Basic battery backup for large changes in power

2026-02-21    -r.

UPDATE: After talking more with customer support, they sent a replacement unit which has none of the problems my first one did. I still need a bit of gaffer tape to cover up the lights from the buttons, but other than that, it's perfect. APC customer support was helpful and communicated clearly.The original review follows:I STRONGLY recommend you get the gift wrapping instead of going with standard shipping in the original box that shows what is inside.The unit is about half the size of a PC tower and is it ever heavy. I'm impressed with the packaging being minimal, recyclable, and yet sturdy. The battery was easy to take out and turn around the right way to get the unit working. The sockets on the back are pretty close together and I'm only able to fit three plugs in the five sockets (computer equipment tends to have big plugs).When the unit is on, the screen turns off with inactivity, but the three buttons remain illuminated. When the power went out, I couldn't figure out how to turn off the screen and it remained on using up a small amount of battery.I had some issues with the unit, but the manufacturer is quick to respond (4 min from my first question) and worked me through some troubleshooting. I've been using this brand for years and I'm always impressed with their service.But this brings us to the parts I don't like about it.I live in a semi-rual part of Canada, and our island has more trees per km of electrical line than anywhere else in North America - or so the power company tells us every storm season. 6 months of the year is storm season and I felt it would be nice to have something to protect my PC better than a regular surge protector.I had hoped the battery backup would even out the electrical current but it doesn't. Even at high sensitivity, the light plugged into the battery backup still flickers when the neighbour is welding or using heavy equipment. It also makes some noise that most people probably wouldn't hear but are obvious if I'm trying to sleep in the same room as the machine.If I turn the unit off at night, it thunks when clicking back and forth to the battery backup due to inconsistent power from the mains... even though it is turned off, my computer is getting a flash of power when the unit makes this switch. I've given up keeping it off and used some black gaffer tape on the glowing buttons.On the whole, I feel this isn't what I expected. I got it with the idea that it would even out the issues with my local power supply quality - but these same issues seem to bother the UPS just as much as they bother the computer and lights. What it does best is to be a battery backup and I'm glad I got the larger size because if the storm is strong enough to knock the power out for more than a few days, it's too cloudy to use my solar panel to charge my gadgets. This will do the trick nicely.

Must have UPS to protect your computer, monitor, printer, modem etc

2026-02-27    -Frederic Hore

The APC-UPS is for me an absolute necessity to protect my Apple MacPro workstation, Apple 22 inch monitor, colour printer, film scanner and internet cable modem from power surges, brownouts from low hydro voltage and even sudden or intermittent power failures. This unit will protect your valuable electronic gear from sudden voltage swings and from electrical storms too. UPS stands for Uninterrupted Power Supply... and that's what it does - powers your gear when the local hydro fails.Example: Here in Montreal, we have had 4 power failures in 2023, one a mini ice storm with no power for 64 hours. The APC-UPS allowed me to continue working on my computer, write posts on twitter and even make phone calls with the modem wifi connection. Depending upon the power draw of your equipment, the built in battery pack will last from 20 to 30 minutes! So if you're working on a project, writing an email or using Photoshop, you can save your files and safely close down everything, without a single loss of any files.The flip from local hydro power to your battery backup is instantaneous, so fast that my computer did not detect the sudden local power loss, though I noticed because all my lights went out! The audiovisual industry and corporate IT departments use these same APC-UPS units to protect their gear.This is the second APC-UPS I have owned. I retired the first one purchased in 2007 after 15 years of use, because the replacement battery was 75% of the cost of buying a new one! This newest unit uses the latest technology and bonus - comes with a 3 year warranty. The massive and heavy internal sealed battery typically lasts from 3 to 5 years. At least that was my experience with my first APC-UPS. The second battery lasted 7 years!My newest APS-UPS has run flawlessly since November 2022 even though, as I said, there have been four power failures. I highly recommend this product.Cheers! Frederic in Montréal.

