UPS Recommendations For Home

[Buadhai]

I currently have three devices powered by an UPS: A Raspberry Pi 4, a Deco router and a 2017 iMac.

I monitor the UPS using NUT (Network UPS Tools)

The UPS, an APC Back-UPS BX750MI, has been a headache from day one. The first one failed after less than a year and was replace by APC (Schneider Electric) here in Thailand. The replacement has now failed.

The first current failure was after a long power outage during which I shutdown the Mac, NUT shutdown the Pi and the router was on its own. When power was restored the UPS emitted a continuous loud beep and all the front panel lights were flashing. I turned off the beep, but the front panel lights continued to flash for three days until, I guess, they got tired and stopped flashing.

The second failure was during a very brief (two minute) outage due to a breaker tripping. The UPS simply quit even though the battery was fully charged. It appeared to be normal after I reset the breaker, but it reports rather oddly.

I have been dealing with Schneider on this, but they seem rather clueless. They blame the failure on the iMac power supply and suggest that I run some tests on the battery. If the battery has failed they suggest I buy a new UPS. If the battery has not failed they suggest that I buy a new UPS. Why test if the end result will be the same either way?

Anyway, I am now considering replacing the APC UPS with either a Cyberpower VALUE1500ELCD or something from Tripp Lite (ECO Series 750VA).

Any recommendations out there?

 

[matsan]

I feel your pain. Living in rural area of Sweden with many short power-outages (5-15 mins) and been through three APC UPS:es in 7 years. The first two died rather quickly (~18 months) due to 5-10 min run-time (even though the display said 90 mins) so they became heavy useless bricks. I fully share your experience with APC's customer support - they didn't care at all and more or less said I've been using the UPS wrong but didn't elaborate.

Currently on a APC SmartUPS 10000VA but not to repeat my mistakes over and over again I have been exercising the UPS bi-weekly from day one. Using a Shelly Plug and a set a schedule - every second Saturday morning I let the Shelly plug disconnect the UPS and run it on batteries for 40 minutes (1/2 the calculated runtime in the display). Current UPS is on it's third year and still kicking.

 

[Marco Klobas]

I own an APC Smart-UPS SMT750I (since 2012) and so far – knocking wood – it worked as expected. Power outages are not common in my area. When they did happen, though, the UPS served me well enough to properly shut down my system.

Moreover, when thunderstorms hit my area making the power line less stable I notice that it shortly "activates" in order to stabilize the provided current.

I just changed the batteries when needed (regular maintenance).

 

[Thirio2]

You pays your money and takes your chances. I used to think APC was more reliable than Cyberpower, but my recent experience is the opposite. I had an APC pure sine wave UPS that burnt out not long after the 1 year warranty expired. I replaced it with a Cyberpower pure sine wave UPS that so far is running strong. I think the APC units do have a continuous beep when the battery is going out. The long outage may have ruined your battery, lead acid batteries do not like to be fully discharged.

 

[surferfb]

I recently purchased a CyberPower 1500 for use with my NAS and home server and am super happy with it. You can turn off the beeps and lights.

 

[Buadhai]

I'm able to disable the beeper with:

upscmd apcups beeper.disable

But I don't see any command to disable the front panel lights.

 

[Buadhai]

There has to be something more than just the battery on this UPS. I've included a full status report here. Have a look at the mfr.date and runtime. Both seem way off:

battery.charge: 100
battery.charge.low: 10
battery.mfr.date: 2001/01/01
battery.runtime: 3920
battery.runtime.low: 120
battery.type: PbAc
battery.voltage: 13.6
battery.voltage.nominal: 12.0
device.mfr: American Power Conversion
device.model: Back-UPS BX750MI
device.serial: 9B2149A11600
device.type: ups
driver.name: usbhid-ups
driver.parameter.pollfreq: 30
driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2
driver.parameter.port: auto
driver.parameter.synchronous: no
driver.version: 2.7.4
driver.version.data: APC HID 0.96
driver.version.internal: 0.41
input.sensitivity: low
input.transfer.high: 300
input.transfer.low: 140
input.voltage: 234.0
input.voltage.nominal: 230
ups.beeper.status: enabled
ups.delay.shutdown: 20
ups.firmware: 295201G -302201G
ups.load: 0
ups.mfr: American Power Conversion
ups.mfr.date: 2021/12/03
ups.model: Back-UPS BX750MI
ups.productid: 0002
ups.realpower.nominal: 410
ups.serial: 9B2149A11600
ups.status: OL
ups.test.result: Done and passed
ups.timer.reboot: 0
ups.timer.shutdown: -1
ups.vendorid: 051d

I check and log the battery state and input voltage daily. Here's recent log entries:

Mon Mar 10 09:20:09 +07 2025 UPS Check battery.charge: 100 input.voltage: 237.0
Tue Mar 11 09:20:07 +07 2025 UPS Check battery.charge: 100 input.voltage: 232.0
Wed Mar 12 09:20:07 +07 2025 UPS Check battery.charge: 100 input.voltage: 237.0
Fri Mar 14 09:20:25 +07 2025 UPS Check battery.charge: 100 input.voltage: 232.0
Sat Mar 15 09:20:15 +07 2025 UPS Check battery.charge: 100 input.voltage: 234.0
Sun Mar 16 09:20:14 +07 2025 UPS Check battery.charge: 100 input.voltage: 232.0
Mon Mar 17 09:20:15 +07 2025 UPS Check battery.charge: 100 input.voltage: 237.0
Tue Mar 18 09:20:15 +07 2025 UPS Check battery.charge: 100 input.voltage: 234.0
Wed Mar 19 09:20:14 +07 2025 UPS Check battery.charge: 100 input.voltage: 234.0

No entry for March 13th as that was the day of the long power outage.