APC used to come with 1 year warranty on battery and 3 years of logic card.
Used for few years and was good..but later faced issues with the quality so switched to microtech.

Even now APC is a great brand but maybe that lot of the APC invertors had issues.
Got Logic card changed 4-5 times in a span of 6 months.

Originally Posted by Czar

The last APC I was using just got konked in 3 years, me too looking for one...

Czar, you went for which UPS buddy ? and what price

sorry double post, same as the below one.

APC BACK-UPS ES 500VA 230V INDIA

APC BACK-UPS ES 500VA 230V INDIA

APC BACK-UPS ES 650VA 230V INDIA

APC BACK-UPS ES 650VA 230V INDIA

What is the main difference between 500 VA and 600 VA ? How should I decide which one should I go for - is there some way by which I can know my exact Power Requirement for my pc ? Which model gives best value for money , as 650 VA seems to be 50% costlier to the 550 VA model.

Regards

VA is nothing but watts , how much it can support your load .
This is in laymans language . That is ur UPS can take 500 watts of full load ( max ). Bigger the better .
I have 500 VA + inverter . Basically it depends how many things you want to connect to UPS , if you are connecting multiple monitors + CPU + Modem + 2 Lights for your tradestation ,then it should be good enough to support the load .A modern CPU rig should take 250 -300 Watts at idle ...if you overclock thats a different topic all together .Also the SMPS in your computer should be good enough to take that load ,otherwise the SMPS might just shutdown .

__________________
Saves trees , Save yourself . Whats will you do when there is no O2 ?

Originally Posted by sanx

Basically it depends how many things you want to connect to UPS , if you are connecting multiple monitors + CPU + Modem + 2 Lights for your tradestation ,then it should be good enough to support the load .A modern CPU rig should take 250 -300 Watts at idle ...if you overclock thats a different topic all together .Also the SMPS in your computer should be good enough to take that load ,otherwise the SMPS might just shutdown .

Thanks for the reply Sanx. You mean I can run all that stuff on 500 VA UPS ? If yes, then I dont think I need to even look towards 650 VA as my requirements will be fulfilled by 500 VA itself.

Originally Posted by sanx

VA is nothing but watts , how much it can support your load . This is in laymans language . That is ur UPS can take 500 watts of full load ( max ). Bigger the better . I have 500 VA + inverter . Basically it depends how many things you want to connect to UPS , if you are connecting multiple monitors + CPU + Modem + 2 Lights for your tradestation ,then it should be good enough to support the load .A modern CPU rig should take 250 -300 Watts at idle ...if you overclock thats a different topic all together .Also the SMPS in your computer should be good enough to take that load ,otherwise the SMPS might just shutdown .

500 watts at "ideal"(dream) condition!

Safer to take a power factor of 70 %

So 1 VA = 0.7 W

Naturally 500 VA = 350W. This is a bit low for a modern machine(with atleast 350W smps) + an LCD + some speaker/modem or other stuff as far as I think!

So will be a bit riskier if going for 500VA.

PS:-APC rates its 500VA as 300W

__________________
_________________________________________________
Money doesn`t bring success. But the freedom to make it will!

Originally Posted by alder

500 watts at "ideal"(dream) condition! Safer to take a power factor of 70 % So 1 VA = 0.7 W Naturally 500 VA = 350W. This is a bit low for a modern machine(with atleast 350W smps) + an LCD + some speaker/modem or other stuff as far as I think! So will be a bit riskier if going for 500VA. PS:-APC rates its 500VA as 300W

Thank you so much for this information Alder . I was not aware of this stuff. If it is true, then I will need to go for 650 VA model only.

Instead of APC, take a look at Microtek, the 600VA is priced almost the same as the APC with the same quality.
The power backup times are all imaginary, you can expect less than half of the rated time. If you're looking for backup for above an hour or so, an inverter is better.

Originally Posted by frankTrader

APC BACK-UPS ES 500VA 230V INDIA .................. How should I decide which one should I go for - is there some way by which I can know my exact Power Requirement for my pc ? ................. Regards

Turn off all other electric utensils in your house/office.
Watch the energy meter whether it is rotating/reading. Write down the power meter reading.
Turn on only your computer and work for about 2 hours.
Take the power meter reading again.

Reading/time taken = Energy Requirement of machine(Power drawn)

One crude painful cost effective way to find out the power required by machine. If reading is very small, work for more hours!

__________________
_________________________________________________
Money doesn`t bring success. But the freedom to make it will!