5.0 out of 5 stars You can silence the chirping easily

2026-02-21    -Old Alice

My old APC, a ES 750 Backups, was bought in 2008, and the battery on it just failed (yes, it lasted TEN years). That unit was a replacement for an APC I bought at a retail store which was at the end of its warranty, but the battery died. I called APC back then, and they sent me the replacement at the end of the warranty life for free. APC had the best customer service in the business, and despite not calling them this time, I have no reason to think it's changed. I ordered a replacement battery for that 2008 ES750 (I got the Keyko here on Amazon- will see how long it lasts), and it's back in business. If I get another 5 years out of it, one APC purchase will have lasted 20 years and still going. APCs are incredibly reliable, they honor their warranties, and they appear to last forever. Nothing I've seen anywhere says different.I purchased this APC 1500VA because I wanted longer backup battery life, and moved my old APC ES750 to protect my Comcast router. Once a year or so, we have a tropical storm or hurricane that cuts our power for an hour, up to days in a rare hurricane. A 1500 should double the up time of a 750. Also, this has a display that shows the condition of the battery, the amount of power being used, and power load. The old ES750 did not.This unit is amazing. I have a full gaming PC, monitor, sound system, printer, 2 lamps plugged in, and the load bar is barely to 1/3. With the PowerChute software installed (first time I've ever installed it), it says I am drawing 99 watts of power right now (I have printer shut off when not in use). The Estimated battery time is 61 minutes if the power source goes down.There was no discount of any kind available, so before buying I compared every backups before paying the higher price for this APC brand. The difference was a couple of dollars more, but for something that could possibly last 20 years, saving a few dollars was not worth the headache of an unreliable unit or unresponsive customer service.Reviews always make a difference to me in a buying decision, I wanted to address some of the reviews that may have turned me off from choosing this model.1. The unit makes excessive noise.- I have it positioned under my table, more than 18" away from my actual PC (PC faces my chair, this is turned sideways to face the wall with the connectors facing the PC at a 90 degree angle). The unit is SILENT. It makes NO noise. NO buzz, NO hum that can be heard over my near silent PC fans. I have no idea about the specifics for servers, or how far it should be away from equipment to prevent feedback loop, but for home use, the unit is silent and works flawlessly.2. The horrible chirping when the battery or AC power dies.I totally relate to this, it's exactly what happened when my old ES 750 went, and it drove me almost bonkers. It is LOUD. If you unplug the unit, the chirping would not stop until you physically removed the battery itself.THIS unit has a mute button, it's the top left button on the unit. I haven't heard the alarm sound on this yet, nor do I want to unplug to test because getting to the plug behind all my computer equipment is a contortionist exercise. But my old APC did not have a mute button, so I assume that's what this is for.There's a feature in the Powerchute program however that allows you to "DISABLE THE BATTERY BACKUP ALARMS AT ALL TIMES" (as well as "Disable the battery backup alarms when the PC is in hibernation"). So you never need hear the alarm if you don't want to, ending the annoyance once and for all.My little APC ES 750 protected my PCs through 3 major hurricanes and 4 serious tropical storms, one of which destroyed my roof. With that one unit, I have never lost a single PC to massive power spikes, something that happens continuously with brownouts as they try to restore power after each major storm to the area. Some neighbors have lost PC's plugged into regular surge protectors. The ability to protect data lines seems to help too, my mom once fried a PC while it was shut down and she was on vacation, the only explanation was a spike through her data lines.The only downside is the weight... to compare it to a brick would be absurd, it is many times the weight of a brick. It's HEAVY. But that's because this is a huge battery and it's all battery weight. Be prepared for the weight, at about 1/6th the size of my loaded tower PC, this weights 4x more.APC are the best, hope this helps!

5.0 out of 5 stars As advertised, no issues at all.

2026-03-02    -Tim.D

Arrived quickly, well packaged, no complaints at all. Compact model, has been redesigned from when I last looked at these units. Connecting the battery for setup was a breeze. Simply flip over, and open the bottom flap. The battery is actually two batteries joined. They have two large stickers on either side, one red one green, that each have two tabs on them that you use to pull the battery out, flip it over so the green sticker is showing upwards, which then lines up the built in connector and slip it back into the unit, replace the bottom flap. Viola !Seems to take a little longer than I remember to initialize, but that is no big deal for me. Comes with a testing report, dated 7/2025. Battery was charged to around 55% so I left it overnight on charge before connecting anything to it. Will report back if there are problems, but as of right now, unit is happily charging, no issues.

