APCSine Wave UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector, 1350VA, APC Back-UPS Pro (BR1350MS)

It's surprising to find a sinewave UPS from APC that's not from the Smart UPS line. For the first time, "sinewave" makes its way to the Back UPS lineup and is finally made affordable to the masses. Is it earth shattering news? No. Cyberpower has been offering cheap sinewave UPSes (CPxPFCLCD) for years. However, it's certainly great news for consumers who will now not only have a viable alternative, but one that is backed by legendary reliability and support.Why sinewave? AC power coming out of your outlets look like sinewaves, a smooth periodic oscillation. Typically on any UPSes that are not on battery mode, the output from the UPS also look like sinewaves. It's when the power cuts out and the UPS battery kicks in where things get interesting. On non-sine wave models, the power output would actually look like very rough boxy steps / step square waves. The fancy marketing term is a step approximated sinewave. On sinewave models, the power output when the UPS is on battery actually look identical to when they are coming out of your outlet: a pure sinewave. Traditionally, the argument is that sinewave UPSes are $$$$, and most modern electronics can handle step approximated sinewave and thus, the consumer can save some money and get the cheaper UPS. However, when a sinewave UPS is priced so close to a non-sinewave model, the point is moot.The packaging is the usual APC affair: exceptional. A well protected UPS, user manual, data cable, and coaxial cable is what you'll find inside the box. Like all APC units, this unit comes with a Quality Assurance Test slip that tells you how awesome your new shiny UPS is and even tells you its manufactured date, so that you can plan for that inevitable battery replacement 3-5 years down the line. As usual, the unit arrives with its batteries disconnected to avoid unnecessary drain during storage/shipping. Fortunately, it also comes with a big yellow stick with easy to follow instructions to get the batteries connected in no time. Newbies rejoice!Having owned two Cyberpower CP1500PFCLCD Sinewave UPSes, the similarities are apparent (so similar, you'd think they were made in the same place):- They both have nearly identical dimensions- They have (extremely) similar LCD displays and interfaces- The number of outlets at the back are identical- Both are practically silent.That said, the APC has a few things that make it stand apart:- Build quality is a bit higher on the APC, and battery compartment access is easier.- APC has bigger vents at the top which may attribute to better cooling.- It has one more UPS battery backup outlet and one less surge only outlet (6/4 versus an even 5/5 on the Cyberpower) As the primary purpose of a UPS is to have battery backup power, having more battery backup outlets is better.- There is a modern USB-C port and a USB-A port capable of a combined 5V 3A output, while the Cyberpower only comes with 2x USB A ports for a combined output of 5V 1A. The APC should allow you to charge even the hungriest of mobile devices.- Gigabit Ethernet surge protected ports. (Whoa!)- 2x 12V 9Ah batteries!I want to emphasize on the last point and how it relates to runtimes. I was completely taken aback when I saw the inclusion of 2x CSB HR1234W 12V 9Ah batteries (great brand btw). These are practically the same as the ones included in my 1500VA Cyberpower CP1500PFCLCD UPS, also 2x 12V 9Ah. Obviously, runtimes cannot compare with heftier business grade UPSes such as APC Smart-UPSes that uses much bigger batteries (2x 12V 18Ah) in 1500VA models. However if I am to suspect, the runtimes of the 1350VA model will easily match the Cyberpower 1500VA model, which makes it an exceptional value. Furthermore, in comparison to its bigger brother the APC BR1500MS 1500VA model, I find the difference between that and this lower 1350VA model is the inclusion of better CSB UPS12580 batteries, which ironically are also 2x 12V 9Ah but with supposedly higher capacity (96w/cell versus 36w/cell). I'm not completely sure that different batteries justifies the higher price tag. Mind also that when time comes to replace the 12V 9Ah batteries, the 36w/cell variant is likely the easier one to source and thus voiding advantages of going with the nicer batteries in the BR1500MS.Not much negatives can be said about the unit. It is practically flawless as expected of APC. The only thing I can comment is that fact that this unit uses a proprietary USB data cable (USB to RJ45) versus the more usual “printer” USB A to USB B cable. It is definitely not as easily replaceable, so don’t lose it!I settled on the 1350VA model because I was too cheap to get the 1500VA model for a measily extra 150VA. I was not disappointed. The fact that the supplied batteries equal that of a 1500VA model is astonishing. From a battery perspective alone, the runtimes on the BR1350MS should easily match that of a CP1500PFCLCD, regardless of what the literature says. Touches like high output USB charging ports, gigabit Ethernet surge protection, and an extra battery backup outlet really puts it best of the rest in its price bracket for 2018. 5/5

