APC Back-UPS CS 650VA 230V - Reviews

(4.2)

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For APC Back-UPS CS 650VA 230V, 58 customer reviews collected from 2 e-commerce sites, and the average score is 4.2.

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7.7.2012

Note: For the reason unknown to me but may be only to Amazon, this UPS is also catalogued under a different code - Dell APC BK650EI 650VA Back-UPS USB 4 Output Connectors - which I reviewed in some detail, as reproduced below.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For an entry level product, this UPS provides quality performance, noting that it comes from a reputable company in the field for 3 decades - the APC Corporation. It really does the expected job with great simplicity. I recently had the opportunity to evaluate another UPS of comparable specification - the Cyberpower Value 800GP-B 800VA True Green Power Tower UPS - but it was an easy task to choose this over others with comparable spec and price.First of all,let us get one minor point of confusion out of the way. Under 'Technical Details' here on Amazon, there is text that reads "Provides management of the UPS via a serial port". The correct description should be: "Provides management of the UPS via USB port". Although strictly speaking USB is also serial, there is a distinction between USB port and serial port, the latter being serial (9-pin) RS232 interface widely used by many UPS - so it's easy to give up on this excellent UPS thinking that your computer has no RS232 port (or won't bother to get a serial IO PCI card for an almost outdated interface standard). On the UPS side, the interface is actually based on RJ45 connector (same as Ethernet LAN connector), but what matters is the connection to your computer which is a normal USB interface.Although power outputs with battery backup are inherently surge-protected (top 3 outputs at the back of this UPS), this UPS also provides surge protection for telephone/modem line, and one extra mains line (marked with grey colour under the 3 UPS outputs, and consider this simply as a bonus socket). The thing to note is that the grey coloured mains output has no battery backup, only the top 3 do, although all of them benefit from surge protection.I very much like the software which comes with this UPS - the PowerChute Personal Edition - which is a useful tool for power protection and energy management tasks. Once you install it, checking for upgrade will guide you to download and install the latest software which is version 3.0.2 (perhaps newer, if an updated is made available by the time this review is posted). The simplicity of this tool requires no explanation as everything is laid out clearly; once installed, in the notification tray (bottom-right of the screen) just right-click on the orangey icon and select "Open Application" command (or other commands of interest shown there) and the rest is self-explanatory. You have a straightforward configuration and monitoring links, as well as Help and Support, clearly outlined.Oh yes, even without the PowerChute software, this UPS actually enables the Native Power Management which is really neat; for instance, with Windows OS, a desktop computer is made to act like a laptop computer with battery power, with a battery icon shown in the system tray area. For power management purpose with this UPS, you can now treat the desktop just as a laptop and you can configure Windows Power Options as to when to alert for low battery (i.e., UPS's), and when to hibernate, and the like. BUT, you really want to use the PowerChute software ...With the PowerChute software configuration, you can set the UPS to alert you for attention by audible sound, but also gives you an option for this not to be a nuisance, by choosing the time interval of the day for the audible alarm. Not many entry level UPSs have this simple but useful feature. You can also choose your computer to hibernate (or shutdown as the case may be) as soon as the power outage is detected (preserving battery life), or let it run for as long as the backup battery permits a continued operation (typically about 20 to 30 min with an average desktop), in which case, if power was back while on battery backup, then the computer wouldn't even notice the outage. Note that some computers are very slow to close down (depending on what they do, such as releasing network resources, shutting down services, etc.), so it is important to factor in this delay in the UPS configuration (perhaps by some experimentation), else the UPS and computer shutdown/hibernation can be out of sync with undesirable effects.At 400kW active power capacity and 650VA, this UPS should handle almost any home IT system, and even the low end of small business IT system. My energy guzzling multimedia desktop PC consumes around 150W and I can safely add other systems that can benefit from this UPS backup, and aren't that many really - other than a cable/ADSL wireless router and perhaps a Skype phone which are all low power equipment. Of course, you may use part of the backup feature for home security system as well, but that is a different DIY project beyond the scope of this review.As a bit of further info: I measured the standby power consumption of this UPS (without any load connected to it) and was about 12W, and should cost you in the order of £12 to £15 per year if switched it on and does nothing, of course depending on your electric tariff (used 12 pence/kWh for a rough estimate). Not a very Green standby power, but won't raise my hopes for a significant improvement over this UPS. The Cyberpower Value 800GP-B 800VA True Green Power Tower UPS, which even uses the word Green in its name measured a slightly higher standby power of 14W.In conclusion ...this is an impressive entry level UPS more than adequate for home use. I can recommend this UPS with no hesitation, taking account of the 2-year standard manufacture warranty behind it.PS: I haven't yet figured out why Amazon prefixed this UPS with 'Dell'; I can only guess this is a typo.Related Review:- Cyberpower Value 800GP-B 800VA True Green Power Tower UPS

