CyberPower BRICs Series 650VA LCD UPS

I have never personally used Cyberpower as all of mine have always been APC units. I started with them decades ago and have always had good service from them, so I have stuck with them. Cyperpower seems to have a reasonably good reputation so I would consider them an alternative to the APC. I did look for and found the USB connection port in the photos and it seems to use a standard USB cable rather than the special cable that APC uses, so that is a definite plus for the unit.

My concern would be the length of battery run time. I have an APC 1250VA unit (also with the LCD which I love) and with an ReadyNAS NVX (1 only, I actually have two but turned off one for the test) and a PC with 24" monitor I have a run time of 20 minutes. With two, my fluorescent desk lamp and two printers, I have 13 displayed. (I discovered the other day with a power outage that my printers are connected to the same cord under the desk as the NAS, which I will correct this weekend. Since I have a need for a third unit, I am putting my new 1500VA unit on my NAS units and moving the 1250.

The 650VA on a Duo and a PC may give you 13-15 minutes. If you feel that is enough, then it should be fine. If you have a power outage and are not home, all you really want is an orderly shutdown of the Duo. If you are home, you only want time to orderly shut down the PC and the Duo on your own, or let the UPS do it. I do not worry about an orderly shut down of my PC since I have no data files on it and do not leave with any open files. I have long had the habit of closing all files when I leave the machine.

I do not know if the Cyperpower software will allow you to monitor the status of the Duo. The Duo can pass the shut down instruction on to other NAS units, but you would need software on the PC to initiate an orderly shutdown on the PC. If your budget will handle it, you might consider a slightly larger unit. I notice the Cyberpower BRICs Series 850VA is only 6 Pounds more. That to me seems a better buy.

Hey I just purchased a Cyberpower BRIC 850V LCD UPS from Officeworks for $137. Seems to work fine with my ReadyNAS duo, including monitoring via USB cable. It's statused correctly at the ReadyNAS - remaining time and battery charge (from Status/Health) is consistent with the LCD display on the UPS (ReadyNAS reports as "CPS UPS VALUE, Battery charge: 100%, 43 minutes"). Have only had it for 2 days but seems great. Also did the power off test, NAS also correctly reported it was on battery power when it was, and correctly reported it was back on mains when it was. For the price, this seems like a good deal and easy to get in Australia too from Officeworks (I'm in Perth).