My current UPS “was” an APC Back-UPS 1400, with 1400 VA and 700W maximum power, which I bought in October 2019. The story is that a couple of weeks ago, all of a sudden it started beeping like crazy and the battery change LED came on, and the only way to stop that obnoxious beeping sound was to go into the management software and mark as having changed the battery.
However, three days ago the worst happened: the power went out at home (well, literally in the entire town) and the UPS couldn’t last even 30 seconds, so I didn’t have time to shut down the PC or the device in a controlled manner. NAS that I have connected, an unequivocal sign that it was time to change it, or at least change the battery…
The odyssey of buying a new UPS for the PC
I was quite happy with my UPS, since it is a good brand (APC is a Schneider Electric brand), it had lasted me a long time (almost 5 years, when the normal is 3), and until now it had never given me a single problem. In the end, a battery is an element of wear and tear and it is normal that it ends up breaking down over time, so that is the first thing I looked at: can the battery be changed in the UPS?
It turns out yes, but a new battery costs around €90 and the process, after doing a little research, I saw that it was quite complicated: in theory the UPS is not “prepared” to replace its battery, that is, you do not have to open it. a cover, take out a battery and insert the new one. No. You have to disassemble and force the case quite a bit (with quite a risk of breaking it), remove a thousand screws and… well, I didn’t feel like taking the risk, honestly. So, I decided to buy a new UPS and that’s it.
I was literally planning to buy the same model, but it turned out that it was already discontinued. Furthermore, looking at stores like Amazon or PcComponentes, I found that the price of UPSs has risen quite a bit compared to the prices 5 years ago, when I bought the one I had until now. But quite a lot, really. My needs involved a relatively powerful UPS, since I have the PC, two monitors, the router and a 4-disk NAS connected, so I needed a power of at least 700 watts to be safe, and it turns out that it is just the ” “step” in which the price skyrockets: in other words, if you want a UPS for four things of less than 500 watts you can buy it relatively cheap, but from that power onwards the price goes up a lot.
Obviously, there are many UPSs that meet my needs, including some models designed specifically to support the power requirements of a high-performance gaming PC, but here comes the second problem: the budget. And these models start at 400 euros, and personally I did not want to spend more than €200 as a limit.
So, with the requirements of a minimum of 700W and a budget of €200, I started the search, only to run into yet another problem: the connections and the number of plugs. Many UPS are designed for server cabinets, and therefore incorporate IEC type connectors (like the ones you can see in the image below), when what I needed were standard Schuko plugs, and I would also like to have at least four plugs . In the end, buying a UPS for the PC was becoming quite an odyssey…
I arrived at the second day of searching in which no UPS completely convinced me, and I had already consulted no less than 30 different models from brands such as APC, Legrand, Salicru or Eaton (I wanted to look for a brand of some renown for quality and warranty issues as well). ), among which I had selected two different models that suited my needs and my budget.
In the end, the decision between the two selected models was based on something very simple: one of them had a fan that was always running and which, according to the manufacturer, emitted a maximum of 40 dBA which is not much, but as a fanatic of the The silence that I am was decisive in choosing the other option.
This is the UPS I bought
The UPS model that I finally bought is none other than the APC Easy UPS BVX1200LI-GRa model that is literally the upgrade of the UPS that I have been using for the last five years.
It is true that this UPS has a little less power than the one I used until now (the one I had was 1400 VA and 700W and this one is 1200 VA and 650W), but the difference is not much (50W less does not mean that the equipment is not going to work) and the next model was already 1600 VA and 900W, but the price went up by more than €60 and it also had a fan, so the decision, although difficult, was clear.
Furthermore, this UPS was on sale at the time I bought it (literally yesterday, it is still on sale today), and the truth is that for €119 I think you cannot buy a better UPS for your PC than this one.
By the way, this UPS has a “little problem”: it has green lighting bars on the front that CANNOT be deactivated. Nothing that a little black electrical tape can’t fix.