Customer Reviews

Belkin Universal UPS 1200 VA Emergency Battery Backup with AVR (F6C120-UNV)

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

 

 

I just replaced the two 12V batteries on my F6C120-UNV. I had the UPS for 3 years to the day when it failed to hold a charge. The Belkin web site and some of the reviewers would lead you to believe that the batteries are not replaceable. A quick web search will show you that this 1200VA UPS uses the same batteries as the same generation 800VA and 1000VA Belkin products. It also uses the APC Replacement Battery Cartridge #17 (RBC17) that you can find on Amazon or elsewhere for between $40 and $60 for both bateries delivered. The original Belkin batteries are two 12V 7.2AH sealed lead batteries manufactured by BB. The RPC17 is two 12V 9AH sealed lead batteries made by American Battery Company. They are acutally an upgrade and will make your 1200VA UPS perform like a 1500VA UPS.

The replacement took me about 15 minutes and was about as complicated as adding a new hard drive to your PC. Remove the case -- 5 screws. Remove the circuit card -- 4 screws and 2 modular connectors. Remove the battery bracket -- 2 screws and 2 nuts. Replace the two batteries -- 2 flat slide connectors. Reassemble and you are set for another 3 years. $40 and 15 minutes of my time was well worth it for a 1500VA UPS with very good software and line conditioning.

I received the Belkin F6C120-UNV as a gift in December, 2002. It worked like a charm for 1-1/2 years. I occasionally put it through a deep-cycle test just to make sure things were in good shape and my system and monitor and peripherals would run for about 20 minutes before running out of juice.. ..plenty of time to clean up, save, print a few things, and shut down the system.

I even had my wireless access point and cable modem connected, so I would stay online for a while without power in the house (through my desktop or wireless notebook).

The only annoying behavior was that the unit will beep when you are running on battery power and there's no way to configure it not to beep. That means if you lose power during the middle of the night for a more than a couple seconds, it will beep until you tell it to stop beeping. Very annoying. Luckily we only lose power about 3-4 times a year.

The bad news; we lost power last week and the unit shut off in about 5-6 seconds! After recharging overnight, it will no longer hold a reasonable load (of say 25-30%) for more than 6-7 seconds, definitely not enough time to shut down cleanly. None of the trouble indicators were lit and the battery replacement indicator was not on. However, it was clear that the batteries were unable to handle the load any more. I learned the hard way (according to Belkin) that the batteries in this unit cannot be replaced! Also, I searched for after-market batteries and none of the popular sites list this model.

Lesson learned: many of the UPS systems out there have batteries that are not (or not easily) replaceable!

To Belkin's credit, they're replacing the entire unit free of charge (since it's only half way through it's 3 year warrantee period) even though it was a gift.

btw, in reference to the other reviewer (who has posted their review on lots of sites) who claim that the 3-second power on/off button is inconvient.. ..somebody doesn't understand the purpose of a UPS system. You're not supposed to turn the UPS off, why would anybody use the UPS to turn their PC on and off? Also, the only "hum" I ever hear is when the voltate drops too low and the AVR kicks in (which is a lifesaver if your power drops when the house A/C compressor kicks in).

I bought two of these Belkins 2 and 4 years ago and both died in the last 6 months with no warning. Poof. One day they just wouldn't power on and were completely unresponsive. After reading the reviews here I bought a pair of APC batteries to try and both UPS were brought back to life. If it costs less to ship than to buy another pair of batteries I'll get the newer one fixed under warranty.
It's simply stupid that Belkin doesn't sell the replacement battery packs. Replacement is straightforward...You need a long, skinny philips-head driver to get the battery bracket out (in addition to a 5/16 driver with a long extension).

0) Unplug it!
1) Remove the 5 screws holding the cover, pull it back enough to disconnect one of the battery terminals, then remove it completely.
2) Disconnect the large 5-pin connector from the circuit board on the opposite side from the battery connectors (you have to squeeze both sides and pull on it) I used a flathead screwdriver to lever it out instead of rocking back-and-forth since I was worried about flexing the circuit board too much.
3) I had to cut the zip-tie holding the iron-core "donut" to the case to allow the front-panel wiring to move out of the way.
4) This gives you enough slack to remove the 4 screws holding the circuit board to the frame then pull the circuit board forward allowing the rear-panel connectors to clear the back of the case, then you can lift it up and push it to the side near the batteries. The cables are heavy-gauge wire but will bend enough.
5) With the circuit board out of the way, remove the 5/16 nuts holding the battery bracket at the bottom and the two philips-head screws holding it to the front.
6) Carefully lift the bracket up to free the batteries, being careful not to nick the insulation on the various wires.
7) Pop out the old batteries.
8) Clean up any acid residue in the bottom of the unit (one of the sealed batteries on my 4-year-old unit leaked a bit!)
9) Pop in the new batteries and reassemble.
10) Leave the last battery connector unconnected until you get the case cover almost all the way in place to avoid shorting the exposed circuit traces with it. When you reconnect the last battery connection, don't be surprised if there is a small spark since there doesn't seem to be anything to limit the inrush current to the unit as it recharges from the now-working batteries.
11) If nothing's smoking yet, plug the unit in and try turning it on.
12) If it's still not smoking, hang around for a few hours to let it charge, then try returning it to service.

