EDIT! Update as of November 28, 2014 I have been using this for 4 years so far and it has helped me tons during power failures (even giant storms that knock out the power for days). I normally use this for computers mostly, but in case a huge storm knocks out power (hurricanes, durachios, etc.) I can at least keep all my food frozen solid (although defrosting it and eating it becomes a problem). With a large enough battery I was able to run it for about 2-3 days along with other rotary cooling devices. During longer power failures I would suggest attaching solar panels and a charge controller to the battery to help out, but NEVER when the AC comes back on. Also, when I had this temporarily attached to a gasoline generator (bad idea) the UPS works quite well for its intended function in AC mode. What I mean by this is that in AC mode it will correct the output waveform so it is consistent (120V) as the UPS conditions the line. So if you are powering the UPS off very bad AC power (generators, bad power companies, etc.) you may notice that the battery does not even charge at all because the UPS keeps conditioning the power. In that event, the only way to charge it is when nothing is attached to it (nothing plugged in to get power). Also, when I attached this to a Kill-a-Watt the PF is almost nearly 1.0 at around 0.90-0.95 or so, but the Kill-a-Watt is a cheap measuring device so it might not be that accurate. And another note that if this is attached to any GFCI plug, the GFCI will trip. However, all my other UPSes trip GFCIs anyway. EDIT! Old Review: March 17, 2011; Edit 1: May 10, 2011 As of May 10, 2011, the unit still works properly. I have had this unit for 6 months and despite probably being hooked up improperly still works as it should. After a massive day long powerfailure with a bunch of powerfailures before I got tired of the electrical setup where I was and just decided to get a UPS. Since I had it setup, there have been a bunch of micro power failures, voltage dips, and such. I bought a gigantic battery, but my load is currently 130W so this is probably overkill for what I use on average, but if I ever need to pull a larger load I will not have to worry about that. However with such a large battery and a small load you can keep whatever's plugged into it on for a long time hopefully, I hope the better part of 2 days. << DO NOT DO THIS >> The holes where you plug the cables into are small, so I just screwed the screw like things up into the battery loops, which might not be the safest thing to do. Not sure about that however. It does work and has worked with 300W loads just fine. If anyone has a link to a much better cable, that would be very appreciated so I could get a proper setup. A small adapter thing would work also so I can just latch my existing cable onto them. << DO NOT DO THIS >> << DO THIS >> Make sure AC is unplugged, the battery is not connected yet and the unit is switched off! I bought thePower Bright 2-AWG3 2 AWG Gauge 3-Foot Professional Series Inverter Cables along this UPS originally and I still use them. However, what I did last month (April) was that I cut off one end of each of the cables and exposed about 1 to 2 inches of the cable. I then pushed the exposed portion of the cable into the UPS power holes and used an L wrench to tighten the cable as much as possible to the point where it no longer moves at all. This way the cable is secure and shouldn't fall out and is fully contacted in the UPS. Once done do not bother to remove it at all. Also if you look inside of the unit with a flashlight, you can see the same thing being done on the far end. So to recap, make sure you push the exposed copper cable in as far as it goes (should touch the far end) then tighten as far as it can go. << DO THIS >> The unit lacks the other dip switches so you may or may not be OK in your situation. So when the manual mentions the optional switches, sulk knowing you have no control and no way of knowing what the unit is doing, despite that, you could assume it uses the default settings. When the battery is fully charged and not inverting, it's pretty quiet although it makes a slight electrical hum noise. When the inverter is on, the unit buzzes quite loudly. When it's charging the fan turns on full blast and is noisy. it also clicks alot, sometimes at random. The "traffic light" interface is good. It works for the battery charge so you have an estimate of how much you got while the other indicators work well whether it's charging or inverting. The plug you see there is a standard RJ45 8P8C T568 (Ethernet cable) but do not plug it into your network otherwise you will fry the entire network. The plug is used for the "remote control" module, which varies depending on it's usefulness in your situation. But overall, the unit has performed well never being turned off for 6 months with no maintenence so far. However, here are some important tips: *) CAREFUL WHEN HOOKING UP THE BATTERIES, THE SPARKS FLY FAR! *) BE SURE THE CONNECTIONS ARE AS TIGHT AS YOU CAN MAKE IT, BECAUSE THE TERMINALS CAN GET HOT DUE TO LOOSE CONNECTIONS. *) USE LOWER NUMBERED AWG CABLES, THEY ARE THICKER AND ARE MUCH BETTER. ALTHOUGH THEY ARE EXPENSIVE, THEY PROBABLY WON'T INSTANTLY FRY.
