APC BACK-UPS 900VA (BR900) UPS System

Many of our mission critical computers here at work have been plugged into devices that are designed to supply emergency power in case one of our buildings loose power for whatever reason. These devices are called UPS (uninterruptible power source) and they have come in pretty handy.

These UPS's provide power to run the computer and monitor that are attached to them long enough to allow the user to save and close out any programs that they are using at the time of the power loss. The amount of time that the devices will remain powered will depend on the UPS that they are plugged into.

Each UPS has a rechargeable battery or batteries inside that provide the temporary power to the outlets on the back of the UPS. The UPS also has built in circuitry that senses the loss of power to UPS and automatically switches to the battery power as long as the power remains off.

Along with backup power many UPS's also provide outlets that offer a built in surge suppressing circuit that doesn't offer back power, but it helps to protect devices such as scanners and printers from danger spikes like a regular surge protector. Here at work we use a number of different size UPS's to protector mission critical computers and one of those UPS's we use is the APC Back-UPS RS 900 .

APC Back-UPS RS 900

APC is one of the most widely recognized brands of UPS's in the world and they have been the brand we trust here at work. They offer UPS's in a variety of power ratings to suit just about every need a person or business could have. They have units that can provide backup power to small piece of electronic equipment all they way up to sophisticated server farms. The unit I am writing about is a decent sized unit for a computer and monitor setup.

The way a UPS is identified is by the VA rating (the amount of power it will provide), in this case the RS 900 indicates that it is rated at 900va (540 watts). We selected this model UPS after visiting APC's website where it was recommended to us based on our application. The PC that is plugged into it is a Pentium 4 based machine with a 21" CRT and according to APC this unit will provide enough power to run that PC and monitor for 21 minutes, which gives them plenty of time to safely save and close out all of their open programs.

APC includes monitoring software that allows you to track the condition of the battery and to customize the power down process of your applications. The software is very easy to use and it only requires a USB connection on your PC and APC included the USB cable in the box.

Along with the power outlets, APC also includes protection for your phone line and Ethernet line. This helps to eliminate any possible power surge through your telephone line or cable line going into your PC and all of the cables are included for you to use these features.

Technical Specs

Capacity: 900va/540watts
Power Outlets: 7 (4 Battery Backup/3 Surge Protected)
On Battery Voltage: 115v - 8%
Frequency range: 50-60Hz - 5%
Power Cord: 6 ft.
Typical Recharge Time: 8 hrs.
Compliance: UL 1778 listed, cUL certified, FCC part 68, USB-IF
Dimensions: 9" x 4" x 12.75" (H x W x D)
Weight: 20.5lb. / 9.3 kgs.

My final thoughts

We have been very happy with our APC brand UPS's that we have throughout our plant and the Back-UPS RS 900 is a great example of the high quality that APC puts into all of their products. It was very easy to setup, after pulling the unit out of the box you must open the battery compartment and plug in the battery to the unit (battery is shipped disconnected to prevent damage or fire hazard). After plugging in the battery cable I was ready get the show on the road.

I located a place near the computer tower and close enough to an outlet to plug in the UPS and turned on the unit. It ran through its power on sequence and it indicated that it was ready to go by illuminating On-Line green indicator on the front of the unit. After the UPS was fully ready I plugged in the monitor and computer power cords and turned on them on. Note: Be sure you pay close attention to the markings on the back of the UPS that shows you which four outlets are Backup and which are surge protected. They immediately powered up and it was working again. After the computer was up and running I installed the software that was included on the CD and plugged in the USB cable to the back of the UPS (R-J45 connector) and plugged the USB end into the computer. Windows identified the UPS and after a couple of seconds it was ready to go. I then loaded the Power Chute Personal Edition monitoring software from the provided CD.

With everything hooked up and the computer running I decided to run a test to see how long it took for the battery to drain down. I unplugged the power cord from the wall and let it run on battery power until it would no longer provide power to the outlets and shut down the PC. I am happy to report that it was pretty close to what APC claims (21 minutes) and that will give us plenty of time to save any data and shut everything down normally.

I would definitely recommend the APC Back-UPS RS 900 to anyone looking for a good power backup solution.