CyberPower (no, not that one) is a name many are not familiar with, but for the past 10 yrs, CyberPower has specialized in producing high quality UPSs (Uninterruptable Power Supplies). Second only to market giant APC (in sales and units produced), CyberPower offers UPS solutions ranging from budget home users to high end professional solutions. Today, HardwareLogic looks at the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS, a moderately priced solution for those with high powered systems.
Most of us never really think about the power quality our systems are fed. We use simple power strips or surge protectors, and generally never give the issue another thought.. That is, until you have a power surge or blackout, and lose that important article or term paper you've been working on for the past 12 hours. However, power outages and surges are not the only concern facing computer users, as poor power sources (low quality wiring, old homes, etc) can also create problems with fluctuations, which can damage your hardware or corrupt your data.
CyberPower (no, not that one) is a name many are not familiar with, but for the past 10 yrs, CyberPower has specialized in producing high quality UPSs (Uninterruptable Power Supplies). Second only to market giant APC (in sales and units produced), CyberPower offers UPS solutions ranging from budget home users to high end professional solutions.
Today, HardwareLogic looks at the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS, a moderately priced solution for those with high powered systems.
| Model |
- CP1500AVRLCD / CP1500LCD / BC1500C
|
| VA Rating |
|
| Watts |
|
| Input Voltage on Utility |
|
| Output Voltage on Battery |
|
| Output Frequency on Battery |
|
| Joule Rating |
|
| Maximum Surge Current |
|
| Overload Protection |
- Internal circuitry limiting / Circuit breaker
|
| Battery run time |
|
| Surge Protected Outlets |
|
| Battery / Surge Protected Outlets |
|
| Communication Protection |
- 1 in 1 out combo RJ11/RJ45
|
| Indicator Lights |
- Power on / off, wiring fault, using battery, AVR, overload.
|
| Warranty |
|
| Conformance Approvals |
- UL 1778, cUL, FCC DOC Class B
|
| Software |
- PowerPanel Personal Edition
|
| Connected Equipment Guarantee |
|
| Dimensions (LxWxH) |
- 13 1/2" x 3 7/8" x 9 3/4"
|
The specs look impressive enough, listing.a VA (Volt-Amp) rating of 1500, 900W of total load, eight outlets, up to 170 minutes of runtime, and a $500,000 Connected Equipment Lifetime Guarantee (talk about a Dream PC!).
Looking at the retail box, you might be slightly mislead by the large "
170 Minutes Of System Backup Power." It's not until you look at the top that you see the list "Typical Runtime In Minutes". While a tad disappointing, this unit should easily handle any system well enough, giving you ample time to back up your data should a power problem hit.
Looks can be deceiving, the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS is an absolute beast. While only offering a 13.5"x3.9"x9.8" silhouette, the unit weighs almost 40 lbs, meaning it won't be easily knocked over or otherwise moved.
The exterior of the case is a hard plastic, which seems more than rugged enough for any environment. The unit features an all black exterior, save for the "CyberPower" logo emblazoned on the side.
On the front you'll see two buttons; the top one is the unit's power switch, and the bottom activates the LCD screen (which we'll cover in depth later).
The rear of the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS is actually more important than the front. Providing phone/fax/modem, cable protection (through the coax connectors), and DSS protection, the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS has everything covered. (the USB and Serial ports are for connecting the unit to your PC).
The CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS provides eight surge protected slots, four of which provide power from the battery in case of an outage (one of these is a transformer spaced outlet). Each socket is well spaced and clearly marked, although a second transformer spaced outlet would have been nice. Separating the two rows of outlets is a resettable circuit breaker, which provides overload protection. You'll also notice a small red LED located below the USB port, which is the "Wiring Fault" LED that illuminates if there is a wiring issue.
The overall build quality of the unit is awesome. If I had to find a fault, it would be the "170 Minutes Of Runtime" on the packaging. However, the purpose of a unit like this is to allow the user to save his or her work in the event of a power disruption. The CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS is a good looking, sturdy unit, and although setting it up may seem simple enough, I applaud CyberPower for the socket layout and clear labeling.
The first screen gives you some general information, including your systems load capacity, the unit's load capacity, the power status "normal", and the estimated runtime of your system on battery backup.
The next screen tells you how many volts are coming into the unit from the AC power source (wall socket).
Next, you'll see how many Volts are going form the unit to your system. The AVR in the unit's title stands for "Automatic Voltage Regulation". Just like it says, this feature makes sure the power to your system stays constantly within the safe operating parameters.
The CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS guarantees 60Hz (+/-3Hz)
The "Load Capacity" screen tells you how much your system is drawing of the 900W total available.
The last LED screen is the battery capacity, letting you know how much battery life you have left.
The LCD screen and the information it provides is a fantastic touch. While most casual users could care less about the information provided, enthusiasts are always curious about the power stability of their system. Many people even spend extra money for meters that give you the same information included here.
For those of you who will be hiding the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS behind your desk, or otherwise out of view, CyberPower includes a nice little software application, the PowerPanel Personal Edition. The PowerPanel Personal Edition is nothing more than a small GUI that gives you most of the information found on the unit's LED.
