Powercom 1000VA UPS 

This Powercom UPS is a good option to back up several PCs. It comes with a surge protection port for telephone lines and an option to connect external batteries for longer backups. The UPS has four power outlets and one bypass surge protection port for laser printers. It has two 12V 7AH batteries inside. It comes with a control software, called UPSMON Plus for Windows, which provides information such as input and output voltages and frequency, the % load connected to the UPS, as well as the battery level. Its configuration panel lets you define the various timings that it should follow, like the delay before it warns the user on power loss and before it shuts down. There's even a scheduler that lets you pre-define when to run various tests on the UPS. An Event Log record the complete activity of the UPS. The software can even send e-mail and pager alerts to the system administrator about various events, which can be defined.

The UPS-control software provides a host of useful information about the UPS

We tested the UPS to check its switchover voltage range, output voltage regulation, back-up time and cold start. The UPS is found to live up to its rated capacity of 1 kVA. It provided a broad switchover voltage range of 142 to 288 volts. The maximum and minimum output voltage varied between 197 to 252 Volts. The float voltage was 2.26 volts per cell, which is within limits. The UPS was also able to cold start 80% of its rated load, which was 520 Watts. The UPS provided backup to 80% of its rated load for up to 5 mins 50 secs. Overall it performed better than its 600 VA cousin that we reviewed earlier. 

Bottom Line: A good UPS for small offices, given the performance and features.

Anubhav Verma