5-month review of APC Easy UPS (1200VA 650W)

Hello,

While a UPS is an important part of most setup, it's quite hard to find actual reviews of them online. So here is my small contribution.

I've been using this UPS for the past 5 months and here is my review of the APC Easy UPS 1200VA 650W (EU variant with Schuko sockets). This is a version of APC's line up that doesn't come with an Ethernet port. Documentation link to it here

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Pros

  • Does the job

Cons

  • Draws 20w doing "nothing"
  • User interface is a pain
  • Beeps are loud
  • No persistent configuration

My verdict: find a better one.

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My specific situation is that sometimes, the power goes out for a few hours and I need to be able to protect my computer from that.

So back last October, I paid 131€ for this model.

On the back, it has 4 "normal" plugs and a fuse connecting the battery.
On the front, it has a single button and a vertical light indicator.

When you turn it on, it beeps loudly and then it performs an automated test of the battery. It powers up the inverter (the thing that produces the correct AC voltage from the small DC lead-acid battery) and will light itself green if the system works.

Whenever the power goes down, it beeps 4 times (quite loudly as well) and activate the inverter in 6 to 10ms (according to https://www.se.com/nl/en/product/download-pdf/BVX1200LI-GR?filename=Schneider+Electric_Easy-UPS_BVX1200LI-GR.pdf ).

My PC and my screen don't flicker during the switch nor during the time the power is out. At one time, my power went out while I was playing Overwatch. I was able to finish my game and then turn off my computer (my internet is also on a resilient power source). I haven't tested the limit of how long it can run things, but according to the documentation it's 5 minutes at 300w. Not much, but it allows you to close your computer gracefully.

Now the main issue I have with it is its idle power consumption: 20 watts (measured with a smart plug from Meross).
Seeing this much power consumption while nothing is plugged is driving me mad. I know part of it is to keep the battery charged up and also to keep the UPS itself running, but when I measured the idle power consumption of an Eaton UPS it was way more acceptable (around 4 watts - but if was for a less powerful unit).

I don't understand why is this information not mentioned in the product datasheet or the brochure. This seems the kind of thing that you should be able to know to calculate the base cost of owning the UPS.

So my routine is now to shut it down whenever I know I won't be using my PC (like for the night).

To turn it on, you have to make a long press on the button (why a long press?).

Then to turn if off, you also need to press the button and wait for 2 beeps, because:
1 beep turns the green light slightly less bright.
2 beeps turns it off.
3 beeps performs automated test.

So I must get down and reach this button at least twice a day which feels stupid.

So my advice if you're looking into this specific model/brand is to find a better one, with better interface and less idle power draw.

And if you find it, tell me so I can list better alternatives here:
[waiting for alternatives input]