Warning - do not buy Cyberpower UPS!!!

m1979

m1979

m1979

Associate
Joined
17 Jun 2011
Posts
34
Hi guys, want to warn you and tell you my story

CyberPower BRICs Series 850VA - 'review'

I bought it a few weeks ago and... it blew up during testing - I connected all servers, switches and tested - it just died. It cost me 2 days of my work, server is dead and hdd is corrupted (still investigating). I have emailed them 6 times, gave them a call, emailed technical team - nothing! Seller suggested I could just return as they cannot speak on behalf of Cyberpower but I think it blew up because I had used an extension brick. I am upset because I did ask Cyberpower if it was ok to connect an extension lead - they confirmed it was ok. When it blew up - they just ignored me...

They have NEVER come back to me, the tech team in the USA confirmed they had received my emails and said would forward them to the EU team. Nothing.

Think twice before you go for this 'great' UPS
 
Last edited:
A good rule when buying a power supply is to google it and read independent hardware reviews and if you cant find many then stay away from it.
 
I've just checked the spec of the UPS, it has a total capacity of ~500W and you're trying to to run multiple PC's and switches off it? Even at full load it wouldn't cover you for more than two minutes in a power outage. Running an extension block on a UPS is fine if the UPS has the capacity to supply power to all the attached devices, but overloading it is not safe.

Out of interest was a printer also attached to the UPS?

How much load were you putting through the UPS? (computers/monitors/accessories)
 
Steeps said:
I've just checked the spec of the UPS, it has a total capacity of ~500W and you're trying to to run multiple PC's and switches off it? Even at full load it wouldn't cover you for more than two minutes in a power outage. Running an extension block on a UPS is fine if the UPS has the capacity to supply power to all the attached devices, but overloading it is not safe.
Click to expand...

+1 spot on
 
Hi

I have a friend who is the UK rep for cyberpower I have forwarded him this thread.

Feel free to trust msg me your contact details I will also forward them on to him.
 
m1979 said:
it blew up during testing - I connected all servers, switches and tested
Click to expand...


It seems like you have massively overloaded the tiny ups and when it blows your now blaming the company for your own fault.

You should have ask for advice before buying a ups for your specific load requirement.

It is not buy the cheapest ups you can afford and plug everything that you got.
 
To be fair even if this is user error which it sounds like it may be if the 500W spec is correct, it's still a poor show from the company to ignore multiple phone calls and emails.
 
Hi

I have spoken to my friend at Cyberpower he has asked the OP to email [email protected]
Then the technical department/person will deal with this query quickly and promptly.
I hope this resolves the situation, even if worst case the user did cause the failure.

P.S. I dont work for CyberPower or have any reason to benefit from this outcome either way, but I just think its nice for me to help another fellow human being out.

Karma and all that rubbish :)
 
While it does not help now, but APC do tend to produce the best UPS around, after all it is their bread and butter, plus there are numerous UPS capacity planning calculators around.

Sadly sounds like a lesson learned and do it better next time.

But on the bright side you do have backups of your servers don't you?
 
Ace Modder said:
Hi

I have spoken to my friend at Cyberpower he has asked the OP to email [email protected]
Then the technical department/person will deal with this query quickly and promptly.
I hope this resolves the situation, even if worst case the user did cause the failure.

P.S. I dont work for CyberPower or have any reason to benefit from this outcome either way, but I just think its nice for me to help another fellow human being out.

Karma and all that rubbish :)
Click to expand...

Community support here is excellent, Hope you get it sorted OP
 
tom_e said:
To be fair even if this is user error which it sounds like it may be if the 500W spec is correct, it's still a poor show from the company to ignore multiple phone calls and emails.
Click to expand...


Before I got my hardware from OcUK I was seriously considering getting my stuff from the other retailer ...but I was told by the person who put me on to OcUK not to get anything from the other retailer ever....their customer service and their attitude toward their customers is appalling ...and on phoning them with a view to get some advice on what hardware to choose and get an idea of prices...all i got was " yep....yep....yep....if you say so mate" and he put the phone down on me :(
 
Right m1979 just had the following message back from the UK rep of CyberPower

That customer from Overclockers forums, we'll give him a new unit but he overloads it again. No more. We have contacted the customer directly and he needs to fill in our standard RMA request form. Then will we replace it.
Click to expand...

I believe that is a fair outcome as most people believe you overloaded the unit and caused the damage, but as a good will gesture they will replace it under warranty for you. But try not to overload it next time. ;)
 
Last edited:
Ace Modder said:
Right m1979 just had the following message back from the UK rep of CyberPower



I believe that is a fair outcome as most people believe you overloaded the unit and caused the damage, but as a good will gesture they will replace it under warranty for you. But try not to overload it next time. ;)
Click to expand...

Great customer service there, hopefully the OP recognises this and is as quick to promote the company as quickly as he slated them for his own user error.
 
nutsnut said:
Great customer service there, hopefully the OP recognises this and is as quick to promote the company as quickly as he slated them for his own user error.
Click to expand...

While it's a good outcome it still doesn't excuse the apparent ignoring of all attempts to contact them before going public.
 
I work for an SME in a fairly rural area and we regularly have power outages, 'brownouts' probably 2+ a week.

The only UPS' we touch are APC (with the occasional old Belkin). 60% of the PC's here have UPS' (around 55 UPS') and only a couple are holding up more than one machine, they are usually 650VA units. Servers (2x ML350's) have their own 1000VA, 4x 24 port Switches, 2x Routers etc are into a 800VA.

850VA would be enough for a ML350 and a switch, although depending on load/capacity it wouldn't stay up long... One of our ML350's (on 1000VA remember) has 4x SAS drives and runs MySQL databases, the UPS only keeps it up 15 mins under load (after ~10 mins of power off we get everyone out of the databases, it will then stay up 20mins+).

Through many years of hard experience here we change all batteries every 3 years, 'CSB' batteries only. Lesser makes (Belkin, APC CS models & Sweex) vs APC - is like comparing OEM PSU's to Seasonic of the same wattage.
 
tom_e said:
While it's a good outcome it still doesn't excuse the apparent ignoring of all attempts to contact them before going public.
Click to expand...

I'm not involved or affiated with CyberPower, but who knows what method of contact the OP tried. If he did indeed contact the correct channels then fair enough, but we dont know.

What I do know is I bought it to my friends attention and it's being resovled now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom