APC BR1500i UPS Review

So a week ago i just bought a new UPS named APC BR1500i because the previous UPS is dead (Prolink 1200VA) … well not actually death but since i couldn’t find on where to get a replacement battery for Prolink UPS and even if i could get one, there’s no way i could replace it by myself because only certified / qualified technical person who knows his way around electrical devices able replace it. Although i have to admit this APC BR1500i (i bought it for 272 USD) a lot more expensive compared to Prolink UPS 1200VA (around 80 USD) … and well i guess that’s enough for the intro

The main reason on why i choose APC of course because the end user can replace the battery / user replaceable batteries (read: me who knows nothing when it comes to electrical devices) as long as you can follow the instruction manual supplied with the product, and also offer USB connectivity to monitor your UPS Status / Health via the software provided which is useful (seriously, the Software included with APC BR1500i provides useful information instead of just the battery status of your UPS) especially to those who don’t have Serial Port at the back of their computer anymore (well previously i have one serial port but since i changed my motherboard there’s no more serial port for me and i’m too lazy to get a USB to Serial cable) … and as a side note, the previous UPS (Prolink) use Serial Port.

Other good features offered by APC BR1500i are you can adjust it’s sensitivity by simply pressing the front panel button (ON/OFF Button) for ten seconds and then followed by pressing the button again to adjust the sensitivity from low to high (that provides maximum protection), and you can also connect your RJ45 Cable (LAN) and your telephone cable to the UPS for additional protection (known as Data Line Protection)

p.s when i connected the APC UPS for the first time Windows was able to detect that i’ve installed a new UPS and provided additional options under Power Options in Control Panel

And here’s a screenshot on what information you can see via the software bundled with APC BR1500i (APC PowerChute Personal Edition) :

As you can see at the above image, the last transfer to battery was caused by Blackout on 2/22/2008 which is today when i wrote this post and that is often happen several times a day and that’s why UPS is one of the most important parts i need to make sure that my computer parts can last longer (i’ve learned this the hard way, like my previous Samsung monitor that is dead in just 1 year). So the conclusion is although APC BR1500i can be considered as expensive but it’s worth to buy especially to those who wants the easiest way to protect their computer from electricity failure although it’d be a lot better if it were cheaper :P