Very disappointed witht the 'Belkin 500VA Superior Series Emergency Battery Backup'

Eliminos · 2 Mar 2006 at 23:42

I, like many other people, saw the great deal on this Belkin UPS last week, and immediately snatched 4 up. I have one small problem though: The line 'the Superior Battery Backup automatically switches your computer to battery backup power and gives you the time to save open files and safely power off' seems to be wrong in my case.

The base unit is the only thing plugged into the UPS, and when I switch the UPS off at the wall as a test, the computer goes off (yes it is plugged into the battery backup socket on the UPS, before anyone asks). This automatic switch to backup power does not seem to be happening nearly as fast as one would expect. (This has been tested on 2 of the 4 UPSs with concordant results)

Further tests with a desk-lamp show that there is a moment where no power is being provided at all, followed by 10 seconds of weak power (a half-bright bulb) and then finally full power.

Somehow I do not think that this is suitable for a computer, as it clearly states it is. Is this all I am going to get from this? Or am I doing sometihng disasterously wrong - which I find it hard to do, consdering you just plug it into the wall.

gary996 · 3 Mar 2006 at 01:23

Seems wrong to me also. The UPS should be permamently on the batteries which are always charging when power is on. Then if a power cut happens there is no switching over as its already on the batteries.

BigDom · 3 Mar 2006 at 01:27

Quick test on mine seems to work fine. You did give it time to charge up didn't you?

hhhhbk · 3 Mar 2006 at 04:37

was tempted to get one myself
but with the way they were sub £20 at stacks of shops and etailers
it seemed to good a deal to be true especially when bottom of the range apc one is £50+

Bigdom did you use it on one or both of the rigs in your sig
if so what kind of monitor did you plug in
andf how long did it take before batteries ran out/powered machine off

Dace · 3 Mar 2006 at 04:44

Two things occur to me:

1) UPS not given sufficient time to charge
2) Very high powered system demanding a lot of juice from the UPS in one fell swoop is too much for them

WJA96 · 3 Mar 2006 at 06:34

Dace said:
Two things occur to me:

1) UPS not given sufficient time to charge
2) Very high powered system demanding a lot of juice from the UPS in one fell swoop is too much for them

Mine all came with about 80% charge already in there and the PSU in the OP sig is a 580W Tagan, which is pretty efficient so it's probably not pulling more than 800W from the mains. Mine is pretty similar in requirements, but it runs for 3 minutes at the very least. The software gives a few options on this.

I suspect it's defective, actually.

WJA96 · 3 Mar 2006 at 06:35

Eliminos said:
I, like many other people, saw the great deal on this Belkin UPS last week, and immediately snatched 4 up. I have one small problem though: The line 'the Superior Battery Backup automatically switches your computer to battery backup power and gives you the time to save open files and safely power off' seems to be wrong in my case.

The base unit is the only thing plugged into the UPS, and when I switch the UPS off at the wall as a test, the computer goes off (yes it is plugged into the battery backup socket on the UPS, before anyone asks). This automatic switch to backup power does not seem to be happening nearly as fast as one would expect. (This has been tested on 2 of the 4 UPSs with concordant results)

Further tests with a desk-lamp show that there is a moment where no power is being provided at all, followed by 10 seconds of weak power (a half-bright bulb) and then finally full power.

Somehow I do not think that this is suitable for a computer, as it clearly states it is. Is this all I am going to get from this? Or am I doing sometihng disasterously wrong - which I find it hard to do, consdering you just plug it into the wall.

I've got 3, all on powerful computers, and they all work as advertised. Do you have the software installed, the USB cable connected and what does the software say?

Eliminos · 3 Mar 2006 at 08:39

The 'sucking too much power' can't be true as I tested it with a desk lamp and saw a delay in the switch over.

The USB cable is plugged in to the computer. I did try it out of the box and it was 100% charged but I then left it all for 24 hours plugged in and turned on to charge [nothing was plugged into it]. The software says the load is 40% and the battery charge is 100%

This is what it looks like now:

PinkPig · 3 Mar 2006 at 09:04

I'd send it back, sounds faulty if it can't even work a lamp.

