ULTRA 1000VA 600Watt UPS

[VanTheMan]

UPS (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203075177&adid=17654&dcaid=17653#prodInfoSec)
There's a good deal on this UPS and I was referred to these forums from Anandtech to find out if this is a decent UPS. It will be fine for my power needs, I'm just wondering about the quality of the unit. I appreciate any advice you guys can give. Thanks!

[GalvanizedYankee]

I sent VanTheMan over here because I thought jon or one of you guys might know if this UPS was atleast as good as a Belkin.

[jonnyGURU]

The OEM is Powercom. A fairly respectable OEM. They make Energizer's units and may actually make Belkins too for all I know. I use the UPSMON software and like it. Works well for me in 2000 and XP and even XP-64, although I've heard of some issues with Server 2003 and *nix.

As for the "raw data" of the unit... well, it has AVR and is a line interactive unit, so it has the minimum I would recommend for a PC. It's not true sine, no, but those tend to be much more expensive.

I remember the RMA rate on these was actually between 1 and 2%. There's some funny stories I can tell you that are attached to that figure. :)

[VanTheMan]

Thanks for the info! I'll go ahead and pick one up. I've read a few reviews on it talking about how it burst into flames for different reasons, so I'll just hope I don't get one that does that.

[jonnyGURU]

I've read a few reviews on it talking about how it burst into flames for different reasons...

Riiiight. Happens all the time. :rolleyes:

[GalvanizedYankee]

I have never had an issue with either of the Belkin units here.
Burst into flames!:lol:

[VanTheMan]

hehe! One guy said his 2 year old son walked past it and flipped the power switch on front and it burst into flames. Pretty hard to believe... I've never had any piece of electronic equipment burst into flames on me and I experimented with all kinds of wires and stuff when I was younger. I had plenty of electronics puff smoke and smolder, but no outright fires. My dad is a welder, so we had all kinds of fun stuff around. :)

[jonnyGURU]

I've never seen something enclosed in a stell housing (like the 1000VA UPS) "burst into flames." Maybe flames shooting out of a vent when a component burned out or something, but not "burst into flames" or anything that warrants a fire extinguisher.

Seriously, I have seen components in UPS's pop and shoot a flame. Hell, I've seen it on motherboards too. I'm not going to say it doesn't happen.

[signmeuptoo]

I once saw some flames related to electrical: House with aluminum wiring. Got called out on an emergency to a perferred customer who we knew had aluminum wiring, and being that we were very protective of our customers, I sped all the way out to their house because I couldn't reach them back to tell them to kill the breaker.

Got out there and was tracing down what was causing the internittent failure, and RIGHT when I pulled a bed from a wall, FLASH! BOOM! FLAME! right from the outlet behind the bed, which just barely missed putting the mattress to flames! It was a huge arc with a flame. We called the FD out to be safe, but if I hadn't raced out to their house, it might have gone up in flames.

One other time I was up on a really high A ladder and changing out a mercury vapor lamp in a raquet ball court when the starter blew and sent an arc down on to my should. If I had been leaning any closer on that side I could have been really hurt or fell and even died. I hate tall A ladders.

But anyways, neither of those were external appliances, they were wiring related if you will. It takes a LOT to make an arc, and even more to have a flame from it. Some people are just alarmist, but you never know, I'll bet such things happen.

Heck, I had a customer who got nailed by lightning that struck 1/2 mile away that didn't take out the other houses, but caused one of their room's walls to partially burn up, so anything can happen I guess.