Customer Reviews

APC BK350EI Back-UPS CS 350 (230 Volts Only)

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Bottom-Line: the "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" does what it is supposed to do--protect my wife's computer from harmful electrical events and provide a stable source of emergency power.

APC targets the "Back-UPS CS 350VA" squarely at home user and or small office user. The "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" is a 350A/210W UPS designed to provide short-term emergency (battery) power to a computer, monitor, and essential peripherals in the event of a power outage or noise. According to APC product literature, the "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" can provide up to 5 minutes of power at full load (210 watts), and approximately 18 minutes with a half load (100 watts). This is enough time to enable you, or the system itself, to save work and shutdown the computer in an orderly fashion.

The "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" is equipped with three battery-powered/surge protected outlets and three regular surge protected outlets on either side, with one of the three outlets on each side spaced to provide room for those ubiquitous transformer blocks.

Like all modern UPS units the "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" can also provide surge protection for built-in phone/fax/modem line (DSL compatible) protection. A hybrid RJ-11 /USB cabled is used to connect the "CS 350VA" to a computer in order to utilize APC' proprietary PowerChute software. The "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" also features a long 6-foot cord, a re-settable circuit breaker, LED status indicators, an audible alarm, and a user-replaceable, hot-swappable battery.
The "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" is touted by APC as being maintenance free, and according to the company, the CS 350VA also performs an automatic bi-weekly test of its internal components, including the battery. The battery is a maintenance-free, leak-proof, lead-acid battery.
Setup and Configuration

Unlike most APC products, the "CS 350VA" is not all that heavy. Initial set up of the UPS is fairly simple. The unit--or any UPS for the matter--is shipped with the battery un-plugged, so the first step in the install process will be to plug it in; easy to follow directions for doing so are provided on the outside of the unit. Next, plug the "CS 350VA"into the wall and let is charge at least 6 - 12 hours before putting a load on it.

Once installed and powered up the UPS can be monitored via the aforementioned USB cable (included) and PowerChute Personal Edition software, which can be installed on a Windows 98 or later, or MAC OS X computers. As I stated above, the USB cable is a hybrid: the USB port plugs into your computer, but a RJ-11 port or serial plugs into the UPS on the other end. However, once the USB cable is plugged into your computer, the OS recognizes it as a UPS and installs the necessary software to communicate with it.

Then you can install PowerChute Personal Edition to monitor and configure the UPS for the type of protection you want; i.e. in the even of a power outage you can elect to have the UPS keep your computer on battery power as long as possible, or you can choose to have it shutdown the computer automatically. Since most power outages in my neighborhood last less then five minutes, I have configured the "CS 350VA" to do an orderly shut down after five minutes on battery power. Right now the only pieces of equipment plugged into the unit are the computer, monitor, and printer.

Testing and Use

I have attached the "CS 350VA" to a Pentium 4 2.06GHz PC powered by an Antec 250W power supply and a Samsung SyncMaster 191n flat screen 19-inch monitor, and an HP OfficeJet T-45 printer. No the printer is not essential, but it gives me peace of mind to have it protected.

After charging the battery for 12 hours, I put the "CS 350VA" in place, connected the USB and installed the PowerChute Personal Edition software. It initially indicated that I had about 18 minutes of battery backup time. But in order to assure the accuracy of the estimate, I simulated a power outage by unplugging the unit from the wall outlet, and let the UPS do its thing. The "CS 350VA" can only keep the system on as long as it battery holds out, and through PowerChute Personal Edition it will dynamically update the estimated time remaining on the battery as it starts discharging.

As soon as the APC Back-UPS ES 725 was unplugged it went to battery power and I received a popup box on my screen that stating, "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 disabled via the software. After approximately 10:00 minutes, battery power had dropped to 25% and the computer went into hibernate mode, as I had set it up to do.

After several hours of recharging the UPS was back to full capacity, and the estimated battery time was now a more realistic 15 minutes.

Conclusion

To me a UPS is a must have, and the "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" is a solid investment in my book. The average life of a UPS battery is approximately four years, and my "CS 350VA" cost me $30.00 (I took advantage of APC's trade-up program, plus my brother works for the company). Since installing the "CS 350VA", we have suffered through three blackout including one hit in the middle of the night that lasted in excess of 30 minutes just the other night. When I woke up at 4:30am (my usual waking time), I noticed that my wife's computer was off (we leave our computers on 24/7/365). By the power had been restored, so I turned on the computer and it came out of hibernation just a it was designed to do; the "CS 350VA" had done it job.
In the final analysis the "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" does what it is supposed to do--protect my wife's computer from harmful electrical events and provide a stable source of emergency power--and it does it exceedingly well. With enough power to support almost all of today's power-hungry computers, monitors and printers, not to mention the odd peripheral the "APC Back-UPS CS 350VA" is the idea solution for home and small office users.

This one is exactly what I look for. I need a 230 Volts APC for my overseas office and this one just fits well as I could hardly find this voltage in any US stores. As businesses are going global and people are traveling overseas frequently, i would recommend companies making more "Universal" voltage devices. Sorry for those who bought it wrong for US use, but it is a steal for me!!

I know this is a good product, we have many in our office. However, this is a little ridiculous as it will only run on 220V. This product has been a complete waste of my time!