Update: This Belkin UPS up and died after 2-3 years use. As many users have experienced, it just stopped turning on one day and the power receptacles along the battery backup circuit wouldn't supply power. Upon opening the unit up, cause was a leaking battery.
As a
computer tech, I have seen almost every possible computer problem that's known, and a few that must have come
from outer space! I diagnosed everything from bad IDE ribbon cables to memory with bad bits,
but the problem I see most often are blown and dead power
supplies.
Of
course, I cannot blame consumers for buying PCs with cheap power supplies (PSU)
as most people simply do not know, or need, any better. My dad always tells me not
to buy cheap power tools but I can't always justify spending $300+ on a drill, when a
$100 one suits my needs just fine.
Now even if you're not using a
generic power supply you should still use an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) whenever possible. It
can extend the life of your PC, and save you from countless headaches.
For example, about two months ago when the big
North American power outage hit, I lost a full days worth of work
because I have bad saving habits... it could have been worse because I
leave my PC on 24/7 and sometimes do not save my work for days.
Today we're going to be testing out Belkin's newest Home Office Series
of UPS's, specifically the 500VW/300W model.
The
Home Office series UPS is not really targeted towards gaming machines which typically
use a lot of power hungry components, especially as this UPS model
is only set to handle around a 300W load. Still, for the average work station PC
out there it'll should be quite suitable. In fact Belkin is so confident in their
products that they're willing to offer a 3 year warranty on the UPS, as well as a
$100,000 connected equipment warranty as well!
The UPS can support up to a 500VA load, and so this
model is ideally suited for PCs that are up to 1.3 GHz in speed, with either a 15"
or 17" monitor. If you plan to use a more powerful PC, or server,
Belkin recommend you move up to their Universal or Net UPS series. With its 500VA/300W
rating the PSU is good for up to 13 minutes powering a system
(within its specs) with a 17" monitor. It takes approximately eight
hours to charge the UPS battery to 90%.
Of course, if you already have
a large UPS protecting your PC and monitor, a compact UPS like this one would be
very ideal to keep your cable modem, router or other networking gear operational
in the event of a power outage.
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