11.11.2012

Whenever I have chosen a UPS for home or at work it has always been a model from APC. Whether it is a massive 5000VA 5U rackmount model that takes two people to lift, or a small floor standing one for a PC. Due to their build quality and features, they are the standard to which all other UPSs aspire. So when the batteries in my home UPS failed, it came as no surprise to me that it was an APC that I settled on to replace it. Incidentally this is one area that APC comes up for criticism. In their spiel, they labour the point that their batteries are easily replaceable - with some models hot swappable. However, when the batteries on an APC to come to grief,invariably it is cheaper to purchase a brand new unit rather than just the batteries. Slightly defeats the object really.Anyway, I settled on two of the APC CS350 model to protect my two home built PCs. They are on opposite sides of the room, so unable to plug in to one unit. I was at first concerned when the specs state a USB interface yet the photo of the rear of the unit does not show a USB socket. As it transpires, it comes with an APC specific cable with USB one end and RJ45 on the other. One thought is that break that and it may be a pain to get replaced.When they arrived, both units worked fine straight out the box and were straightforward to set up. Top tip, install the Powerchute Personal Edition software that comes with it rather than rely on Windows XP/7 monitoring. While Windows detects that power has failed, it can only be set to shut down after a pre-determined number of minutes. Whereas Powerchute monitors the battery level. It also has more functionality.Two things that I miss from my previous UPS are load and charge level indicators on the front of the unit. However both can be found using the Powerchute application. But the biggest problem has been with the load capacity. I overlooked that this model has a maximum output of 210 watts. I plugged the PC and two monitors into the three UPS protected sockets (there is one more for surge protection only). for the most part, the system worked fine. But when activity ramped up - such as during an AV scan - the UPS overload alarm came on. The only way round it has been to connect the two monitors directly to the mains supply. In the event of an outage, I will lose control of the system and have trust that Powerchute does its jobs and sends Windows to hibernate. I have taken the precaution of testing it and the setup works fine.The CS650 model has a 400 watt capacity which is far more capable. And as result of Amazon's repricing is very similar to what I paid for the CS350. If I was choosing again, the CS650 is the model that I would be going for.

7.12.2007

I needed to replace an older APC power strip type UPS as I have added a more powerful PC to my system. (The old low power UPS is now powering my router).I bought this as it had the general power level I need and what a cracker it is! Very small box size etc.Arrived bang on 8am in the morning (ordered at 5pm the nighth before) so I put it straight on power to charge itself up - went off and downloaded the Vista Software Pack form the APC website and then connected everything up. USB onto the system and loaded the dsoftware - 5 minutes later all was working. Did the self test and confirmed that I was protected. At 8pm (12 hours after arrival)

16.12.2009

Having been initially really excited by my purchase of a Mac Mini, it slowly dawned on me that, unlike my laptop, when I get a power cut, the mac mini was unprotected, as it has no internal battery, which could have resulted in quite annoying damage. To my relief I found plenty of Mac users had been through he same moment of panic.Hooray!!! The APC people have just the unit I need... Well several actually, but this one fitted the bill perfectly. It's small, silent, compact and quite smart. In fact it was set up in moments and came already charged.I took advantage of the easy to use software that came with it to turn off the warning sounds, as I just want it to do it's job,

14.11.2010

I got this UPS for my gaming PC as we get power cuts here and surges.The APC 800va is just right for the PC as it's still has the capacity to hook more devices in.To give you an idea, the system on the idle ( web browsing ect ) draws 275 watts 1/2 the UPS capacity.Giving me about 14 minutes running on battery( 6 minutes allocated for shutdown time).The system and runningrunning the following (high and gaming set-up) of the "battery backup" sockets: drawing a total of 275 watts in idle.- intel quadcore i7 920CPU (running @ 2.66GHz)- ATI Radeon HD5870( overclocked 22%)- EX58-UD5 Gigabyte motherboard- 6Gb dd3 RAM- 128gb SSD- 3 x SATA hard drives- Antec Twelve Hundred Tower,

