This is a fairly small unit and I use it for my electronics other than the main computer: nettop that serves as my home-made DVR, a TV, and a sewing machine. The battery powered outlets are used for the nettop and for the TV. The sewing machine is on the surge protected outlet (not battery powered).
I call this battery a fairly small unit based on how much run time it provides when it runs on battery. How long the unit can run on backup power depends on the device's usage of power. Here are battery backup runtime estimates for this 685va backup battery. Also, keep in mind that as the battery grows old45 you will get less run time from the fully charged battery.
1. All-in-one-computer (i.e. a fairly weak computer with a screen) is estimated to use 50 watts an hour and will run 45 minutes
I expect my nettop and TV to be somewhere in this category.
2. Basic desktop with LCD screen is estimated to consume 100 watts and will run 20 minutes
3. Powerful desktop (such as a gaming system or a development system where you do compiling and linking) is estimated to consume 200 watts and will run 5 minutes
685va unit has 4 full-time battery powered outlets and 4 surge protected outlets (2 of which are spaced far away from each to accommodate 2 transformer sized plugs).
The unit is surprising light and relatively small. Photo #2 shows the view from the top with a pen placed on top of the unit for size reference. The unit can be used flat or upright.
CyberPower has a USB port (see photo #2) so it can commute with the computer to do a graceful shutdown before shutting down. The battery is compatible with Windows and Linux. I have not tried it with a Mac. I am running Linux on the nettop so I did not have to install any software, the support for this functionality is built into Linux. PowerPlanet software is provided for Windows and be downloaded from CPSwww com web site.
CyberPower also has a cable to connect to a phone, FAX, or other network equipment.
If you are wondering why the sewing machine is protected, let me share my expensive lesson with you. Two years ago I was painfully reminded that a modern sewing machine is a computer and its main board can be fried by a power surge. After a power glitch my sewing machine stopped working. When I took it to a repair shop they told me that the main board in the sewing machine was fried and needed replacement. To replace the mother board my sewing machine had to be sent back to the factory, and not only was it expensive I also lost the use of my sewing machine for over a month. My sewing machine was plugged into surge protected power strip but it did not protect it. The surge protector of the battery backup provides more protection that the power strip so when my sewing machine came back from repairs it was immediately placed on a power backup just like the rest of my computers.
Photo #3 contains a schematic for battery.
1. Battery and Surge protected outlets
2. Surge protected outlets
3. Power switch
4. Power on indicator
5. Electrical wiring fault indicator (e.g. bad ground) if this light is on, you need to disconnect the unit
6. Communication ports (fax, phone, etc)
7. Circuit breaker (can be used to reset after overload)
8. USB port to PC
9. Widely spaced outlets that can be used for recharges and other wide plugs
This battery backup replaced an older unit: it is lighter, smaller in size, has more features, and fairly inexpensive. If used for devices that don't consume a lot of watts it provides a reasonable amount of backup power. I am quite pleased with it so far.
I purchased CyperPower battery Backup 685va at a local CostCo as the price there was better by a considerable amount.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.
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