Eliminos · 3 Mar 2006 at 09:26

I've tested two and both do exactly the same thing. I have two more I could open and test but I expect that exactly the same thing would happen with those too. Considering I tested two, I would have expected at least one to have been able to switch a lamp to battery backup with no switch over delay.

sl33pyhead · 3 Mar 2006 at 10:18

Certainly sounds likes something is very wrong. I have a suspision that at only £20 it would be next to useless anyway. From what I have seen of the specs if certainly does not appear to provide things like AVR or decent power conditioning. The fact that even Belkin themselves call it a battery backup rather than a UPS also rings alarm bells.

I am guessing that unlike a proper UPS which effectively runs from the battery 100% of the time the Belkin unit is just a surge protector with a built in battery meaning that it is running from the mains and attempts to "switch" to battery power when it detects a drop in the supply.
Not being a proper UPS also means that it does probably not provide any sort of sensitivity or voltage adjustments which can be pretty important depending on the quality of your mains supply. I would imagine in your case (and that of others who are seeing the same thing) the sensitivity and/or trigger voltage is set too low meaning it does not detect and switch over to battery power quick enough.

Eliminos · 3 Mar 2006 at 10:21

If that is the case then the line in the product description 'the Superior Battery Backup automatically switches your computer to battery backup power and gives you the time to save open files and safely power off' would be classed as false advertising then? As it clearly does not automatically switch my computer to battery backup at all and exactly the same thing happens when I kill the power as it would be when the computer is plugged into the wall.

sl33pyhead · 3 Mar 2006 at 10:28

Eliminos said:
If that is the case then the line in the product description 'the Superior Battery Backup automatically switches your computer to battery backup power and gives you the time to save open files and safely power off' would be classed as false advertising then? As it clearly does not automatically switch my computer to battery backup at all and exactly the same thing happens when I kill the power as it would be when the computer is plugged into the wall.

No - this is what it is intended to do - switch to battery when needed. Its just that the sensitvity or trigger voltage is probably not quite right for your mains supply meaning it never switches when it should.

Eliminos · 3 Mar 2006 at 10:32

But like gary996 said. A proper UPS always runs off the batteries, and does not have a bypass like this does. That then enables there to be no switch over time and makes the switch to battery power instant. Is there anything that I can do to actually get this working like it is clearly intended to, or am I going to have to go throug the hassle of sending it back...

Richie1509 · 3 Mar 2006 at 11:19

Hi there, i purchased one of the 500VA Belkin ups a few days ago and i've had differing experiences with it depending on what is connected to it.

If i connect the pc as detailed in my signature, with nothing else connected, to the 500VA Belkin it is unable to keep the pc powered up. However, if i use the 500VA Belkin on a less power hungry system, with a 19" tft also connected, it works correctly.

This second pc's spec is: cpu= 2.8GHz skt478 P4, motherboard= MSI 865PE Neo 2P, memory= 2x 256Mb Geil Value, hdd= 80Gb Maxtor DiamondMax 9, optical= 1 dvd-rom & 1 cd-rw, psu= 470W Enermax Noisetaker. PC is overclocked with fsb @ 216MHz.

I have one of those meters that you can plug equipment into for measuring how much energy they draw from the mains, so i ran a few tests comparing the meter readings with the percentage load as shown by the provided Belkin software. Here's the results:

The pc as in signature: max watts= 275W, Belkin software max load= 53%

Second pc detailed above & ViewSonic VX924 19" tft also connected:
max watts= 200W, Belkin software max load= 41% ( the VX924 draws 37W max )

It seems to me that the Belkin 500VA Superior Series Emergency Battery Backup is only capable of being fully functional when placed under lighter loads, or that some of them are in some way faulty. Hope people find this info useful.

sl33pyhead · 3 Mar 2006 at 11:30

Richie1509 said:
The pc as in signature: max watts= 275W, Belkin software max load= 53%

Second pc detailed above & ViewSonic VX924 19" tft also connected:
max watts= 200W, Belkin software max load= 41% ( the VX924 draws 37W max )

It seems to me that the Belkin 500VA Superior Series Emergency Battery Backup is only capable of being fully functional when placed under lighter loads. Hope people find this info useful.

