Time for another review. This time it's a UPS system from Belkin. UPS stands for
"uninterruptible power supply" and has been used widely for servers but is gradually
coming to the desktop user. I haven't had a power cut for a good few months but UPS
does not only protect against power loss. Have you ever noticed when you switch on
an appliance in your house the lights flicker for a second? Well that is called a
brownout, the worst thing that can happen is something is switched on and your PC
resets. That's happened to me a few times and is quite annoying. UPS systems protect
against these brownouts by switching to their batteries. So when Belkin offered one to
me for review I gladly accepted.
The UPS system I was given was 325VA Regulator Pro series. This is the low end
UPS with minimal uptime in the event of a power cut, it roughly translates to 17
minutes uptime on a full charge. Not a particularly long time but at least you can save
your data and switch the PC off if the power cut is going to last longer, believe me
data loss is a pain.
Belkin do offer a very hefty guarantee in the unlikely event of the UPS damaging
your system. That's up to £30'000 insurance on your hardware, sadly my hardware
totals about £1000 but it's nice to know you're insured. Also you have a data recovery
warranty, which is a huge bonus if you keep your hard drive stacked with business
items.
The actual system that prevents brownouts is called Automatic Voltage Regulation (or
AVR for short). I had my system running for a week and not once did my PC reset,
even when I turned on every electrical item in the house.
Now for a bit about the actual UPS installation, it's amazingly simple. Just put the
UPS into an electrical socket, turn the socket on and let it charge for roughly four
hours. Once that's done, power down your pc and plug up to 6 devices into the UPS
then switch it on, that's all.
Now I did run some simple tests, such as switching off power to the UPS and timing it
before it would cut off. First time it was 15 minutes 43 seconds before it shutdown.
That's ok the battery is still not fully charged, second time once recharged was 17:08,
Almost spot on. So now I know how long I've got before I switch off in a power cut.
Since there are 6 sockets for devices I used one for my lava lamp, this means I can see
to find my torch in the dark instead of scrambling around with a lighter, especially in
this house fire and alcohol don't mix particularly well.
There are 4 LEDs on the front to display when the UPS is either on, running on the
mains or battery and 1 for a self-test. Once the devices starts using the battery a beep
is emitted just to let you know.
The look of the Belkin Regulator Pro series is very in keeping with modern design. It
matches the KVM switch perfectly. The purple hook you can see at the back is a cable
tidier, keeps the desk nice and clear.
Conclusion
Another very well designed product for Belkin for a specific market. Just like the
KVM it's well built and easy to use. I can't actually see a con for this product. It's
money well spent at £69.32 from dabs but it depends if you have a particular use for
it.
Please feel free to Discuss in our forums !!
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