Overall, these units have worked well for a couple years, providing lots of backup time when called upon, but you simply cannot trust the battery life reports from the unit. Once a month after running your backups I recommend taking the unit out of service for a few minutes to run a test. You can configure the software to do this automatically, but I prefer doing it manually when I know there won't be any impact from a loss of power.

I had this unit nearly three years and it performed fine during numerous power glitches. I never run the PC to battery depletion, I only use the UPS to filter spikes and brownouts, so my batteries (date stamped October 2002) died on 23 March 2006 -- decent life for this class of UPS.

The bad news is that despite front-panel indicator lights and Bulldog software, the UPS did nothing to alert me to the failing batteries. Only when my PC shut down abruptly did I realize that the UPS needed attention. Upon checking the Log file kept by Bulldog Software, I saw that the battery capacity had dropped to zero 10 days prior, and the battery voltage had been running at 18.5 volts. Why there was NO indication from either LED lights or Software of these serious fault conditions I'll never know.

OK, so it was time for new batteries. I took off the cover only to discover that the two standard size sealed 12 volt cells were bolted in the frame such that removal meant complete dis-assembly of the circuit board and front half of the chassis. This is Pee-poor design, even for a high-school intern level engineering type. Why would anyone bolt batteries which require replacing into the frame?

Because the unit had been running hot for 10 days due to the un-alarmed condition of the dead batteries, I decided to first test performance with the replacement batteries before wasting time taking the whole thing apart. I placed the unit on my workbench and connected the new batteries laying next to the UPS. After verifying that charging voltage was OK, I charged them overnight. Upon testing the internal voltages, all looked normal -- but then I checked the output voltage when the load is running on batteries. Instead of the expected 110 to 115 Volts AC, I'm getting 83-88 volts AC. Cool -- this UPS will now generate its own brownouts free of charge. (Perhaps it has been this way for years -- I trusted the Bulldog SW voltage reporting, but based on recent experience, I should not have).

So I'm working through Belkin Support to see if I have any options besides the re-cycling bin.... but I can tell you all that I have four APC UPS units, one dating back to 1994, others to '96 and '99. I've replaced batteries and continue to run the APC units with no problems.

This was my first, and will certainly be my last, Belkin UPS product. Shop around - you can get an 800Va APC unit for $79... a MUCH better deal than this Belkin unit for the same price. (both use the exact same batteries so don't be fooled by the higher VA rating of the Belkin - it is the battery capacity that ultimately determines your run time when the power fails) And with APC, you can replace the batteries without taking apart the unit - just slide off the cover like any kid's toy, and replace the batteries. What a concept, eh?

BA Zimmerman

First Id like to say the product and delivery were fine. I followed all the instructions provided by Mike Murphy. They were accurate. Please add two.
1) As you remove the cover to the ups back it up a few inches and remove at least one of the battery leads. This insures there is no current on the circuit board. Then continue.
2) On re-assembly slide the cover almost all the way into place then attach the last lead before making that last inch of push on the cover.

If you don't, you stand a chance of the cover touching the back of the circuit board and cooking the whole UPS. Then you are out the cost of the batteries and you still have to replace the UPS. By the way I should know better. So those of you who don't know better you stand a chance of cooking yourself. When these batteries are live you have high curent and possible high voltage in there.

We have had 3 Belkin 1000va units in our CPA office. Three major issues came up.
First was that when the batteries went dead there was NO warning. The first we knew was that when the power went out the computers went down instantly. It may have been that there was a light on the panel illumated that indicated low battery (there is one that is supposed to) but first they are very dim and since the UPS are not exactly sitting in plain sight, it went un-noticed.
Second is that replacing the batteries is a major operation, requiring disassembly of the unit for which there is no documentation, you just have to figure it out yourself. Furthermore disassembly requires screwdrivers, a socket wrench and pulling at least two connectors to remove the primary circuit board. Some of the screws are hard to get at as are the two nuts that hold the battery cover in place.
Last, but not least, is that when reassembling the unit after replacing the batteries you have to be VERY careful about reinstalling the unit cover. Make a mistake and you will short the cover against some parts on the exposed main circuit board on top of the battery cover. The resulting arc will destroy the circuit board, whether or not the unit is plugged in. This happened to two or our three units, one was plugged in and one was not. So there is a residual charge somewhere in the circuit that is sufficent to destroy the electronics when reassembly is attempted.
Bottom line, we replaced the two failed Belkins with APC units and resolved never to buy a UPS that did not have easily accessible and replaced batteries.