5.0 out of 5 stars After everything, it still wants more!

2026-01-06    -Tristen B.

6 Years later, I will write my review cause why not. The little thing is a beast and has been awesome since day 1. Originally, and for the first 4 almost 5 years of its life it sat in a corner of the house powering the internet modem and doing only that during power outages. Typically, I got 5-7 hours off my UPS during power outages allowing my security system to continue running without issue. In the last year and a half now, it has been living life in my camper powering things like my laptops, Starlink dish, or other accessories whilst on the move off a generator. Its taken a beating, been through two eastern Washington summers, and two winters now, and she is still running strong. Super easy to use, perfect value and bang for your buck. Never had an issue with functionality, and look forward to continuing to use it for years to come.

5.0 out of 5 stars You can silence the chirping easily

2026-01-27    -Old Alice

My old APC, a ES 750 Backups, was bought in 2008, and the battery on it just failed (yes, it lasted TEN years). That unit was a replacement for an APC I bought at a retail store which was at the end of its warranty, but the battery died. I called APC back then, and they sent me the replacement at the end of the warranty life for free. APC had the best customer service in the business, and despite not calling them this time, I have no reason to think it's changed. I ordered a replacement battery for that 2008 ES750 (I got the Keyko here on Amazon- will see how long it lasts), and it's back in business. If I get another 5 years out of it, one APC purchase will have lasted 20 years and still going. APCs are incredibly reliable, they honor their warranties, and they appear to last forever. Nothing I've seen anywhere says different.I purchased this APC 1500VA because I wanted longer backup battery life, and moved my old APC ES750 to protect my Comcast router. Once a year or so, we have a tropical storm or hurricane that cuts our power for an hour, up to days in a rare hurricane. A 1500 should double the up time of a 750. Also, this has a display that shows the condition of the battery, the amount of power being used, and power load. The old ES750 did not.This unit is amazing. I have a full gaming PC, monitor, sound system, printer, 2 lamps plugged in, and the load bar is barely to 1/3. With the PowerChute software installed (first time I've ever installed it), it says I am drawing 99 watts of power right now (I have printer shut off when not in use). The Estimated battery time is 61 minutes if the power source goes down.There was no discount of any kind available, so before buying I compared every backups before paying the higher price for this APC brand. The difference was a couple of dollars more, but for something that could possibly last 20 years, saving a few dollars was not worth the headache of an unreliable unit or unresponsive customer service.Reviews always make a difference to me in a buying decision, I wanted to address some of the reviews that may have turned me off from choosing this model.1. The unit makes excessive noise.- I have it positioned under my table, more than 18" away from my actual PC (PC faces my chair, this is turned sideways to face the wall with the connectors facing the PC at a 90 degree angle). The unit is SILENT. It makes NO noise. NO buzz, NO hum that can be heard over my near silent PC fans. I have no idea about the specifics for servers, or how far it should be away from equipment to prevent feedback loop, but for home use, the unit is silent and works flawlessly.2. The horrible chirping when the battery or AC power dies.I totally relate to this, it's exactly what happened when my old ES 750 went, and it drove me almost bonkers. It is LOUD. If you unplug the unit, the chirping would not stop until you physically removed the battery itself.THIS unit has a mute button, it's the top left button on the unit. I haven't heard the alarm sound on this yet, nor do I want to unplug to test because getting to the plug behind all my computer equipment is a contortionist exercise. But my old APC did not have a mute button, so I assume that's what this is for.There's a feature in the Powerchute program however that allows you to "DISABLE THE BATTERY BACKUP ALARMS AT ALL TIMES" (as well as "Disable the battery backup alarms when the PC is in hibernation"). So you never need hear the alarm if you don't want to, ending the annoyance once and for all.My little APC ES 750 protected my PCs through 3 major hurricanes and 4 serious tropical storms, one of which destroyed my roof. With that one unit, I have never lost a single PC to massive power spikes, something that happens continuously with brownouts as they try to restore power after each major storm to the area. Some neighbors have lost PC's plugged into regular surge protectors. The ability to protect data lines seems to help too, my mom once fried a PC while it was shut down and she was on vacation, the only explanation was a spike through her data lines.The only downside is the weight... to compare it to a brick would be absurd, it is many times the weight of a brick. It's HEAVY. But that's because this is a huge battery and it's all battery weight. Be prepared for the weight, at about 1/6th the size of my loaded tower PC, this weights 4x more.APC are the best, hope this helps!

