Thread: Shipping costs for R2000's UPS?

PowerCom BlackKnight Pro 1000AP. Look for one.

I run the BlackKnight 1500VA at work, absolutely fantastic UPS those! Even the 1kva is worth it I assure u boet...

Back to the original question Im not too sure and cant offer any help

That price covers a case and monitor according to to their postage terms and conditions - Prophecy.co.za - so I can't imagine a UPS would be more.

This includes up to one screen and one case per order - if you order more than this, an additional shipping fee may be charged - we will contact you if this is the case.

Thanks Oj. I guess it would be shipped 4 free since it weighs 10kg, which is about the same as the large tower cases.

Hmm, I might go for the following 1kVA UPS instead: Prophecy.co.za - PowerCom King Pro 1000KVA UPS @ R1298.30 << LOL at 1000kVA title

APC UPS's are excellent, but you definitely pay for the brand name.
The APC one has an USB interface, where as the Powercom ones only have RS232 (serial) interface.

A Sunix adapater will sort you out. Yeah APC are definitely the best but woah at those prices. I went with a PowerCom BlackKnight Pro and have not needed to look back. It's been great for 2 years now though I guess it's approaching the time where I need to think about a new battery/replacement UPS.

One of these will sort you out.
Prophecy.co.za - sunix UTS1009 usb to 1 serial port ( 9pin ) adapter , 16 byte har

No worries, just note that I do not speak on behalf of the Prophecy staff and could be wrong. I'm just giving a logical answer here

Assuming the software can interface through USB. I've had a lot of those come back as their 19-voetsek P.O.S. (no, I'm not being rude - point of sale) software can't address anything USB.

Originally Posted by Oj

Assuming the software can interface through USB. I've had a lot of those come back as their 19-voetsek P.O.S. (no, I'm not being rude - point of sale) software can't address anything USB.

The problem comes from most of these using Prolific chips, a company which refuses to support any new OSs since XP so it's up to the OEM to create drivers and most don't feel like forking out for WHQL driver signing and thus they don't work. Sunix however is different. Their drivers work perfectly. Just before I bought one I even sent them an email (something I thought would be a fruitless process but I did so anyway) asking whether their drivers were propperly signed and they assured me they were and sent instructions and pictures with the email and sure enough when I got the adapter it worked fine. The email reply was really prompt too, like half a day...from company in malasia or who knows where. I was impressed.
It may look like chinese junk but it's everything but that.


Bah nevermind, it seems Prolific have had to change their tune as well and their non WHQL 2007 drivers (and the screw Vista and 7 message) are gone in favour if 2010 ones with full support.

No no no, you misunderstand completely. I'm talking about the UPS software. If the UPS software can't interface through USB (which is possible) it simply won't work through USB.

It's interfacing through a fake COM port, not USB. As far as my PowerCom is concerned it's connected to COM port 5.

Ok, you've confirmed that the UPS software works but trust me, there is some legacy software (early 90s) that doesn't work with it. As I have never had the pleasure of working with one of these UPSs I don't know the software but imagined it would be much like any of the others - leaving much to be desired

It uses UPSMon
http://www.powermatic.co.th/product/w_monp.htm

Thanks Schumi and Oj.
@Oj: I know that you're only making logical guesses - as am I
@Schumi: Good suggestion for that serial to USB device. The one (serial to USB chip) that I used in my 3rd year project also emulated a COM port, but it was a mission to get the drivers working.

Perhaps I should rather go for the 1.5kVA Black Knight Pro one, since I'm gonna be running a reasonably power hungry PC:
i7 940 + 2x GTX460 on a AX750W PSU (~400W) + 22" LCD (~40W)
... and the APC BR800i is only rated for 540W. So the 800VA APC UPS should be strong enough.

I'm not that much worried about the time that the UPS can run my PC on batteries. I'm more concerned about protecting my hardware and the work that I'm busy with.
That APC comes with a free full data recovery service, which is probably why the UPS is so expensive too

Since you guys are using the 1500VA Black Knight Pro UPS, may I ask how much are you loading it?
I'm really afraid that I'm gonna regret that I didn't go for the APC one instead if I find out that the PowerCom one was only designed to deliver like 600VA continuous load...

Hmm, this topic should perhaps be moved to Buying Advice. At R50 shipping cost, its almost free too.

I've got the 1000AP, not the 1500 one :P

That said it's using about 17% idle and light use, not sure how much when I'm actually playing a game since well...I'm playing a game XD. Strangely the 17% idle turns to 30% though whenever the power actually does end up getting turned off (I think my screen may suddenly want more juice, since with the old 19 inch that never happened). It can run my system idle/light use for like 15 minutes before it announces it has to shut down due to low battery.

By the way if you don't have any you're also going to want 4 PC power extension cables since just one is a little too short to reach so you'll need 2 for the screen and 2 for the PC. Can't remember now whether the UPS comes with one or not, so it could be just 3 that are needed.

I'm OK with the number of power cords. I've modified my multi adapter (5x 3-pin + 5x 2-pin 220V plugs) to work from a PC power cord
My current UPS only had 3 outputs in any case.

The power consumption is not supposed to change whenever it switches from AC power to battery backup power. The only reason I see why it can change is due to poor efficiency when ramping the voltage up using the inverter, but I can't see how you can have such a poor efficiency that it would be almost 100% worse!

It does for some reason...but only since I hooked up the 22 inch.
I guess it's overdue that I get a new battery/replace the the thing XD

It'll follow our normal shipping procedures. Free to a major centre and R120 flat rate to a regional area