Belkin Universal UPS 800VA Review
Date : Tuesday, 01 April 2003
By : Stygian
Provided By : Belkin

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 AVR feature of the UPS is what allows the unit to provide your devices with clean power that is free from the effects of fluctuations or brownouts. In this way, Belkin has addressed other problems that are not necessarily related to a blackout or power outage. The three-year warranty and $150,000 equipment warranty also serve to enhance your confidence in this UPS. For more product information, check out Belkin's site.

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.


In the box.
UPS, interface cables, phone cord and manuals/software bag.
Case is steel while only the front panel is plastic.

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.


The front panel has one button and three LEDs.
6 outlets - 4 of which provide full battery backup protection.
The footprint of the UPS is small - but not its weight!
Fits nicely underneath a desk.

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.

Installation

As mentioned before, the UPS can be hard to move because of its small size and heavy weight. However, it fits nicely under most any desk, and doesn't take up a lot of space. However, because the outlets are on the "back", it can be hard to plug in devices once you've put the UPS into place. (I call it the "back" because you'll most likely want the "front" panel with the LEDs and power button facing towards you.) This problem is aggravated by the fact that some AC adapters can be troublesome to plug in and may make plugging in other devices even more problematic. I would have liked the outlets to be on the top or to have been more accessible, though this probably wasn't possible with the design of the UPS. Belkin recommends that you charge the battery for six hours prior to initial use of the UPS, but this isn't necessary as the UPS will make sure its battery is charged whenever it is connected to the utility power. Lastly, connecting the UPS to your computer for communication purposes isn't required, but it allows this UPS to be used with the Bulldog Plus Shutdown software, adding many more features. With the included USB or Serial cables you can connect it to either interface; I chose the USB interface simply because it's easier to plug in. Once attached, your PnP OS should detect the new device and install the default drivers for it.


New power options.
Alarm states and actions.
Battery status.

Once that's done, you'll notice some new tabs/options in the "Power Options" section of the Control Panel. You can now set power-off timers for when the computer is on battery power, low/critical battery alarms/actions and you can also view the battery status of the UPS. Through these options in Windows, you are provided the basic features of the UPS. However, the Bulldog Plus Shutdown software provides much more. Once installed, you can open the Bulldog Plus Monitor to view much more information and configure more options. On the main page, the battery and loading level, two of the most important stats are displayed, along with the UPS model/specification information and two dials/gauges that can be set to monitor one of seven pieces of information. Additionally, you can have a separate window display up to 12 gauges, but since there's only 7 this limit doesn't really matter; I assume the capability was provided because some other UPSs from Belkin may output 12 different data values.


Main page.
There are 7 different gauges.
Information Tree.

The Bulldog software offers almost too many features - though some the sections merely re-display information in a different format. For example, the "Diagram" page simply shows input/output voltages and frequencies, battery levels and so-forth but in a picturesque way. Additionally, the Bulldog software logs all values periodically, and these values can be graphed in the history section. Two values can be graphed at a time, and both the horizontal and vertical scales can be set to different ranges. The graphs are mostly useful for statistics junkies, as you can monitor the input frequency and voltage of your utility power over a period of say, several weeks. Or, you could monitor how the UPS load changed with the addition of another device running off the UPS.


Status page.
Diagram/Visual Monitor.
History Graph.

But the real configuration is done under the "Action" section. Here, you can define and configure different actions to be carried out by the software when different events occur. For example, when the power fails you can not only tell the software to shutdown your computer after a certain duration of time, but you can also set it to run a certain program/command, make a certain log file entry, or even e-mail a list of recipients (You'll need to specify a SMTP server). Additionally, you can have a certain *.wav file played as an alarm, if your speakers still have power, of course. Additionally, the UPS itself will emit an audible alarm when it is running on battery power, but this can be disabled through the use of the Bulldog software. However, when the battery runs low, I don't believe the audible alarm can be disabled. The one feature I would like to see included would be the ability to send updates to a syslog server. This would be ideal, IMO, in a networked environment.


Action/Alarm settings.
Master/Slave modes.

