APC Easy UPS BVX700LUI-MS Review – Do you need a UPS?

In case you are not familiar with what a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is, for the layman, it is basically a huge power bank for your usual electrical appliances. Typically, UPS systems are catered for the enterprise and industrial use cases, but sometimes, such a product can become very handy at home. To introduce a UPS to the typical consumers, APC has launched their Easy UPS series.

 

APC Easy UPS BVX700LUI-MS

APC Easy UPS BVX700LUI-MS is a 700VA UPS system that serves two main purposes.

 

(1) Ensuring continued provision of electricity in the event of power shutdown.

Typically for Singapore, in the rare occasion that there is a power outage, a UPS system will still allow devices connected to it to be continued to be powered.

To put things into context, this is the runtime that this APC Easy UPS BVX700LUI-MS provides:

Setup	Power	Runtime
Entry Level Desktop with 20” LED monitor + modem and router	40W	50min
Notebook computer + network gateway + internet model and router	79W	20min
Mid-range PC with 20” LED monitor + Notebook + network gateway + modem and router	119W	10.5min
Performance PC with 24” LED monitor, external powered speakers + internet modem and router	240W	1.6min

As this UPS also provides the same 230V output as what we have from our main outlets in Singapore, you can be certain that this UPS is going to power any of your usual electrical appliances that you use. However, you will have to take note that the APC Easy UPS BVX700LUI-MS only supports a maximum of 360W output (about 1.5A on 240V), so you have to be sure that you do not connect too many appliances to the UPS.

The APC Easy UPS BVX700LUI-MS also comes with two universal outlets. It supports most, if not all the different kinds of plugs that you are used to.

In case you’re wondering what that yellow battery connector does, it simply connects the internal battery unit to the UPS circuity for the system to work correctly. It also acts as a quick power off switch – in the event of emergency, you can pull the yellow tab out of the UPS in order to properly disconnect the power to it.

 

(2) Ensuring stable power for your devices

Since the power coming from your main electrical outlets from the wall goes through the UPS, the UPS also acts as a surge protector for your electrical appliances. There is a built-in automatic voltage regulation system within the APC Easy UPS BVX700LUI-MS that corrects low voltages as well as normalizes surges. It’s very useful when using the UPS in areas where electrical voltages and currents are unstable.

 

Our Use Case

The APC Easy UPS BVX700LUI-MS is used as backup power to our file server. As our file server serves important files across all company staff, it is essential that we ensure the uptime and upkeep of it. Ultimately, we need to be certain that there is always internet access to the server, and that the server should also be powered all the time. In the unfortunate event that there is a power outage in our office, we must also make sure that the server must shutdown gracefully, so as to prevent any loss of files or data corruption.

This is where the APC Easy UPS BVX700LUI-MS really helps. On our office network, we have a sensor that detects power outages. In the event that there is a loss of power, our company staff will immediately be alerted, and connect to the file server remotely in order to shut it down properly. The front USB port that was also useful for us to power up a microcontroller board which detects such power outages.

Our file server runs headless (without a display monitor, and can only be accessed remotely). It consumes about 270W while on load, powering 8 hard drives and an SSD. On top of the server, we also need to power the network switch, router and ONT to enable full internet connection to the server. The total power consumption turns out to almost maximize the usage of the UPS, ensuring the maximum efficiency of the UPS.

(The above video shows what happens when the power is interrupted, and the UPS power kicks in)

Based on our experience, it took about 6 minutes or so before the fully charged UPS ran out of power. Even though we would have preferred if the UPS could provide us with a longer usage time, it’s still quite sufficient for us to properly shut down our PC.

Thankfully, other than the 700VA model, APC also provides Easy UPS in higher capacities. It also comes with 900VA, 1200VA, 1600VA and 2200VA. So, we’re certain that this product lineup can certainly meet your various requirements as a backup power source.

However, we need to put a note to buyers that such UPS system is almost non-maintainable. Certain UPS allows the swapping of internal batteries, so that you can reuse them. For the APC Easy UPS, as it is designed mainly for consumers, you’ll just have to dispose the whole unit and purchase a new one when its battery degrades and can’t hold any more charge.

 

Conclusion

The APC Easy UPS has certainly met the requirements of powering your home or office vital devices in the event that there is a power outage. Especially when it is a product that is designed and catered for consumers, we found that it was very easy to setup and use. Depending on your use case, the various UPS models with different battery capacity can certainly meet your needs both at home or office.

Starting at a price of just S$109, we can see how consumers will be willing to invest in such a product to prepare for the worst. At this affordable price range, we are clear at how APC tries to bring to consumers something that is usually expensive and made for industrial and enterprise usage. We appreciate the efforts by them, and do see how the product can attract that specific audience who wants to have a backup plan for everything.