5.0 out of 5 stars Good UPS that keeps my stuff working during an outage but has defective self-test.

2026-01-14    -Alex B

Overall good UPS. I have purchased several of the same models. I use them for my computers and also my home theater system (amp, TV, PS5, subwoofer), and other electronics.However, all my APC units have the same defect in the self-testing mode or during a power outage at the house. Although, the defect during self-test is infrequent. Sometimes during self-test, unexpectedly the unit's alarm starts making a racket. I look at the display panel icon which indicates the battery is completely depleted. The first time this happened, I turned off everything connected to the UPS because I thought it would suddenly cut the power to them because the UPS thinks the battery was dead. The same issue could happen if there is a power outage at my house and the UPS switches to the battery power. After, I unplugged the UPS from the wall and cycled the power button off and on, the mysterious "problem" with the "failed" battery was self-corrected. The battery icon then showed it was fully charged: it had gone from full discharge to fully charged in an instant!Now that I know about this defect, when the alarm goes off and the panel indicates the battery is dead: I mute the alarm and leave my equipment on that is connected to the UPS. (There is no a power outage at my house.) It is a false alarm. In about 24 hours, the UPS mysteriously corrects itself and behaves normally. I can disconnect it from the wall socket and my stuff works fine and the battery level shows that it is fully charged but of course starts to show the remaining time left to depletion.

Excellent unit

2025-12-24    -flyboycanada

Our office is in the countryside where there is no cellular service. We rely on WIFI calling since we have no land line. Combined with Starlink, this unit is a great asset. It keeps our internet service working and we can recharge our cellular phones and our laptop during a moderately extended power failure. So far, it has worked exactly as advertised. Installation is very easy and it comes with basic instructions if needed. There are more than enough outlets in the back for our needs including coax, RJ45, USB and data plugs. It has a small footprint and it maintains a proper temperature. Recommended.

4.0 out of 5 stars Gets the job done, but..

2025-12-24    -Richard

First one I receive happened to be old inventory and simply did not work; battery could not charge. Contacted support and they were awesome in getting me a replacement right away.The replacement has been working since July, but it's developed a noticeable coil whine that started around November. I can unplug it and discharge the battery a bit and it'll go away until it is fully charged. Eventually it returns and whines.Install and setup was pretty straightforward. Looks nice on a shelf in my server rack. Haven't had any power outages or brown-outs but I feel peace of mind knowing my homelab is protected.

Unit works as described and is very easy to set up. I am pleased with the unit.

2026-02-25    -Amazon Customer

I have had several UPS devices from APC. I got this one to replace the older one which was not working correctly anymore, even with a new battery in it. This new unit is much heavier that you might expect so you should be sure to place it on the floor or securely on a table before attempting to open it. It was very simple to open the case and set up the rechargeable battery to the charge position. All I had to do was pull on the plastic tab to pull the rechargeable battery out, and then flip the rechargeable battery, slide the rechargeable battery back in and then close the cover. The unit works well. I have discharged and charged the unit twice so far. The Power Chute Personal Edition software recognized the new UPS unit without any problems. The only slight difficulty I encountered was that the PCPE software did not see the new unit charging (see the % charge number going up), until I ran a self test check on the new unit. The unit charges slowly when there is a load on it, which is to be expected.