However, Belkin somewhat overcomes this shortfall by including a web-based interface that can be run from the Bulldog software. Here, you can view the status of the UPS and make basic changes through the password-protected interface. Additionally, if you want to run more than one computer off of this UPS, the Bulldog software can accommodate this as well through the use of Master/Slave modes. The computer that is directly connected to the UPS and which can make changes to its configuration, is labeled the Master. For all other computers, you can specify the IP address of the Master computer in the Bulldog software, and the software will then receive UPS status updates from the Master computer. While Slave computer can't make configuration changes, they can be set to perform actions when certain events happen, just as the Master computer can. In this way, you could have a non-essential workstation be shutdown before the server is in case of a power outage. Additionally, if the Master computer is connected to the USB port of the UPS, a Slave computer can also be connected to the Serial port of the UPS. This "Serial Slave" functions just like a Networked Slave.

Overall, there were many, many options and configurations available from the Bulldog Plus Shutdown software. I can readily recommend that you do use it should you get a Belkin UPS. It is both easy and robust, and allows you to get the most out of the UPS.

Testing

Testing was done using the basic "Simulated Power Outage" test, which was accomplished by yanking the power cord from the UPS out of the wall receptacle while the attached computer and monitor were running. I then recorded the battery levels using the Bulldog Plus Shutdown software. Here is what I had plugged into the UPS during testing:

With this configuration, the load on the UPS was between 46%-50% and 46% when the computer was idle and the monitor fully on. (Not in any power-saving mode.) During the testing, the computer was near idle, so the load was around the numbers just given. Note that if you're running a distributed-computer type program that keeps your CPU at 100%, you'll no doubt use up power at a faster rate. I kept the UPS charged for a few days and verified from the software that the battery level was at 100%. The only devices plugged into the UPS battery power during the test were the PC and its monitor.

The first thing I noticed was a change in the systray icon to indicate that the UPS was now on battery power. A wave file was played of a feminine British-sounding voice telling me that "Power failed... the UPS is now operating on battery power." Additionally, the UPS itself starting emitting its audible beep every few seconds, and the Orange/Yellow LED started flashing slowly. The beep wasn't fire alarm-loud, but it's more than noticeable nonetheless. To turn off the UPS's alarm, you can either press the On/Off/Test button for less than 2 seconds, or use the Bulldog software. As mentioned before, this will not deactivate an overload alarm or low battery alarm, though I don't know why you'd want to ignore such an alarm anyway!

But, there was some quirkiness with the reporting of battery levels. Almost immediately after the loss of power, the battery level dropped from 100% to 54%! This was definitely *not* expected, and it made me think that this UPS wouldn't last very long. However, it remained at 54% for over 6 mins, so I do not believe the initially reported value was correct. After this duration, the battery level began to fall in a more predictable manner. By 12 minutes' time, the battery level was still at 37%, and after 15 mins, it had dropped to 29%. After 21:32, the UPS started to warn of a low battery by emitting a rapid alarm, and the Bulldog software shutdown my computer. In addition to properly shutting down the OS, an open Word document and *.txt file in notepad were *saved* before being closed - the software didn't just ALT-F4 them! The UPS was kept running for a short period of time after the computer was shutoff - this is to provide a buffer of time for the OS and computer to properly shutdown, and sometimes Windows can take a while to shutdown. This duration of "buffer time" can again be set within the Bulldog software, but I found that 120secs or 2 mins is about right.

Conclusion

I found the 800VA Universal UPS from Belkin to be more than an acceptable product. Although it looks rather plain and ordinary, the feature set offered by the accompanying Bulldog Plus Shutdown software make this more than just a battery-backup device. Not only will it offer ample time should there be a power outage, but this UPS will also deal with other sorts of power problems such as brownouts or overvoltages. The included software works with a wide range of operating systems, including non-MS platforms, and the UPS can communicate over both USB and serial interfaces. By supporting so many different combinations, this UPS is truly "Universal", as its name states. The included guide, while small, clearly explained how to setup the UPS and its software, and how not to overload the UPS. The inclusion of both serial, USB and phone cables saves you the headache of having to provide your own, proving Belkin was trying to provide more than just a product but also customer care. The problems were few and minor; Firstly, not all AC adapters will fit without at least partially blocking one adjacent outlet, but this can be said of almost any powerbar/UPS. Secondly, the Bulldog software or perhaps the UPS itself, reports a huge drop in the battery level right after a power outage, dropping almost halfway from 100% to 54% in my tests - while this may not be correct (as indicated from my results), it has seriously disheartening and psychologically bad effect on the user.

Pros

Cons

Lastly, I want to thank Belkin for providing this UPS for review. This review would not have been possibly without their help; Thanks!

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