial cable input to have auto shutdown.

This is quite a hefty box, but is doing a great job in protecting my media server plus back up drives/Drobos protected from those frequent power cuts we get in Florida.
Thankfully we have not had a direct lightning strike yet, but this is a solid reliable product.

I chose the larger size as I am running multiple small computers and network storage devices off it.

Look forward to updating it in a few years to check on its life

I order the back-ups for one of the computers in my office. I had previously ordered the same product for other computers in my office. It has been installed & seems to be working well, as are the first ones I ordered. Delivery time was satisfactory.

We bought this product on a recommendation from Directv forums. Whenever we wash clothes our washing machine is completely knocking out the satellite reception/connection to our Directv box. The forums suggested the use of this device to eliminate the electrical surges and that if it didn't work, there is more than likely problems with the wiring in the house. Well - it didn't work at all! So I guess we need an electrician to check our wiring. We only gave a 3 star rating because under normal circumstances this UPS system might have worked fine but unfortunately we'll never know.

Our office recently added a fourth computer so it was time to purchase another UPS. We have three APC CS 500 Back-Ups already so I thought I would just go with what has worked so far. Upon reading a review of the product, I noticed that there has been a recall issued for two of our older units. It seems that some earlier units became so hot that the outer plastic case would melt. When I called APC, I was informed that the recall ended in 2008. While I can understand that a company may want to put a time limit on a recall, I am comcerned that I was never contacted by APC to let me know that there was a potential safety issue with their product. I am at the same physical address, in the same company, using the same email address as I was when the units were purchased new from Amazon. It would not have been difficult to notify me of a recall.
Even though I was offered a trade-in allowance towards a new CS 500, I will look elsewhere for my next UPS.