The initial GUI screen gives you all kinds of great information about your system and power situation. From the screen above, you can see that the unit is running off AC power (normal operation), is receiving 120V, the voltage condition is normal (no over/under voltage), the battery capacity is at 100% (fully charged), there are 17 minutes of backup power available, and my unit is using 270W of the 900W available.
To allow for complete control of your power situation, the "Scheduler" screen allows you to customize your system's runtime, and choosing power on and power off times for each day of the week. This may not be important to those of you who run their systems 24/7, but for the average home user who forgets to shut down their system, it may provide some serious power savings.
A simple screen that allows you to enable/disable audible warnings in the event of a power issue. The warnings are simply short beeps emitted from the unit.
The "Runtime Configuration" screen allows you to choose how to handle power problems. In the event of a power outage, you can keep the unit running until there are between 5 and 8 minutes of battery power remaining, or to shut down as soon as 1 to 5 minutes after a power outage (to save power).
The GUI tracks the voltage supplied to the unit, and alerts you to any under or over voltages which can damage your system.
The GUI also includes a "Self Test" mode, which allows you to periodically check the unit to ensure it is working correctly.
The last GUI screen is simply a log of the most recent power problems. Here you can track power outages, when your system has under or overvolted, and how many times the unit has had to boost the power to your system.
Today's HardwareLogic Test Bench consists of the following components.
- INTEL E6600 Core 2 Duo Processor
- Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 i965 Motherboard
- 2GB OCZ PC2-6400 DDR2 Memory
- XFX 8800 GTX Video Card
- Enermax Galaxy 1000W PSU
- 2x WD Raptor 150 HDD in RAID0
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 80GB HDD
- Thermaltake Armor Case (1x250mm, 2x120mm,1x92mm fans)
- Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24" Monitor
Installing the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS takes about 30 seconds...literally. Simply plug the unit into a wall socket, plug your system's power cables into the appropriate slots (surge protected or battery backup), and connect the unit's USB cable to an open USB port on your computer. That's it!
After setup, I powered on the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS, and my system. There was no noise or heat emission from the unit, and my system booted normally.
Once I got into Windows, I opened the PowerPanel Personal Edition. From the above screen shot, you can see that my system load is 270W and the unit estimated 17 minutes of backup power (using the Configuration interface, I set the UPS to shut down the system when there were 5 minutes of backup power remaining).
Removing the power source, I was immediately greeted by beeping from the unit and popups on my Windows Vista desktop. The first popup was in the system tray, a small alert telling me that my system was no longer running on AC power. The second warning was the GUI screen above, which let me know my system was being powered by the UPS. It counted down the time remaining, the power remaining, and with exactly 5 minutes of power remaining, my applications were backed up, and the system powered down.
During my testing, the GUI software that ships with the unit did not play nice with Windows Vista, but a quick trip to CyberPower's website pointed me to the newest release, which took seconds to install and worked flawlessly. I have to say that the GUI was simply some very sweet icing on a beautiful cake, making power management as simple as can be.
| Segment |
Score |
Comments |
Installation
(How hard is it to set up/install) |
20/20 |
- About as simple as it gets
- A lot heavier than it looks
- Unit comes pre-charged. My unit arrived fully charged and ready to go
|
Functionality/Usefulness
(Is this something people need? Does it work as advertised?) |
17/20 |
- A high quality UPS should be part of any computer user's inventory
- Outlets for Coax, Serial, and phone line, but no Ethernet cable outlet
- Packaging touts "Up to 170 minutes of battery time". however my system, drawing 293W, ran for only 17 minutes on battery power
|
Ease Of Use
(Is it easy to use?) |
18/20 |
- Button operated LCD on the unit and easy to use GUI lets you manage and monitor your power situation in real time
- After a quick and easy installation., you'll probably forget it's there. The unit is dead silent, unless you run into a power problem
|
Price & Value
(When compared against like products, is it worth the money?) |
18/20 |
- Not the cheapest, or sexiest purchase. At around $175, the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD rivals the cost of a decent kit of memory or processor....two much sexier purchases
- Priced favorably to competitor offerings in this price/performance range
|
Warranty & Support
(Warranty compared to competition, is the companies website easy to navigate? Does the companies website offer support?Is their support software up to date? Does the company have a good reputation? |
18/20 |
|
Our Recommendation
At first, I was disappointed by the packaging, which claimed "170 minutes of runtime". Using what I consider to be a fairly average system, 17 minutes of backup power doesn't seem all that impressive. However, the CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS does exactly what its advertised to do. The unit literally took 30 seconds to set up, came pre-charged, and is dead silent until there is a problem you should know about. Cutting the power to the UPS (and my system), the unit remained running for 12 minutes, during which time all of my applications were saved and shut down - then it powered the system off.
I was also very impressed by a nice LCD display that shows all kinds of useful information, from battery charge, to backup run time, to how much energy your system is drawing. CyberPower also includes a very helpful GUI which shows the same information as the display, allows you to set the system to automatically power on and off, and logs power fluctuations and outages. While it is an expensive purchase, and not something you can brag about or overclock, a quality UPS definitely should be on your list when looking to upgrade your system.
Other Reviews of Note
It's always nice to have more than one opinion on a component before you spend your hard earned money. For one, we may see something others missed, or vice versa. As with all reviews published at HardwareLogic, we'll not only give you our recommendation, but also point out some reviews from some other great sites from around the web.
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