Customer Reviews

APC J15BLK 12-Outlet J-Type Power Conditioner with Battery Backup

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This ia an amazing product and highly recommend for anyone with a decent investment in audio-visual equiptment. It offers that piece of mind that your expensive LCD/Plasma TV, A/V Receiver, DVD player, Blu-Ray, Player, etc. are all protected from power spikes, surges as well as filtering the power to enhance quality. The battery backup is great in that I don't have to go through all my components to re-configure clock and other settings. What a pain that has been over the years. Plus now I can watch TV even if power is out for a few hours at least.

Had a string of thunderstorms and rain storms over past months and it was reassuring to hear the audible beeps and clicks telling me that the APC was doing its job of catching spikes as well as providing the sporadic battery backup for power outages.

I also looked at the Monster Cable product and a few others, but the APC looks the coolest, easy to configure, and has the name behind it. I have a few of their UPS for my computers and they never let me down!

I've used APC for years and I couldn't tell you how many brown-outs they've saved my computer from rebooting through. So when it came time for a power conditioner and battery solution for the widescreen LCD TV and home entertainment system, APC was my only choice. Unfortunately, at the time, they had nothing available. This unit was worth the wait.

This thing is a monster. Weighing in at about 50 pounds it is the size of a PC (before they shrank). It was a bit challenging figuring out how to place it but with a 10' power cable I could've strung it across the apartment. It was easy to setup and the menu system is intuitive, and their manual goes through every screen as well (for those that like to RTFM).

What I like most is the load meter, watts being used, and time remaining displays (you can change the default display to any of the possible ones they have easily). There's even a calibrate feature where you can have your normal load on it, run the calibration, and it will switch to battery until there are 3 min remaining. This allows the unit to update itself to give more accurate information and they recommend doing that every 6 months. I'll be trying that later today.
UPDATE: The calibrate feature actually runs off the battery for only a few minutes to see how much load is used. It uses this information to give a more accurate display.

When working in the I.T. field I had the opportunity to try several different UPS brands and none compare to APC. Their support, quality, and reliability have made me a permanent customer of theirs. This unit is well worth the price. There's even a statement in the documentation about NOT needing to turn it off during a lightning storm. I have yet to test that and found it odd to see a company state that. It sure tells you of their confidence in their product, and they guarantee it up to $750,000.

This product's dimensions and weight listed on Amazon's page are NOT accurate as of 11/27/09. It is currently listed as 24 x 22 x 13 inches; 59 pounds. These dimensions are the product's SHIPPING size and weight. The actual product dimensions and weight are: 17"W x 18"D x 5.25"H and 47 lbs. [...]

I bought the APC J15 almost 2 years ago for my home theater. I have a media PC, satellite receiver, and front projector connected to it. I wanted a really solid piece of gear that would protect equipment from power surges and flickers, and keep brief power disruptions from causing the above 3 items from unexpectedly powering off. The projector especially likes to be able to shut down gracefully. The J15 does it all, in one box, at a pretty darn reasonable price. The unit also has a lot of connections and configurability.

The ONLY con I have found so far - and the reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 (I'd give it 4 1/2 if I could) - is that there are no outlets that are "surge only" and there is no option to configure that. (I called APC and spoke with a tech who confirmed the design.) I have a few APC UPSs for computers and they all have some battery+surge outlets and then a few that are only surge. I don't need the battery for some gear and would prefer to minimize the amount of draw on the battery when needed.

Other than that one drawback, the J15 is a very nice piece of gear and a terrific value. It might not suit the power conditioning needs or desires of the highest end audiophiles, but for most folks it will do the job extremely well.

This is the second APC battery-backup that I've owned. The first one failed within the first year of ownership and was replaced under warranty. I sold that new one to buy this one. Now, less than 2 years later this one has failed as well (reports that no battery is connected even though one is while clicking incessantly). After a fair amount of back-and-forth with APC, they've concluded that the unit has suffered an internal failure and needs to be replaced. Given the retail cost of this box, APC apparently considers a $350/year run-rate cost to be reasonable.

I've got other power conditioners which have worked perfectly for a decade now. They were plugged into the same circuit as this APC when it failed and they're STILL functioning fine (as is the equipment plugged into them). There was no unusual event that killed this APC. Like the one before it, it just broke, again in a ridiculously short period of time for a piece of modern electronics. 1 APC failing is bad luck. 2-in-a-row is lousy QC on APC's part.

While it works, this is a great box. Just don't expect it to work for very long.

UPDATE:
Quick follow-up. APC's first response was to recommend I buy ANOTHER APC unit. I explained my hesitance to spend more money on their products given my history with them. They then offered to replace the unit despite being a couple months out of warranty. While I'm still not thrilled at the problems I've had, I thought their response was pretty reasonable and generous. My only cost was the cost to return the defective unit. The new J15 is back in my system and working well. So far so good...

I've owned the J15BLK for about 3 months and I have nothing but high praise for the service it has provided for me. At times my area is subject to wide power fluctuations or occasional short term outages. Each time one of these events has happened, the J15BLK has kicked in and taken over the power supply to my 63" plasma and satellite DVR and other A/V equipment. The TV keeps going like nothing ever happened. I don't have the DVR stopping in the middle of whatever you were watching to reset itself with the satellite like it did before I bought this. It has made TV watching more enjoyable and saving my equipment as well. If you're going to spend money on your system, the J15BLK should be a required item of your system. You won't go wrong buying this item.

I bought this because it provided surge protection, power cleaning, and battery backup. The battery backup was key for me because I wanted the ability to power off my electronics rather than having them just shut off. This APC was very reasonably priced compared to other brands, like Furman or Panamax. It is very easy to use. Just plug in and then plug your electronic devices into the APC.

I just had a power outage at my house and all of my AV equipment stayed on without interuption. It was easy to install as well.

This product was the perfect solution my noisy power in my house and it gives me enough time on battery to record my favorite shows. Great product. I would recommend it to anyone looking for the ultimate in surge/filtering for AV components.

Had it for about a month. Setup was easy. Does seem to be sensitive to voltage fluctuations that other APC devices don't see. Over all very happy to have to protect a recent TV purchase.