Looks like APC systems are among the most expensive. Are they worth it, or would a much-cheaper Opti-UPS do the same job?

hi there

it isn't only the battery that makes the ups(the battery though couts the most)
APC allows u to connect ur system to the UPS so that u can monitor the battery status on ur system,th cheaper ones won't allow u to do so

also u need to see how much KVA is the UPS and the gaurantee period


regards

To some extent I believe you "get what you pay for" including with UPS's. At one point I bought three Cyberpower UPS's (Cyberpower is one of the most inexpensive UPS brands in the U.S.) Each of these failed (would no longer supply power to the battery backed outlets, after power was restored) after two or three major power outages of 6 hours or greater. Many businesses in the U.S. use APC's. I now try to buy APC and Conext (Conext is manufactured by APC) and if I am looking at another brand I always look for reviews.

No matter what you end up with I strongly suggest you get one with AVR (automatic voltage regulation.) A UPS with automatic voltage regulation always keeps the voltage within a specific range. If the power drops below that range (called a brownout, but the power can still be on) or goes above that range the UPS kicks in to lower the voltage, or add voltage from the battery to keep it within that nominal range.

There are several different UPS. The most common is stand-by UPS. This is what every consumer UPS model uses because it is the cheapest and easier to make. What stand-by UPS do is it switches to the battery when the power goes out. Not all computers can handle the brief switching. Stand-by UPS to be honest is not a UPS at all. The next is on-line UPS. It is design to run off the battery all the time while the AC lines is charging the battery. In-line UPS is about double or quadruple the cost of stand-by UPS, but in-line are true UPS. There are many others, but the two that I explained are the most common.

The feature AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulation) is just another name for a line conditioner. I do not know why they can not say "includes a line conditioner" instead of using gimmick names.

With all UPS, make sure you get two surge protectors. One before the UPS and one after it.