Is that 275W at idle - it seems quite high. My APC UPS reports my system (Amd X2 4400 overclocked, X1900XT, Creative X-fi, Enermax Libery 620W, couple of HDs and a DVDRW etc.) only draws around 158W. Are you using a CRT with the pc?

The Belkin is rated for up to 300W. It would clearly seem to be somewhat underspecced if it struggles with just 275W though.

Dutch Guy · 3 Mar 2006 at 12:13

sl33pyhead said:
Is that 275W at idle - it seems quite high. My APC UPS reports my system (Amd X2 4400 overclocked, X1900XT, Creative X-fi, Enermax Libery 620W, couple of HDs and a DVDRW etc.) only draws around 158W. Are you using a CRT with the pc?

The Belkin is rated for up to 300W. It would clearly seem to be somewhat underspecced if it struggles with just 275W though.

Intel system use a lot more power, especially at idle.

thepominlaw · 3 Mar 2006 at 12:26

Eliminos said:
I, like many other people, saw the great deal on this Belkin UPS last week, and immediately snatched 4 up. I have one small problem though: The line 'the Superior Battery Backup automatically switches your computer to battery backup power and gives you the time to save open files and safely power off' seems to be wrong in my case.

The base unit is the only thing plugged into the UPS, and when I switch the UPS off at the wall as a test, the computer goes off (yes it is plugged into the battery backup socket on the UPS, before anyone asks). This automatic switch to backup power does not seem to be happening nearly as fast as one would expect. (This has been tested on 2 of the 4 UPSs with concordant results)

Further tests with a desk-lamp show that there is a moment where no power is being provided at all, followed by 10 seconds of weak power (a half-bright bulb) and then finally full power.

Somehow I do not think that this is suitable for a computer, as it clearly states it is. Is this all I am going to get from this? Or am I doing sometihng disasterously wrong - which I find it hard to do, consdering you just plug it into the wall.

I have exactly the same problem with my system

AFK_Matrix · 3 Mar 2006 at 12:52

Hmm u got me worried now lol.

I have bought 3 of these, on for me, one for me mum and one for me bro.

My mum is running a dell desktop and monitor and will probably plug other bits into it like desk lamp etc.

Me bro will have 2 computers plugged into it a crappy P3 and a AMD 3000, 80gb hdd etc.

And I actually have a APC UPS for my 2 main comps, but wanted this thing for my mac and monitors plus my speakers etc. I am now wondering if it will take all this, mainly worried about the mac and monitors as i want them to last so i can do a backup etc.

So will all three of us be ok using these things otherwise it maybe a case of sending them back.

The only other option for my stuff is to find some power leads that don't have the plugs on just the 2 3prong connectors and plug them into my UPS.

Richie1509 · 3 Mar 2006 at 13:14

Hi there sl33pyhead, the 275W figure was with the system under load. I tried a couple of tests, one whilst 3DMark 2006 was running, the other while playing Rainbow 6 Lockdown for about ten minutes. At idle the system draws around 155W and shows 30% load in the Belkin software. These figures are for just the pc itself, no monitor or anything else, connected to the ups.

As to monitors i use a ViewSonic VX924 19" tft which draws 37W maximum, i also have a 17" iiyama crt which draws around 110W. If i connect my other pc, as detailed in my earlier post, and the iiyama crt monitor to the 500VA Belkin ups it is again unable to provide sufficient backup capacity.

Dutch Guy's comments about Intel based setups being very power hungry are perfectly correct. Worth noting also, is that my processor is a D0 version which draws around 115W from the power supply on its own.

I'm considering getting one of the Belkin 650VA versions for use with my main pc, details in my signature, however i'm beginning to think it maybe better to opt for a proper ups instead of the Belkin battery backup equipment.