I'm not totally convinced a pure sinewave UPS is needed to simply safely shut down the PC and protect your electronics. Stepped/square wave might cause issues long term, but in the few minutes needed to shut down after an outage? I doubt it. That being said, this is priced so closely to the non-sinewave model that you may as well go all in and get the better unit. The 1350VA model has enough capacity to run a high end gaming PC with multiple displays with plenty of power to spare for other stuff like consoles, audio equipment, etc. The 3A USB ports on the front are a nice touch and will be handy for recharging devices in a power outage.The unit is solidly built and accessing the battery is very easy. From my understanding, you want to replace the battery every 3-5 years or so. Replacement batteries will run you about 30-40% of the cost of the original unit.The front interface can display pretty much all the information you'll need. You can view the estimated battery run time with current load, current load in watts, current load in percentage of total capacity, input and output voltage, etc.The software does have more advanced diagnostics but it's outdated and has some issues. Just look at the reviews for PowerChute on APC's own site... it's not pretty. Thankfully, this APC software is not required for the UPS to perform an automatic safe shut down. That is built right into Windows' power settings where you can choose what battery percentage it should shut down or hibernate the PC (this obviously requires you hook up the USB cable to your computer).I actually had a bit of a disaster with mine where some liquid was spilled on the top end of it (which is one large vent, so most of the liquid went straight in). A few seconds later, the unit shut down completely (not even battery power) and protected the connected equipment. It then beeped and displayed an error message. I unplugged it and removed the battery, then turned it upside down on some paper towels to let the liquid drain out, then let it dry for 3 days. It fired right back up once it was dry (that was a month ago, still working fine). No, I'm not claiming this is water proof. I'm just saying in my case it survived a worst case scenario, and, more importantly, nothing happened to the connected equipment.Overall, hardware is excellent. But they really need to update their software. It would be nice to have diagnostics without interfering with Windows power management.

I've only been able to test this item by pulling out the AC plug (between the backup supply and the wall) while my desktop computer was on. The battery kicked in as it was supposed to and there was no interruption of current to my computer and monitor, both of which were plugged in to the back of the supply. The backup supply was able to keep the computer (i7 processor, 2 terabyte HD) and a 27" monitor going for about an hour.I haven't been able to test it with a real power failure, yet. When that happens, I'll add to this review.In the meantime, it has a lovely display which shows you everything you need to know. You have the option of turning this off if you find it distracting. I found the software easy to install. It seems perfectly silent, and I have pretty good hearing. Also, I don't feel any heat coming off of it (at least when it's in its standby mode, waiting for a power failure).So. . . so far, so good.

This particular power backup works very well for my computer. I am using a 650W power supply, two monitors, and a powered USB 3.0 hub. It is more than adequate. My house has been getting a power surge every Sunday afternoon for the past month an a half and my old power backup wasn't powerful enough to support my computer equipment so I purchased this one. I suggest adding up all the watt ratings of your connected devices that need to be on the power backup before deciding what size you need. Most computers won't use the full wattage of their power supplies (we used to give equipment a 50% leeway to make sure we were not over taxing a system). My system shows on the lowest part of the load scale on the power backup, so it should last a good amount of time on battery (probably overkill for me).

Este es un Sistema de Alimentación Ininterrumpida (SAI o UPS) que me ha dado muy buenos resultados hasta ahora. En donde vivo hay variaciones de electricidad así como cortes súbitos que han llegado a afectar no solo mi productividad en mi PC de escritorio, sino el propio equipo y sus datos. Hasta ahora, ha mantenido a mi equipo funcionando sin contratiempos y ha aguantado esas "patadas" de energía. No puedo hacer otra cosa más que recomendarlo.