BX(?) - XS(?) 1500LCD - Joule ratings?

[BillP]

Bought 3 BX1500LCD APC UPS's from Circuit City - Listed Joules 564. What arrived was the XS1500LCD - 340 Joules (per APC site) - in a BX1500LCD box. Further research on WEB shows the BX1500LCD rated at 420 Joules. Searched the APC site and every time I type in 'BX1500LCD' I get the 'XS1500LCD'.

Can you tell me what the Joule rating is between the 'BX' and 'XS? IMHO...it would seem to me the CC listing was using the 220V application. I want the highest Joules rating, of course. These 3 units will protect - 1)-a combined A/V system with an LCD TV, Bose sound system, 7.1 A/V Control Center, DVD/VCR, DirecTv HD receiver, Laser Disk, cassette decks, etc. - 2)-a 2-computer system with printer, scanner, modem, router, etc. - 3)-a smaller A/V and computer system for the bedroom. I have measured the wattage use and am O.K. with the loads, battery run time, and everything else with the 'XS' units. In fact, I had a major outage (1 1/2 hrs) and the first unit I bought gave me 38 min run time using my 32" LCD and DirecTv H20 reciever (that's why I ordered 2 more).

Can you help me figure out what's going on with the Joules? I want a 'BX' if it is 420 Joules. I don't want to get stuck with 340 Joules if I paid for something better. I live in Florida. I need all the protection I can get. FYI... I've had APC UPS's for over 10 years, and a couple of Belkin's. When my wife was reassigned overseas a few years ago and her APC UPS battery failed - APC not only stood behind their warrany, but, they went Above-And-Beyond what they had to do to get her a new battery and see the old one was disposed of properly. I will never forget what they did and will NEVER own anything but an APC again! (Just an Ol' Man's - I turned 64 this week - humble opinion.) Thank you for any guidance and help.

S Gent

[Anonymous user]

Hello,

I'm not sure how you are getting this information on the web, but the XS is just a family line of our Back-UPS units. We have XS, RS, ES, CS, etc. The XS family will have model numbers that start with "BX". The "BX1500LCD" will be the same exact unit as the "XS1500LCD". And the Joule rating is 340 Joules for the BX1500LCD. What to remember about APC surge protection though, is that we do not rely on Surge absorption that most other products use. We rely on shunting the excess voltage to the ground wire, instead of the unit absorbing the Surge with MOV's and that is why the Joule rating is not extremely high. We do use Surge absorption as a last line of defense to protect the equipment connected.

As for your UPS unit. We highly recommend against plugging printers into the Battery Backup and Surge Protection outlets, but rather into the Surge Only outlets. Printers can eat up a UPS unit's capacity and cause problems for the other equipment, so if it is in the Surge Only outlets it will be protected from Surges, but not protected with Battery Backup.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with. Thank you.

[Anonymous user]

You're welcome S Gent,

Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with.

It is very nice of you to share your APC story with us. It is always nice to hear from a satisfied customer.

Thanks again.

[BillP]

Bought 3 BX1500LCD APC UPS's from Circuit City - Listed Joules 564. What arrived was the XS1500LCD - 340 Joules (per APC site) - in a BX1500LCD box. Further research on WEB shows the BX1500LCD rated at 420 Joules. Searched the APC site and every time I type in 'BX1500LCD' I get the 'XS1500LCD'.

Can you tell me what the Joule rating is between the 'BX' and 'XS? IMHO...it would seem to me the CC listing was using the 220V application. I want the highest Joules rating, of course. These 3 units will protect - 1)-a combined A/V system with an LCD TV, Bose sound system, 7.1 A/V Control Center, DVD/VCR, DirecTv HD receiver, Laser Disk, cassette decks, etc. - 2)-a 2-computer system with printer, scanner, modem, router, etc. - 3)-a smaller A/V and computer system for the bedroom. I have measured the wattage use and am O.K. with the loads, battery run time, and everything else with the 'XS' units. In fact, I had a major outage (1 1/2 hrs) and the first unit I bought gave me 38 min run time using my 32" LCD and DirecTv H20 reciever (that's why I ordered 2 more).

Can you help me figure out what's going on with the Joules? I want a 'BX' if it is 420 Joules. I don't want to get stuck with 340 Joules if I paid for something better. I live in Florida. I need all the protection I can get. FYI... I've had APC UPS's for over 10 years, and a couple of Belkin's. When my wife was reassigned overseas a few years ago and her APC UPS battery failed - APC not only stood behind their warrany, but, they went Above-And-Beyond what they had to do to get her a new battery and see the old one was disposed of properly. I will never forget what they did and will NEVER own anything but an APC again! (Just an Ol' Man's - I turned 64 this week - humble opinion.) Thank you for any guidance and help.

S Gent

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Sgt. Slaughter wrote:
Hello,

. We rely on shunting the excess voltage to the ground wire, instead of the unit absorbing the Surge with MOV's and that is why the Joule rating is not >extremely high. >We do use Surge absorption as a last line of defense to protect the equipment connected.

Hello,
I might be missing something here, but I don't see that as being any different from ordinary surge protector, which shunts the over voltage to the ground. The MOVs are always across the hot and ground and remains inert, but when the voltage across the line becomes high enough, it opens up like an avalanche and diver the surge current to ground. In the APC UPSs I've had apart, the surge protective devices appear to be all setup like the common surge protector.

So, if these MOVs aren't the ones doing the diversion shunting, what is?