INTRODUCTION

   I can't really speak for all of you out there since i haven't really spent that much time in other countries to have a valid opinion but where i live electricity is not very stable and so the first thing i always say whenever people ask me about what PSU (power supply unit) they should choose is to get a UPS first (uninterruptible power supply) to ensure that nothing ends up getting fried in their systems (especially if we are talking about expensive configurations). Granted many power supply units feature electrical protections that can successfully shield your systems from such unpleasant events but personally i think it's far better to be safe than sorry so as we speak i have all my test rigs plugged into 4 UPS units (two 1000VA and two 1500VA). However much like everything else UPS devices also differ according to build quality and different levels of protection offered so in the market we one can find consumer oriented ones aimed for house use, advanced ones for the more demanding office use and finally professional ones designed mostly to withstand the demands of enterprise environments where you simply can't afford not having the best there is. CyberPower is amongst the leading UPS manufacturers and today we will be taking a look at their latest professional Rackmount series UPS unit the 1500VA/1125W PR1500ELCDRTXL2U.

   Undoubtedly, we are in a speedy technology age, various state-of-the-art and innovative products are booming to meet our demands all around the world. But no matter what flourishing our technology is, some resources we keep used are obviously rare, and unstable, like electricity. That is why reliable and high-quality power supplies are significant factors you should take care seriously. CyberPower is a leading provider of professional power management solutions. We provide reliable computer battery backup systems, power management applications, and series of computer accessories for desktop, workstation, and network equipment. Available through authorized distributors, VARs, retail, mail order and e-commerce resellers, CyberPower state-of-the-art UPS systems include advanced features in a compact, lightweight, easy-to-use system. Since CyberPower opened its office in the United States and Europe, the worldwide distribution of CyberPower products has grown significantly. Today, CyberPower boasts a complete line of emergency battery backup systems for all computer systems. CyberPower produces the most affordable line of dependable uninterruptible power systems and offers the most feature-rich intelligent battery backup power protection units on the market today. CyberPower continuously makes feature improvements to our UPS's to bring maximum value to the customer, and lets CyberPower become a true "Global Leading UPS Provider".

   Some may quite naturally wonder as to what makes professional grade UPS units like the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U superior to normal ones and actually if we were to get into this the list is so long that these lines wouldn't be enough. However if i had to specifically pick the top 6 features that i think make the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U quite unique it would be the well tested line-interactive topology (corrects minor power fluctuations without switching to battery), pure sinewave output (less than 3% total harmonic distortion when using the battery), automatic voltage regulator (automatically regulates low or high voltages to keep equipment working at safe AC power levels without switching to battery), green power UPSTM Technology (reduces UPS energy costs by up to 75%), hot swap battery pack (allows for easy replacement of the battery by the end user) and of course the multifunction 3" LCD readout. Also worth noticing is that although most consumer oriented 1500VA UPS units in the market can handle loads up to 900W thanks to the professional grade components and advanced technologies used the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U can handle loads more efficiently resulting to a total of 1125W. So do all of these features and specifications translate into an amazing professional grade UPS unit? Well let's find out.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Professional grade products are not famous for their shipping boxes and so CyberPower packs the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U inside a plain cardboard box with their logo on it (a quite large one weighing 40kg).

As you can see the unit is placed between two very thick foam spacers while the bundle is placed both inside a cardboard box and in an opening of the top foam spacer.

The bundle couldn't be any richer so aside the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U UPS unit you will also get the user manual, three IEC O/P power cords, software CD, phone cable, USB A+B type cable, two DB-9 serial cables, EPO cable, Rackmount brackets, skids, two stands, Rackmount mounting screws, several washers and the power cable.

THE PR1500ELCDRTXL2U

Just the UPS itself weighs a total of 34.5Kg and measures 480mm in length, 433mm in depth and 88mm in height.

CyberPower has placed their logo on the top of the unit.

The perforated front fascia may look somewhat empty but compared to most UPS units it's actually not (behind the fascia there are two 80mm intake fans and the hot-swap battery pack).

Since the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U features the green power UPSTM energy saving technology naturally CyberPower has placed a small logo on the far left of the fascia.

The CyberPower logo is also placed at the center of the fascia.

A convenient and useful 3" LCD readout is also present at the front.

Right next to that LCD screen we see the protected power on/off button and a select button (used to navigate through the available functions of the LCD readout).

The show really starts once you turn the unit around and see all the available ports it has to offer.

