UltimateAVmag.com APC Product Review
Find out what the editors of UltimateAVmag.com had to say about one of APC's earlier S type battery backup power conditioners.

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Home entertainment systems are becoming increasingly more complex, making heavy demands on the AC power that comes into your home. Power fluctuations are common and can affect the lifespan of your expensive A/V equipment while more serious power anomalies can even damage your gear beyond repair.

For instance, certain components now take on characteristics we have associated with computers by utilizing internal hard drives, such as digital video recorders (DVR) and multi-media servers, making them more susceptible to power outages and fluctuating voltage levels. Losing power at the wrong time can result in permanently losing media that is stored on the device, and like any hard drive it can become corrupted, even physically damaged.

Another concern is digital projectors, plasma and other light bulb-based TV's. If power is cut suddenly the internal fans don't have a chance to cool down, which can damage expensive bulbs leading to premature failure.

Then there are sophisticated home automation systems that give users the ability to control lighting, security, climate control and distributed AV systems from any room in the house. These automated control systems are sensitive to blackouts and fluctuating voltages. Aside from being inoperable when the power is out, shutting these devices down at the wrong time or for a long duration can result in lost presets or booting the system back up into the wrong state, which then requires the installer to make a service call.

As people’s lifestyles become increasingly more intertwined with their A/V systems, computers, home networking and automation, the tolerance for downtime has decreased. It can be said that the penetration of high-speed Internet access has played a large role in fostering the “always on, always available” mentality.

To prevent lost data, shortened lifespan of expensive gear, costly service calls and to ensure electronics continue to work properly under all conditions, a battery backup system is a must. APC's Power Conditioners with Battery Backup (also known as uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)), help eliminate power anomalies as a threat to component hardware, A/V signal integrity, and system availability. Unstable power can destroy component power supplies, negatively impact sound and video quality as well as result in lost presets, damaged hard drives, and missed digital video recordings (DVRs).

In the event of a power outage, an extremely deep power sag or over-voltage, APC's Battery Backup systems instantaneously provide a pure sine wave from its internal batteries to keep your entire system up and running without interruption. The use of a sine wave when on battery backup ensures the purest power possible for all A/V components. With a battery backup system, your DVR will never miss a recording, system presets and hard drive data will never be lost and even during a blackout* you can finish a movie, game, or pay-per-view event. Home security and automation systems will remain operational no matter what happens to the power. APC's Power Conditioners with Battery Backup are the only single A/V power protection units able to defend a system against all these threats.

* The APC S15 model allows the addition of extra battery packs (SBATT) to get longer runtimes when power is out. Even at full load capacity, it is possible to have well over an hour of runtime available when the power goes out.

To find the appropriate APC product for your system, look at APC's AV Power Solutions at a Glance.