PowerWalker UPS VI Series 850VA/480W Compact Battery backup solution with built-in AVR, HID Supported, Cold (DC) Start Function (Non LCD Screen)

At it's pricepoint of roughly £40, the unit represented good value for money. At their most basic, UPS devices are basically sealed lead acid batteries with voltage sensors and their version of an inverter. 12v lead-acid batteries typically cost in the region of £40-£50 alone, so this UPS is cheaper than setting up your own equivalent backup battery.I was fortunate enough to experience several very rare power outages. It switches to backup fairly quickly. The unit does make an incredibly annoying periodic beeping sound when it detects the power has gone out, so don't keep it in any bedrooms. It is possible to disable the beeping sound via an APC utility program (Linux has apcupsd with apctest, for example), but that requires a USB type-B cable, which is not supplied, which is mildly disappointing.It takes a long time to recharge, approximately 5-15 minutes per 1%. That said, during power outage testing, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest the battery can run a 90W laptop for roughly 3 - 3.5 hours (depleting roughly 7% charge every 15-30 minutes). Although this isn't what UPS is typically used for, it was the purpose it was serving in my case.Unit comes with two plug sockets, however be aware, when the unit is turned on, the more devices plugged into it, the vastly more heat it produces. With no load on, it produced heat comparable to an overly active laptop. With one laptop plugged in, it produced heat equal to a tower PC running on full. With two laptops plugged in, the unit was effectively a radiator. Users in colder climates might want to consider it as a dual-purpose discount heat source.In summer heat, this is a big problem. UPS can only tolerate a very limited range of temperatures, with a particular limit focused on high temperatures, which means this UPS unit contributes to it's own demise. Rooms with it in will either need to be well ventilated with cool air flow, or have a working air-conditioning unit. Alternatively, the unit should be placed in a cooler room. The only other way to reduce heat is to either turn the device off (it will continue to charge but won't power any devices) or to reduce or remove any power loads currently running on it. This is a big problem if you intend to power, say, a desktop PC.It's not entirely clear why it produces so much heat, but if you have a room with already high temperatures, you might want to look for a cooler or more energy efficient unit.Despite the heat issues and beeping, the unit works extremely well, and for it's price, represents good value for money.

I have a smart home, with multiple hubs, routers, switches etc, along with a Rapberry Pi to run it all. After a fault toaster tripped the electrics in the building, my smart home was no longer smart. The memory was corrupt on the Raspberry Pi and the whole thing had to be restored from back up. My other concern after this happened was security, as the hubs also run the intruder, fire and flood alarms. I needed a way to keep everything running 24/7, even when the power is out.Fast forwards 24 hours and I order this product, mainly based on it's price/value for money. It also has stadard UK sockets in the back meaning no adapter is required, as many different models only offer the kettle lead type sockets for PC's and monitors.Sadly the first one arrived broken, with a part of the plastic housing smashed into little pieces, all of which were in the box. I do beleive this to be the couriers fault, though. I contacted amazon, who sent out a replacement immediately to arrive the next day. Fantastic service.Installation was super easy, simply plug it into the wall, plug the devices you want to run into the UPS, and turn it on. I left it for a few hours to charge, then went to test it. I simply turned off the wall socket to mimick power failure, you hear a beep to signal the fact it has had to intervene, and everything kept running without a glitch! Great!A week later and the same toaster (that's now in the bin), tripped the buildings electrics. Everything worked exactly as planned! None of the hubs, routers or the Rasperry Pi knew any different. It took me 35 minutes to get home after this happened, and everything was still running even after this time. Please note though, the battery only lasted this long due to the low power consumption of the devices. For use wth a normal PC, monitor etc this will probably be much shorter.A very very happy customer - and would highly reccommend this! Especially for a home network. Considering buying another for the CCTV setup!

We got this as we were getting a lot of storms set it all up as it said one night we had a right bad storm had this crack of thunder everything went of including this.. which it’s not meant to happen it did the same a hour later so sent it back

Unit arrived very well packaged. The retail box was inside a much thicker transit/shipping box. The ups looks very smart, and the build quality appears high. The front display remains backlit for 1 minute, before turning off. But tapping the power button turns it back on. I have the Power Walker connected to a desk running 2x 32” lcd monitors, a desktop PC, DVD burner, flatbed scanner and inkjet printer. On a full charge, the ups will power the desk for 45 minutes. The PC linked with the ups no problem, via the usb connection, and the low battery signal worked fine in shutting the PC down after 45 minutes. The ups makes a slight humming/buzzing noise when charging. But you can only hear it in a totally quiet room. On power loss, the switchover is instant, the monitors do not even flicker. The only indication that anything has happened, is the the ups will beep once ever 20-30 seconds. The batteries inside are the universally available Yuasa 7Ah, motorbike type. So replacing them in the future will be easy. For quality versus features versus performance, I don’t see how the Power Walker 900 can be beaten.

Great UPS for the money, works perfectly as was tested when the electrician turned the electric off. My only criticism is it doesn't come with a USB cable

Very easy to set up and the webbased monitoring software excellent. This dynamically updates, is well laid out and is highly configurable.During some storms several weeks ago, this device kept my computers alive and safe from harm during numerous brown outs over the course of the day. Since these were only if a couple of seconds each, we normally wouldn't have spotted them.Good product. Pleased with it.