So from left to right we have 10 IEC320C13 power outlets (you can give more runtime to equipment connected to the critical ones in expense of equipment connected to the non-critical ones), two output circuit breakers, 3 external battery communicators (extended runtime), 80mm exhaust fan, USB port, two serial ports, SNMP/HTTP network slot (monitor and control via network), emergency power off port (remotely), surge protected communication ports (RJ11/RJ45), input circuit breaker and the AC inlet.

The electrical specifications of the unit are placed on a small sticker on the right side.

Now one of the features we all liked with the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U is the rotatable multifunction LCD readout at the front which is placed horizontally by default.

However if you decide to place the unit in a tower position with the provided stands like we did you can remove the LCD readout and place it vertically as seen above.

Also worth mentioning is that the free lead acid battery pack itself (12V, DC/9Ah) is quite massive and weighs no less than 16kg.

LCD READOUT

The 3" LCD offers a plethora of information such as the input voltage (can be used as a diagnostic tool to identify poor-quality input power), output voltage, estimate run time, battery capacity and load capacity. There are also several icons that start flashing according with the current state of the unit such as the normal icon which illuminates when the UPS is working normally, the battery icon which indicates that the UPS is now using its internal battery pack, automatic voltage regulation (AVR) icon that appears when the unit is regulating low or high AC input line voltage conditions without using the internal battery, silent mode icon that indicates that the buzzer will not be beeping while in battery mode, overload icon which indicates that an overload has occurred and the fault icon which indicates a system fault error.

POWERPANEL BUSINESS EDITION

Although CyberPower bundles a software CD with the Business Edition i really recommend grabbing the latest version from their website.

Unlike the personal edition that comes bundled with more mainstream UPS units by CyberPower the business edition uses a normal explorer window and offers a much larger number of settings one can mess around with. The really good part is that every single page in the business edition software is very forthcoming so through all the tabs you can check the state of the unit, configure the exact power failure conditions, perform battery/runtime diagnostics, check the system logs, setup event notifications, schedule automatic shutdowns, adjust the login settings and set both the work days and hours of the user.

CONCLUSION

   Prior to finishing and publishing this review we actually spend almost two months of testing not only because we wanted to put the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U up against real fluctuations coming from the electrical grid but also because of its sheer weight which made it extremely hard for us to put on the photo bench and take pictures (34.5Kg on an 30Kg certified bench is not recommended). Nevertheless although in the end as you can all see we did manage to take pictures of the unit we were not lucky enough (if you can call it that) to get extreme electrical fluctuations from the local grid and so we had to improvise. So instead we simulated several electricity cuts by switching the main power of the lab off, sometimes for long periods of time (during which we used the main test rig to play games in order to see just how well the unit would cope) and others just instantly. Through these tests it's very easy to check the quality and performance of a UPS unit and the fact that both of the AEG 1000VA ones we have here were unable to endure them in a way proves that (the CyberPower CP1500EPFCLCD we have here also had no problem with these tests). One of things many people will love is that during all our tests the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U was pretty much inaudible although it does feature three 80mm fans (something i can't say for most UPS units I’ve tried in the past). Perhaps the only thing i would like to see by CyberPower would be a PowerPanel design similar to the personal edition since i am really tired of explorer based control panels (modem/routers, NAS servers and webcams are more than enough) but that's just me being picky.

   Professional grade UPS units usually don't come cheap but i was surprised to see that the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U is not actually as expensive as i thought it would be and so our friends accross the Atlantic can currently find it on sale for an incredible price of just USD350.16 (PR1500LCDRTXL2U model) inside the USA (Purchase Directly From Amazon.com) while for EU residents things are not really that good since here it retails for 600Euros (Purchase Directly from Amazon.de). Leaving out the price however (the quite attractive one inside the USA) because of their size and design Rackmount equipment is mostly ment for enterprise use but lucky for us CyberPower has made certain that the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U can be used pretty much everywhere by giving it a more "flexible" tower design so whether you want a professional grade UPS for home, office or business use the PR1500ELCDRTXL2U has you covered and then some thanks to the many state of the art technologies used and because of all of the things mentioned it earns our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Performance
- Technologies Used (Pure SineWave/Green Power UPSTM/Automatic Voltage Regulation)
- 3" Multi-Function LCD Readout
- Hot-Swap Battery Pack
- Rackmount And Tower Design
- Extended Runtime By Using More Battery Packs (Up To 10)
- Protected On/Off Button
- 1500VA/1125W
- Equipment Protection Policy (100k)
- Current Price (In The USA) 

CONS

- Current Price (In The EU)