I cannot find any review of Prolink UPS so here is mine (work-in-progress):
Prolink 1200SFCU (designed in Singapore and made in China)
Plus:
But like all the cheap UPS, it is basically a plastic case housing a transformer, a control pcb, and two 12V maintenance-free lead-acid batteries in series.
The ventilation is very poor, so out of the box, the UPS overheats with the transformer cooking the electronics and battery inside. My room smells like burning plastic after some time.
To me it seems like the same manufacturer of the APC UPS RS home series: same kind of soft plastic case with hardly any ventilation holes, similar kind of EI-transformer core that heats up to 50 degrees C during usage. I was not happy that my APC UPS RS-500 went completely dead after less than the 2 years warranty period. After some investigation with the RMA version, I found out by using a thermocouple that the transformer inside heated up to 50 degrees C. The rest of of the electronics and battery were pretty cool.
So from my experience, this UPS will cook itself and just burn your money up just after the warranty period is over. But the screw to reach the transformer is covered by warranty sticker. I discovered the plastic case is quite soft. With a flat head screwdriver, I knock out holes from the side of the plastic where the vertical ventilation slits are located. It seems that someone designed the case, but forgot to remove the covers to these slits. The front cover can be removed, presumably to replace battery, without any warranty sticker in the way. I got to look inside and dump out all the broken plastic slits. See here.
To make the passive ventilation work using the vertical side slits, I had to turn the UPS 90 degrees so that cool air enters from the bottom slits and hot air from the transformer rises out of the top slits. See here. Now, the burning smell of plastic is reduced (not gone completely though).
Test is done by shutting the AC power supply to the UPS. The programmed single beep every few seconds is there as usual. But there is buzzing noise when it runs on battery. Sounds very similar to the APC UPS that I had previously.
Automatic shutdown is handled by Viewpower software on my Windows 7 pc. I scheduled 10 min runtime on battery after which it shuts down the pc, and then 2 mins later the UPS is programmed by Viewpower to shutdown itself (to shut down the router and fibre ONT) to prevent the battery from being drained completely. Everything worked during the test.
Unfortunately the 10mins run time is purely my guesswork, because the software does not calculate for me how much run time I have based on the load level on the UPS.
Prolink 1200SFCU (designed in Singapore and made in China)
Plus:
- The price is hard to beat, 1200VA simulated sine wave UPS (or about 600W) for only $169 with USB control (free Viewpower software that works even with Linux and MacOS). The other is Sensonic 1500 VA UPS for $219, but their bundled software only works for Windows up to version 7 as stated in their brochure.
But like all the cheap UPS, it is basically a plastic case housing a transformer, a control pcb, and two 12V maintenance-free lead-acid batteries in series.
The ventilation is very poor, so out of the box, the UPS overheats with the transformer cooking the electronics and battery inside. My room smells like burning plastic after some time.
To me it seems like the same manufacturer of the APC UPS RS home series: same kind of soft plastic case with hardly any ventilation holes, similar kind of EI-transformer core that heats up to 50 degrees C during usage. I was not happy that my APC UPS RS-500 went completely dead after less than the 2 years warranty period. After some investigation with the RMA version, I found out by using a thermocouple that the transformer inside heated up to 50 degrees C. The rest of of the electronics and battery were pretty cool.
So from my experience, this UPS will cook itself and just burn your money up just after the warranty period is over. But the screw to reach the transformer is covered by warranty sticker. I discovered the plastic case is quite soft. With a flat head screwdriver, I knock out holes from the side of the plastic where the vertical ventilation slits are located. It seems that someone designed the case, but forgot to remove the covers to these slits. The front cover can be removed, presumably to replace battery, without any warranty sticker in the way. I got to look inside and dump out all the broken plastic slits. See here.
To make the passive ventilation work using the vertical side slits, I had to turn the UPS 90 degrees so that cool air enters from the bottom slits and hot air from the transformer rises out of the top slits. See here. Now, the burning smell of plastic is reduced (not gone completely though).
Test is done by shutting the AC power supply to the UPS. The programmed single beep every few seconds is there as usual. But there is buzzing noise when it runs on battery. Sounds very similar to the APC UPS that I had previously.
Automatic shutdown is handled by Viewpower software on my Windows 7 pc. I scheduled 10 min runtime on battery after which it shuts down the pc, and then 2 mins later the UPS is programmed by Viewpower to shutdown itself (to shut down the router and fibre ONT) to prevent the battery from being drained completely. Everything worked during the test.
Unfortunately the 10mins run time is purely my guesswork, because the software does not calculate for me how much run time I have based on the load level on the UPS.
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