Just tested my new APC BACK-UPS ES 850VA - BE850G2-UK - three queries

[rsmith12498]

I live in the UK and the power quality in my house has never been the best. For example when using an electric shower, my bedroom light sometimes dims a little bit, but its very subtle.

To start, I:

1. Removed all labels, packaging and connected the UPS battery
2. Plugged in and turned on UPS, let it initialise
3. Plugged in a 2009 PC (a slow old office one with an (iirc) max 350W PSU, and can't be using much actual watts since hardware is weak)
4. Plugged in a 1080p Dell monitor into the Battery + Surge sockets.
5. Turned on both devices
6. Plugged in the data cable from UPS to PC and installed PowerChute software which worked fine.

The charge was 100% on the UPS out of the box. I have queries on three main areas:


Question 1

Is it okay to plug a device (iMac 2012) into an 13A extension cord that plugs into the UPS? So Device -> Extension Cord -> UPS -> Wall plug.

Does it matter if this extension cord has surge protection or not?

Do I need to consider anything regarding fuses?

Unfortunately using a 10m kettle cable instead of the iMac's stock cable to eliminate the extension cord entirely is not an option since I can only find cheap ones that aren't 100% safe.


Question 2

When the computer and monitor are running idle WITH mains power being supplied (i.e. there is no powercut), PowerChute reports that the battery backup is providing 62-72 Watts of power! Is this normal?

I clicked on "Sensitivity" in PowerChute and learnt that this may be due to electrical noise. How can I can I confirm this is the case? If it is, is it within normal levels, or should I get my house's wiring checked ASAP?

I changed the sensitivity settings between High, Medium and Low, and clicked Apply, but there was no change. Is this normal?


Question 3

I had the computer and monitor running idle WITH mains power being supplied (i.e. there is no powercut).

I then simulated a power loss using my circuit breaker. The UPS kicked in and automatically hibernated the PC within 1 minute. How can I change this to shutdown instead of hibernation?

I then restored power and after a minute, turned the PC back on. However, by the time the PC loaded the desktop, the PC and monitor immediately blinked off, and the LED on the UPS's power button changed to red for a second, then reverted to green (the actual UPS remained on, so it wasn't a circuit break in my house)

I waited 10 minutes from that point and then turned the PC back on. The battery level was around 93%, so it didn't fully drain or anything for sure. Even when the PC and monitor was running on battery power, the wattage usage hovered at around 75/550 watts. Also note that my input voltage was 245 volts.

PowerChute on normal A/C power: https://i.imgur.com/rFashfV.png

PowerChute on battery power: https://i.imgur.com/jbQ0Mx4.png

Was this an overload event? I couldn't find any trace of it in PowerChute - does PowerChute report overload events?

How could this have occurred when the mains was on? I can't quite remember but even after the mains was on for a minute, I think the UPS power LED was blinking twice every 2 seconds, which indicates it's on battery power. Is there a delay in the UPS switching from battery power back to mains power after a power loss event?

Overall though, I am very impressed with the product.

Thanks and I hope someone can answer my questions.

[JonPro]

Hi @rsmith12498 

Thank you for using the SE Community Exchange! My name is Jon, your support specialist who will work with you on this query.  Let me try my best to assist you with your queries.

Question 1:
Schneider Electric recommends against the use of any surge protector, power bar, or extension cord being plugged into the output of any APC Back-UPS and Smart-UPS products. This document will explain why.

Using surge protectors with APC's Back-UPS and Smart-UPS products.

Question 2:

May I request for you to send a screenshot of where you are seeing this information as this would help us provide better advice?

Question 3:

In order for the computer to shut down instead of hibernation, you would have to disable the hibernate feature of the computer.  Depending on the operating system, hibernation can be disabled via the Command Prompt and/or the Windows Settings itself.

Regarding the power simulation that you've done, did you choose Preserve Battery Power or Keep my computer on? The reason I asked is if you opted to choose the first one you would have to wait to wait for the UPS to shut down and turn off completely before you plug it back in and turn on the peripherals attached to it.

Please see the timeline below:

1. UPS goes to battery and PCPE starts its preserve battery power counter.

2. When the counter expires it sends a command to the UPS to start counting its turn-off delay and then commands the OS to shut down.

3. The operating system shuts down and the UPS continues to count its turn-off delay. (Once the UPS finishes counting its turn-off delay it will reboot and nothing can stop this from happening.)

4. The UPS cuts power to the outlets and then rechecks to see if the incoming power is acceptable. If it is not it waits there until power returns.

5. If the UPS went to battery due to a brownout the unit at this point will be in low voltage sleep mode until the voltage becomes acceptable again.

To answer your question regarding the delay when switching modes, the UPS does have transfer time.  You can find out more about this through this FAQ.

What is the transfer time of the Back-UPS? 

I hope this helps!