The Best UPS for Home Use (Updated for 2021)

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The UPS or Uninterruptible Power Supply is a fantastic appliance to add to your home. They provide power to your computer, television, or other devices when the power is out. They can even be used to charge your cell phone, tablet, or laptop in the same event. By selecting the best UPS for home use, you’ll be able to safely power and protect many of your home electronics when the power grid is not behaving.

Unfortunately, selecting a quality UPS for home use is a difficult process because there are just so many terrible products in the UPS marketplace these days.  It is very common for the batteries to fail, the components to just stop working when you need them most, and to be unable to get warranty replacement from the hardware vendor due to all kinds of disclaimers and limitations in their standard warranty. 

The Best UPS for Home Use

So let’s talk about what makes a quality UPS for home users. It’s important to choose wisely when considering products in this category.  There are several ratings and categories that UPS systems fall into, and many ways that manufacturers manipulate those numbers to make them look better on paper.

• Line Interactive Conditioning – Some UPS systems are line interactive, while others are backup power only.  Line interactive is a technology that allows the UPS to correct many spikes, under-voltage, and over-voltage situations without switching to battery power. This is a much cleaner way of handling these types of problems, helps preserve battery life, and is quieter in operation.  Backup only style UPS systems must switch to battery power under all of these conditions.
• Runtime – Runtime is the length of time you can expect a given UPS to operate on battery power. This is a number you should pay close attention to, as manufacturers can be sneaky here. Look for a load number attached to runtime calculations.  A UPS with a runtime of 10 minutes at 50% load is basically the same as a UPS that runs 5 minutes at a 90% load. If no load is specified, you should probably avoid that product.  (We’re going to focus on two classes of UPS systems in this review.  UPS with runtimes around the 10 minute mark, and those int he 30 minute mark.)
• Sine wave – The type of waveform for power coming from your household electrical socket is in the form of a sine wave.  Some equipment is very sensitive to this waveform being correctly generated.  Since UPS systems convert DC power from a battery into AC, they are not always good at creating a proper sine wave. Some cheap UPS systems attempt to substitute a square wave that may not work with all devices. Look for sine wave or simulated sine wave when selecting the best UPS for home use!

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The Best UPS for Home Use (~10 Minute Runtime)

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First, let’s cover the best UPS for home use that have a runtime of roughly 10 minutes.  A UPS in this category will be less expensive, have fewer options and features, but should be great for backing up small computers, TVs, radios, or other small appliances.

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#1 – CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD

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This CyperPower CP1500AVRLCD is an intelligent UPS System capable of 1500VA (900W).  It has a total of 12 Outlets and is in the mini-tower form factor making it capable, but also easy to find a place for next to your desk.  The CP1500AVRLCD is also a fantastic choice for protecting theater room equipment such as projectors and A/V receivers. 

Complete Specs for this UPS:

• 1500VA/900 Watts
• 4ms transfer time
• 12 Minute runtime on fully charged batteries
• 12 outlets: 6 on battery, 6 surge only
• Line interactive (AVR)
• 8 hour recharge time
• Simulated Sinewave Waveform
• Phone/Network surge ports
• LCD status screen
• USB for remote control and PC safe shutdown

The CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD is the cutting edge of technology in this price point and runtime level.  It is super quiet, can condition power without switching to battery. Provides simulated sine waves to make most equipment happy, and provides plenty of outlets for all the devices in a busy home office.  Finally, it has a very respectable 3 year warranty that CyperPower is know for honoring should any problems arise.

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Runner Up – The APC BX1500M

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The Runner Up on your best UPS for home use in the ~10 minute category is the APC BX1500M. This unit provides most of the features we like to see in a UPS in this category. It also comes with APC’s PowerChute software which is actually decent (unlike many software add-ons of this nature). PowerChute of course is APC’s proprietary UPS control and monitoring software. 

When installed on your PC, it allows you to monitor all of vitals on your power, battery performance, etc. It even offers the ability to shutdown your PC when safely and cleanly when the battery has drained to critically low levels.

Specs for the APC BX1500M:

• 1500VA/900 Watts
• 8-10ms transfer time
• 12 Minute runtime on fully charged batteries
• 10 outlets: 5 on battery, 5 surge only
• Line interactive 
• Simulated Sine wave Waveform
• Phone/Network surge ports
• 16 hour re-charge (rather slow)
• LCD status screen
• USB for remote control and PC safe shutdown

The main reasons that APC comes in at second place come down to three main gaps: Higher price, slower transfer time, and much slower recharge time.

A UPS needs to be zippy when it comes to recharge time. That’s because power tends to fail during events like thunderstorms. This can result in numerous power outages back to back.  You’d like your UPS to be back up to charge and ready to take on the next event as quickly as possible.

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The Best UPS for Home Use (~30 Minute Runtime)

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Now let’s cover the next category: UPS systems that can sustain your PC for around 30 minutes. That’s about three times the length of the two UPS systems listed above.  These are typically used when you have equipment you need to keep running for longer periods of times, or you have multiple devices you want to backup for shorter periods of time.

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#1 – CyberPower PR1500LCDRTXL2U

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This CyberPower PR1500LCDRTXL2U is an intelligent UPS System running 1500VA with a capacity of 1500 watts!  It has a total of 8 Outlets and is in the mini-tower or rack form factor making it very capable.  The PR1500LCDRTXL2U is also a ultimate choice for protecting theater room equipment as it support rack mounting in a 2U form factor!

• 1500VA/1500 Watts
• 4ms transfer time
• 30 Minute runtime on fully charged batteries
• 8 outlets
• Line interactive (AVR)
• Less than 6 hours recharge time
• Sinewave Waveform
• Support for SNMP Webcard
• LCD status screen
• USB for remote control and PC safe shutdown

The CyberPower PR1500LCDRTXL2U is the cutting edge of technology in this price point and runtime level!  Having the choice between tower/stand mounting and 2U rack mounting makes it super diverse.  Perfect for running your home PC during an extended power outage, or for running your home theater rack when it needs it the most.

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Runner Up – The APC Smart UPS SMT1500C

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The Runner Up on your best UPS for home use in the ~30 minute category is the APC SMT1500 Smart UPS. The desktop form factor makes it nice and compact, and mostly silent, albeit somewhat bulky when using in something like a theater room closet, so we’ve selected it for our runner up position.  The price is good, and the specs and performance match up for about what you’d expect.

Specs for the APC SMT1500:

• 1500VA/1000 Watts
• 5ms transfer time
• 22 Minute runtime on fully charged batteries
• 8 outlets
• Line interactive 
• Sine wave Waveform
• Phone/Network surge ports
• 4-5 hour re-charge
• LCD status screen
• USB for remote control and PC safe shutdown

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So that wraps up my pics for the best pfSense hardware for business users.  If you have any questions or need anymore help, just let us know in the comments and we will try to answer them for you!

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