INTRODUCTION

   Winter is coming and with it brings serious headaches, especially for people living in the European Union. This of course doesn’t apply to just people but also every piece of electronic device we have in our houses (power outages, blackouts, etc) so for today’s review I wanted to get a rather compact UPS model which could be used by anyone with a large number of devices without breaking the bank in terms of cost. In the end after checking out the 20 most popular models today my pick was no other than the Back-UPS BE850G2-GR model by APC (Schneider Electric).

   As a global specialist in energy management and automation with operations in more than 100 countries, Schneider Electric offers integrated solutions across multiple market segments, including leadership positions in Non-residential & Residential Buildings, Industries & Machines Manufacturers, Utilities & Infrastructure and Data Centres & Networks. Focused on making energy safe, reliable, efficient, productive and green, the company's 170,000 employees achieved revenues of 30 billion US dollars in 2014, through an active commitment to help individuals and organisations make the most of their energy.

   This specific line of Back-UPS uninterrupted power supplies by APC includes just two models with rather limited capacities (650VA, 400W/850VA, 520W) making it clear from the get go that they can be used with pretty much any electrical device found in homes and offices (still not the ideal choice for sensitive equipment). Both models are available with either schuko or BS 1363 power sockets (8 in total – 6 battery and surge protected and 2 surge protected) and feature standby topology with stepped approximation to a sinewave output waveform which according to APC means low transfer times from 6ms and up to 10ms. Of course, these models also feature user replaceable and hot-swappable batteries (RBC17 model - up to 5 years life expectancy), audible alarms, building wiring fault indicator, user adjustable voltage sensitivity, automatic self-test, resettable circuit breaker and intelligent battery management (ensures optimal battery charging). Finally, these models pack two USB charging ports (USB-A & USB-C / 2.4A), Ethernet to USB connectivity (PowerChute Personal Edition) and two RJ11 telephone surge protection ports. This may be a budget friendly model for both home and office use but it does look very nice on paper so let’s see what it has to offer.