9.8.2009

We have plenty of storms and local minor power cuts - enough to wreck a computer and some peripherals - so I looked for a product that would protect my stuff. Fortunately (for me) I have a friend who has had his computer and modem fried by lightning and his choice - rather too late of course was the UPS 650A. I bought the same and can now sleep at night - it protects all my system main computer, external hard drive, modem etc and I have simulated the effects of power cuts and my computer carries on regardless. The installation on my Mac was easy and the software allows me to set times for shut down and to specify minimum battery levels.My one complaint was that this product does not come with

17.5.2010

As a computer field service engineer I'm familiar with APC UPS devices which ( as far as I'm concerned ) have proven to be reliable and well specified.I wasn't disappointed when I bought the APC Back-UPS CS 650VA 230V to replace the UPS I've been using for the last 2 years.It comes with the very useful "PowerChute" software and once correctly setup ( avoiding placing to much of a load on the UPS ) it responds to both mains power losses and surges quickly and smoothly.In addition, it allows me to resume my Windows session ( retaining any open programs and web pages ) after a PowerChute controlled shutdown.Its more expensive than the UPS it replaced but I believe the APC is the best of its

15.7.2012

The UPS comes with two male-to-female IEC 320 EN 60320 C13-C14 cables. This means that if your computer has a C14 power cable (bit like a three-pin kettle cable), you will be OK for the computer: you use the computer's power cable for the UPS, and then the UPS provided cable to connect the UPS to the computer. There is a second cable in the box, which could be used for a second similarly powered device. However, some of the equipment I wish to connect does not use a C14 cable, but plugs via an adaptor or the like; I will need to purchase some adapters/cables from BS 1363 to C14. This doesn't diminish the quality of the product, but you should be aware of this when you purchase it!

16.4.2012

This UPS is much better than my old one. APC are probably the UPS manufacturer with the best reputation of all. I need the best because I live in rural Spain where the voltage fluctuations can be ridiculous.I've now got my PC, monitor, router, and router phone line fed through the UPS, so they're fully protected.I've also installed the software and made a USB connection from UPS to computer so that, in the event of power problems lasting longer than the battery will support, the UPS will save my work and shut down the computer.As usual, Amazon despatched very quickly, and their courier had it out here within less than a week.

31.3.2013

I've bought a couple of these now, and as pointed out, the only slight issue is that the power outlets are all the "kettle type" female sockets, not normal plug sockets. Fine if you're only intending to power servers/PCs and monitors, but for anything else, not so good.So what I did was get a big 8 way socket and a male plug socket from Maplins. Then I took the normal plug off of the 8-way socket, and put the kettle plug on it instead. Now I have 8 normal plug sockets on one of the APC's, and it cost a couple of pounds!If you don't trust yourself with mains wiring, then just get something like this:[...]

29.11.2010

This is brilliant. It is controllable from the LAN through my NAS which means it's automatic once set up and allows a full controlled shut down saving all my data after the battery gets low - a little over 20 mins under normal load when I tested it.Added peace of mind when your flat mate trips the circuit breaker using her hair dryer too...Furthermore included surge protectors and multiple power outlets means that my modem, printer and router all stay up and running as well.An essential piece of kit for any home network.

11.3.2013

This is exactly what I need for my home office - particularly to protect my NAS and to maintain wifi during spikes and blackouts - of which we have plenty. I was initially worried the power cables don't fit well into the back of the product but found you need to give them an extra shove to click in - now they're perfect. There is also a small issue where it keeps telling me the (new) battery needs replacing but I can handle that. So it does the trick and has already worked effectively during 3 power failures in our house

31.12.2010

I've had this running a few months now, bought it for peace of mind really as we are fortunate to suffer very few power problems. Then in the two weeks prior to Christmas the power dipped twice (only five seconds each time but enough to kill a PC of course), UPS promptly kicked in to keep things running. So I think it's worth having - but note it does not come with a mains power lead. Note the product is quite heavy and does not like being disturbed so it needs somewhere appopriate to hide.

26.4.2014

This device is small enough to be placed on the desk or the floor without getting in the way.It runs silently and with no noticeable heat generated.USB connection to the PC and software on a CD to monitor the unit and close the PC in the event of mains power failure.Sufficient capacity to power a desktop PC, router and other equipment e.g. a Humax box.A surge protected additional outlet happily powers a printer.A test disconnection of the power to the unit proved that it works well.

27.12.2009

I've had no problems with this unit and it also works fine under Linux OS using apcupsd.It powers my system fine as it is low power (modem, pc, monitor etc is < 100watts).The only issue I have with it is that it generates a low humming/buzzing sound from the transformer which can be annoying if you're using it to power a silent machine!Another thing that might be useful to know is that you can expect this thing to draw around 15watts of power which isn't mentioned in the spec.

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