Customer Reviews

APC LE1200 Line-R 1200VA Automatic Voltage Regulator

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This thing is heavy, which is usually a good sign for this type of product. It does what even good UPS's don't, and that's regulate your power even when it fluctuates mildly. Sure, many products will protect you from 140V+ or turn on at 90V, but that's still enough to burn out everything from a simple wall wart power brick to a DVR from dishnetwork. I know, as I've experienced such things with my crappy Los Angeles power service. In afternoons, it'll drop to 110V, and if I use the garbage disposal, a laser printer, or turn on my stereo and 2 amplifiers, voltage drops below 108V. This is enough to destroy many sensitive products over time. It's so bad in my house, that it's destroyed two UPS's by forcing them to click on and off so much and to compensate for low voltage so much they burned out!

The APC LE1200 prevents this damage. It clicks on and returns voltage levels back to around 120V at a level high enough that your electronics don't get damage before they are protected (what's the point of protection that only helps once the damage is done?). I know it's working because I can hear it click on, and return power to the right levels even as my house voltage sits at 106-108V (confirmed by the voltage meter in my Panamax).

I'm so impressed with the performance of this unit in my home theater that I bought 2 more, one to protect my computer (it installs between the UPS and the wall to protect the computer and the UPS), and one for my plasma TV (because it's located away from my HT equipment). At $50 a piece, this thing is a no brainer. A quality UPS is 3-5x as much and still doesn't protect your equipment as well. And it can burn out. The LE1200 has little chance of burning out, so for equipment that doesn't need battery backup, or even to feed a UPS, this product is the way to go.

The overall quality of this voltage regulator is good. The under voltage / over voltage leds are a nice feature. I purchased this devise to provide a stable voltage source to my computer equipment. My original problem before I purchased was my dsl model would drop off due to my line voltage dropping low whenever I started my vacuum cleaner (the starting current of the motor is apparently quite large). Based on the reviews and specs I thought this device would eliminate the problem. Well -- no change. Even with the LE 1200 regulator whenever I start my vacuum in the house the momentary drop in line voltage is not compensated for by the regulator and my modem drops off line.

Simple solution for an insurance against a potential problem. You can spend hundreds more a Monster version. I got it for my LCD television for brown out conditions. Should make my TV last longer. It doesn't have a readout on it so I am not sure what my actual voltage is coming into my house. I have it feeding into my Monster power strip. It gaurds against both power surges and drops unlike the power strip that only controls surges.

This product allows me to power my computer with a generator. Good buy.

If you use a generator or have poor quality power, this is a must for sensitive equipment. I originally purchased a UPS to help filter power from a generator to some computer equipment. To my dismay the UPS would switch every few seconds from battery to line power and quickly drain itself. Putting this voltage regulator between the UPS and generator resolved this. It happily put out clean power even as motors and power tools kick in on the same circuit.

I ordered two APC LE1200 Voltage Regulators to use on two of my TV/entainment centers in the house. It is money well spent for the peace of mind. In my locale, power is on & off frequently along with dips in voltage. APC offers one of the finest groups of electronic protection equipment that I have found. This unit is no exception. It is well designed and rugged looking. Both worked right out of the box and I expect no problems with their operation in the years to come. The second reason to buy such a unit is if you have a portable gas-powered electric generator that you use for temporary power outages in your area. Many generators do not deliver the perfect power, which is clean and well regulated, to meet the strick requirements for many of the home entertainment components. This unit regulates the power at your equipment and "cleans up" voltage & noise variances which may come from the portable generator.

The APC LE1200 1200VA Voltage Regulator is top of the line for the price. I couldn't believe the prices of some voltage regulators. Who needs battery backup for their A/V equipment? Don't let Best Buy talk you into purchasing one of those overrated/priced monster boxes. Though they are good, they are way too overpriced. Buy APC!

I purchased two APC 1200 about a year ago (April 09). I never really knew if they worked or not until last night. When I got home my battery backup to my computer was indicating that it was on the battery yet I had lights on in my house. Then I noticed that my furnace was making a humming noise that stopped when I unplugged it. I pulled out my voltmeter and checked the voltage at the outlet that my battery backup was plugged into and was surprised to find that the voltage reading was 138.5 and it should have been 120. I checked several outlets and the reading was consistent. I then noticed that the APC voltage regulators were indicating a high voltage also. I called the electric company and they verified my readings. It turns out that the sub-station had a malfunction and my whole neighborhood had high voltage. While I was waiting for the electric company I checked the voltage on one of the APC voltage regulators and it read 121 volts. This was the first time that I could actually see the voltage regulator work. I don't know if 138.5 volts would have damaged my LCD televisions, but I am not willing to chance it.

I bought this unit for work. We have an HP 4600 color laser printer that had some unacceptable color streaking in its' output. I ran multiple field service diagnostics and controller resets to no avail. It was concluded that the power supply or the DC controller board in the printer were probably bad. To prevent the spotty power in the building housing the printer from causing this issue to recur if we paid for an expensive service call, I ordered this unit. I hooked the APC voltage regulator up to the printer in preparation for the service call and thought to run one more test on the printer. The voltage regulator apparently cleaned up the power issues enough that the output came out crisp and unstreaked. Fairly amazing. That was a month ago and we still have not needed to contact a service tech for the printer as the output has been decent ever since we put this unit between the printer and the building power outlet. Definitely worthwhile if you have dirty power lines.

For the price point this unit does very well! Highly recommend it. I use for my PA rig powering my signal processors and mixer. When used properly, it works well.

Construction is cheap. Amazon needs to ship these in bigger boxes with packing material for cushion...MY FIRST ONE CAME IN WITHOUT PACKING MATERIAL AND THUS DAMAGED DURING SHIPPING. My replacement one was undamaged but packed the same way without cushion, the only difference is the shipment went via expedited, so less trans loading and handling when moved. Amazon customer service was VERY HELPFUL in arranging this expedited shipping for me, at no extra cost.

I made my review about the packaging with Amazon, and they acknowledged this. Hopefully will help others.


This product is not a UPS with a battery, strictly line voltage regulation. It does have surge protection rated at 702 joules.

***There seems to be confusion of when this unit will regulate voltage, and one must read the specifications to understand this.

For most in the US 120 volts is the norm, so when this unit is set to that, it has a -12% to +6% range around the center voltage of 120 volts according to the specs. Most electronic device power supplies are designed to handle the range this unit regulates to. The response time this reacts to any voltage fluctuations is acceptable to (under 2 AC cycles)

THAT MEANS...When set to 120 on the back and your incoming line voltage drops below 105 volts this will activate the transformer to step up the voltage back to around ~120. If you have an over voltage, it will not activate the transformer until the incoming voltage goes above 127.2 volts to step it back down.