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Introduction If you're like me, you pretty much have your PC on 24/7. It's just because we use our computers so often it's often more practical to leave it on and only turn off the monitor and other peripherals during the night. Perhaps it's not the most power-efficient way to use a computer... but then again, you could go the extra mile and say that you don't really need a computer, right? (Yeah, right.) If you're such a person like me, then having some sort of power protection for your valuable hardware is just about a must. Depending on where you live and who controls the utilities in your area, not only may power outages happen too often, but brownouts and "dirty power" may rear their ugly head as well. You're probably most familiar with the first, but all three can damage a PC's power supply, or worse, your hardware, and can result in the loss of data. Companies have long realized the problems that unreliable power can present, and have often invested in expensive UPS's (Uninterruptible Power Supplies) so that critical equipment (such as network servers) would be able to safely run during high risk situations such as during a thunderstorm. For many home users, all that was used was a surge protector/power bar, which while protecting against harmful electrical surges, did not address the problem of brownouts, dirty power or complete power failure. If you've invested a lot of money in your PC, a UPS is the only way to go for peace-of-mind. PC's can be sensitive to power fluctuations, so while a brownout might not cause undue harm to a lightbulb, it can cause your PC to, at the very least, reset unexpectedly. So, today, I'll be looking at one of the newest UPS units from Belkin, the Universal 800VA. This UPS will provide protection against power outages, brownouts, "dirty power" such as voltage fluctuations and electrical surges. And, as its name implies, its battery provides for 800 Volt-Amps of capacity. With this UPS, you'll have time after the power goes out to save your data and properly shut down your computer - and maybe a little more, as well. Specifications What's the first thing you'll notice about this UPS? Its weight is listed as 25.3lbs, which possibly puts it above some PC's that are installed into aluminum cases. Being so heavy, and quite small, makes it a little hard to move! It doesn't take up a lot of space though, being less than a foot long in it's largest dimension, so it'll fit quite nicely under a desk or in another unobtrusive space. Compared with a regular power bar, it won't occupy much more space.
The 800VA Universal UPS came packaged in a durable and protective box complete with a plastic handle - and believe, the handle helps in moving the box as the total weight of it is probably just a bit less than 30lbs. The UPS was protected on all sides by a good amount of foam to ensure it wasn't damaged. However, don't take this statement to mean that the UPS is fragile - on the contrary, the entire unit is enclosed in a rigid metal case, with only the front panel being made out of plastic. Upon unpacking the UPS, you'll find three cables and the manual/software CD bag in addition to the UPS. The power cord itself is hard-wired to the UPS. The three other cables are a USB cable, Serial cable and a telephone cord. The USB and serial cables are for allowing the UPS to communicate with the computer it's powering, since both USB and RS-232 interfaces are supported by the UPS. The phone cord is included should you choose to use the built-in surge protector for a telephone-device. It was nice to see that Belkin included both interface cables and a phone cord, and that they didn't cut corners by leaving this up to the customer to acquire.
The decision to support both serial and USB interfaces was to, I assume, provide compatibility with most any system out there. While most of us have the use of USB ports there may be situations where only serial ports are available for use, either because of hardware or software limitations. To compliment this, Belkin has made their Bulldog Plus Shutdown Software compatible with a wide range of operating systems. While the software CD sleeve says that the software is only compatible with Win95 OSR2, Win98, WinME, WinNT, Win2K and WinXP, on the CD I found appropriate versions for not only the former, but also for OS 9, OS X, Novell NetWare 4.10 or higher, and for various *Nix's such as Linux and FreeBSD, among others. It was excellent to see that Belkin has covered nearly all bases when it comes to OS compatibility - and it's safe to say that you'll be able to fully use this UPS almost regardless of what OS you're using. There are three LEDs on the front panel; a green, yellow and red ones, and each will be illuminated depending on the current status of the UPS. When the UPS is on and running off of AC power, the green LED will be solid; if the UPS is having to use AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulation to clean up "dirty" power) then the green LED will be flashing. The yellow LED will be flashing and accompanied by an audible alarm/beep when the UPS is running off of battery power due to a power outage or over-voltage; when the battery begins to run low, the beeping will increase in frequency. The red LED, as you can imagine, signals a serious issue with the UPS. If it is solid, this means that the UPS is either faulty or the battery needs to be replaced, while if it's flashing this means that more power than can be provided by the UPS's battery is being drawn. Nothing too complex in Belkin's signalling system here, but you'll most likely have to consult the manual/guide to get the gist of it; once that's done there are icons beside each of the LEDs to remind you of what each indicates.
On the back of the UPS, there are six outlets, but only four of them provide battery backup, while the last two provide for only surge protection. The guide cautions you *not* to plug in laser printers or scanners into the battery-backup outlets of the UPS while other computer equipment is connected as the laser printer or scanner will draw "significantly more power when in use than when idle... This may overload the UPS." The UPS also "supports monitors up to 21"", but this is just a limit put into place to make sure that you won't put too much of a load on the UPS. Plugging in those big brick-style AC adapters wasn't as big of a problem as it could've been; while you probably won't be able to plug in two AC adapters side-by-side, most of them will usually fit without blocking off access to the adjacent receptacle for a regular power cord. However, because of the small horizontal distance between outlets at the same height, I found some AC adapters coming very close to interfering with the corresponding outlet. Thus, one of the negative side effects of this UPS being so small is that there is not as much receptacle space as I would have liked. However, it should be noted that the outlets don't line up vertically, because if they did, the blockage from an AC adapter would have been far worse. Above the power outlets are several connections; the first are the in/out Tel/Fax/Modem/Network jacks. These jacks will accept both RJ-45 and RJ-11 plugs so you can protect either your telephone-device or network card from power surges. As mentioned before, a phone cable is provided so you won't need to buy an extra one to protect your phoneline. However, a CAT-5 cable is not provided, so if you want to protect a network device you'll need to provide your own. Then, there are the USB and serial interfaces that allow the UPS to communicate with a computer and possibly shut it down properly after a power outage. And, lastly, there is a "Site Wiring Fault" LED that will illuminate if there is no ground, reversed polarity (hot & neutral reversed) or if the neutral circuit is overloaded. << Back to Reviews Page | Installation, Testing and Conclusion >>
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