Product Description

The new APC BE750G 10-Outlet Power Saving Uninterruptible Power Supply powers and protects computer systems and their peripherals from power-related events. Additionally, it now contains new "Green" features designed to reduce wasted electricity. These features include Master/Controlled outlets which will shut power off to computer peripherals like printers, scanners, and speakers when the equipment plugged into the master outlet is turned off or in sleep mode. The unit now also has a High Efficiency Design which makes it between 3 and 5 times more efficient than competitive products.

Product Details

• Color: Black
• Brand: APC
• Model: BE750G
• Platform: Windows
• Format: CD
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 16.00" h x 20.00" w x 12.00" l, 12.75 pounds

Features

• Standalone uninterruptible power supply
• 450-Watt, 750VA output capacity
• 5 NEMA L5-15R battery backup outlets and 5 NEMA L5-15R surge protected outlets
• 11.8 minute backup time at half-load, 2.5 minutes at full load
• Maintenance-free sealed lead-acid battery with leakproof suspended electrolyte

Customer Reviews

Every home should have one
I purchased one of these items on May 10, 2008. Since I had a blackout on 6/27, I figured I could finally write a review.

First, this is my first APC, as well as my first battery backup, product. I've owned a number of surge protectors in the past, but since I had purchased a new computer, I wanted to try a backup device.

After a deal of research, I finally went with this one, after the value for the money, and the positive reviews APC had received.

This model offers 10 outlets, of which 5 can run off of the battery. This also offers a master, and three 'slave' outlets. This means that if the master is off, the three outlets can optionally be shut off as well (helpful for printers, monitors, speakers, ...) It's optional, so you can shut it off (which I did).

It also offers a USB connection, so you can monitor the status of the battery using APC PowerChute Personal Edition.

Along with charge percentage, it gives the number of volts being passed into it, and the watt load on the battery, which seems to translate into a battery estimate (how long equipment can run).

PowerChute offers a couple of options, for when the power goes off - preserve the battery, or keep the computer on for as long as possible.

Having had a blackout, albeit at night, I can suggest what I had happen. First, my computer appears to have been put to sleep. When it started back up, SpeedFan began running my two fans at 100%. In short, the battery handled the blackout perfectly.

If you're worried about alarms going off at night, there are settings to disable the alarm between particular hours, or disable it entirely.

Finally, while this comes with a battery, they do recommend you replace these every three years. You can run self-tests manually to verify the battery. I did have a bit of trouble when first hooking up the battery, but it was relatively minor.

(As a guy who's interested in statistics, I would also have liked to have been able to pull more information from PowerChute - for example, via a battery log of what's happening when I'm not at my computer. Granted, it'll tell you when the battery kicks in, but I'd like to know what voltage is being passed, and whether usage watts are spiking or moving throughout the day. What happens when I'm running tasks, or if I have my computer sit for a couple of hours with the monitor off?)


Overall, I'm *extremely* happy with this product, and will *definitely* be purchasing another one of these to hook up my Playstation 3 and Sony Bravia.

"Master" is on Battery, "Controlled" is not
Off the bat, no real problems with the unit. As for delivery, Amazon beat delivery estimate by a full day and got it to me super fast.

We installed the BE750G to replace and older unit in our wine bar to ensure that our Point of Sale computer would survive outages. Initially, I decided to put the PC on the "master" and all the peripherals on the "control" outlets. However, when I pulled power to test, the computer stayed on but all of the peripherals went off!

SO BEWARE: the control outlets are on a Surge-Protect only rail and do NOT have battery backup. This is fine, but poorly documented, so caveat emptor. For instance, do not connect your monitor to the control outlets if you plan to actually see your screen during an outage!

As an engineer, when I now look at the device, it makes sense as all the battery-backed outlets are on one side of the device and the "control" and surge-only outlets on the other. This is due to the internal design and where the power rails are located, but the documentation does not appear to set this expectation.

I would actually like the option of "control" outlets on the battery rail and, to be honest, it's what I was expecting. So now I don't get to save that phantom power that my printer, touchscreen and other critical peripherals draw after we shut the computer down.

Que sera! Life goes on.

UPS Has Bug That APC Has Not Fixed
I purchased the APC BE750G four months ago, and upon installation immediately had "unable to communicate with APC battery back up" error messages and alert sounds. Numerous calls to APC tech support resulted in no fix. First APC sent me a new USB cable, then APC had me reload all the USB drivers, then (various other...). Finally APC admitted there is a known problem with this unit, and advised me to uninstall the PowerChute software and use the native Windows software. When using the native Windows software, the "unable to communicate..." error/alert sounds go away. However, I use APC products because of their robust PowerChute software which has many more options than the native Windows software. I again called tech support on 1/27 and was advised that a fix has still not been developed, and that replacing my unit with a new unit would not solve the problem. I told APC that I would give them another 30 days to fix the problem or I would return the unit and ask for full refund plus shipping. This unit does not work as advertised, and I would advise against purchasing it until/unless APC resolves the recurring "unable to communicate..." problems. This link to the APC forums (which I found by Google search) documents that many others are having the same problem that I am: http://forums.isxusergroups.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2213&start=60&tstart=0