I stumbled across these reviews in my search to figure out what was wrong with my F6C120-UNV UPS. I purchased it about 5 years ago and noticed that my clock radio was flashing after a power disconnect. That was odd as it was plugged into the UPS. Then I witnessed the UPS try to switch to the inverter while I was using the computer and the PC shut off. I surmised that the batteries were dead. The UPS doesn't tell you this if you are running the tests from the Bulldog software. Only after running the test using the button on the front of the UPS did the dead battery light illuminate on the front. Unfortunately there is no easy replacement kit available like the UPS model that eventually replaced this Belkin.

Following the instructions provided here, I replaced both batteries using APC RBC17 batteries. I bought them for less than $60 plus shipping for both. The UPS works like a champ again and passed the deep battery test providing 30 minutes of power to my bloated PC, 22" LCD, and clock radio. I ended up using a right angle phillips head screwdriver as I didn't have an appropriate length standard one available.

Just under 1 year of use the Belkin 1200 Universal UPS replace battery alarm went off. Contacted technical support, they confirmed that the battery needed replaced, but in order for them to provide warranty I had to produce an Invoice that was less than 1 year old since the battery warranty is only 1 year. I cant find the receipt so I am SOL.

And Belkin does not provide a replacement battery, so I am SOL there too.

And if you find a 3rd party replacement battery, you have to completely dis-assemble the UPS to get the battery out... very poor design in this day in age when its typical for the cheapiest of UPS to have pop/slide out batteries.

Its clear to me that this hs been designed to be a throw away UPS... which isnt fair in my book b/c ayone buying at the 1000+ level will want battery replacement.

And I too can hear the humm noise this thing makes that other users reported... its very noisy even in my server room.

My conclusion, complete waste of money... and since Belkin screwed me I wont be buying Belkin anymore regardless of the better price. But hey, you get what you pay for.. you want to gamble go ahead. Im going to get the APC Back-UPS RS BR1500.

I've had several of these UPS systems for almost a year. In the beginning, the units did a good job of keeping my systems running for 10 - 15 minutes if the power went out. After a year, the batteries can't even keep the systems up for 5 seconds. BUT, I think Belkin or APC will be happy to sell you more batteries for about $80 per unit. I am disappointed at how fast these batteries lost their ability to hold a charge, basically, I'm going to just throw them all away, they don't help me anymore. I think the APC UPS systems are the same way, I don't recommend the Belkin or APC UPS systems because of their poor batteries.

I'm not sure why one of the other reviewers would use a UPS to power on/off their desktop. The purpose of a UPS is the regulate electric line input and to provide power during either a power glitch/loss or total blackout.

This UPS does the job perfectly. I run a couple of home linux servers used for httpd, smtp, pop3, imap, mysqld, online game server, etc. In other words, they're always on. My house constantly gets hit by "power glitches"; the power blinks off then rigth back on at least once a week. Of course, this is bad news for any electronic equipment, especially computers. I don't mind resetting my clocks all over the house when this happens, but it's unacceptable for computers (not that I have to reset their clocks :-)).

I had a small APC 350VA before, that was absolutely horrible. It would help for the power glitches that I have, but when the power went out for more than 1 minute, it couldn't even power up one desktop cpu and a 17" CRT. It got to the point where my wife would call it the chinese torture device (no hard feelings), because it was constantly beeping when the power went off and back on. It would not reset itself, and I'd have to turn it off and back on to get it to stop. That really defeats the purpose of the UPS, as I'd have to shutdown the computer connected to it to do this.

Back to the Belkin. I currenlty have 3 desktop computers connected, a 19" lcd and 100 MB switch. I keep the USB connected to my windows desktop. The Bulldog software is very slick. It can show you current input/output stats, as well as a log of activity. Very nice function. I've had a few glitches knock the power off and on, with not one problem in the past month.

Fortunatley, I have not had to test the UPS for it's battery power in minutes. Right now, it will shutdown my windows PC when it detects and outage. I'd like to be able to write a small script that can shutdown my linux machines as well.

Conclusion:
You can't beat this UPS for the money. APCs are way overpriced, and the Belkin stacks up to their performance hands down. I work for a nation wide computer company that uses APCs, and I'd much rather spend my money on the Belkin.