[1canuck2]

Hi,

I recently purchased a Belkin PureAV power conditioner and, in a nicely bone-headed move, thought that it came with integrated UPS, only to discover it does not!:rolleyesno:

I want to also have my home theatre gear (at least my PJ) on a UPS. So...

Should I:
Plug the UPS into the wall, then plug the PF60 into it, then all my gear into the PF60
or
Plug the PF60 into the wall, then the UPS into it, then my gear into the UPS.

I'd like to do the first one, since I get the power "cleaning" benefits of the PF60 and its other features (such as remote trigerrable outlets, etc), but something about this does not feel right.

But if I do the second option, then my gear is plugged into the UPS, which could be dirty again...

Opinions?

The other option I thought of was plugging the PF60 into the wall, plugging my gear into the PF60, and separately plugging just the PJ into the UPS on a separate circuit (thus bypassing the PF60 for the PJ only). But I'd much prefer to have everything into the PF60.

I don't have that much gear, so the power requirements are fine:
Pioneer Elite SC-05 AVR, Wii, PS3, Popcorn Hour, PJ.

Any help/opinions would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[1canuck2]

Replying to myself...
I have sent this question to Belkin directly as well as I am looking at their AVU1500 HT UPS to add to the PF60. I'll post their reply here...

Still interested in opinions though.

 

[lcaillo]

Power conditioner plugged into wall and UPS plugged into it. For surge protection to be effective it needs to be connected directly to the a.c. outlet.

 

[1canuck2]

I agree with the logic of hooking it up this way, and it makes sense, but doesn't that mean I am defeating the purpose of having the PF60 somewhat to hook everything up to a (potentially dirty) UPS after the PF60?

So should I just UPS my PJ and leave the rest of the gear on the PF60?

 

[1canuck2]

So what should I buy instead of the PF60 if I want the conditioning next to my gear, but still have a battery backup?

Any recommendations?

 

[eugovector]

I agree with the logic of hooking it up this way, and it makes sense, but doesn't that mean I am defeating the purpose of having the PF60 somewhat to hook everything up to a (potentially dirty) UPS after the PF60?

So should I just UPS my PJ and leave the rest of the gear on the PF60?

Any quality UPS will produce clean stable power, including protection from voltage sags which a surge protector will not compensate for, not that there would be an audible/visible difference if it were "dirty".

 

[1canuck2]

Are you saying the power conditioner is useless?
Or are you saying its fine to plug a UPS into the power conditioner, then the gear into the UPS and I'll still reap some benefit from the conditioner?

At this point, my thought was to simply by a small power strip style UPS and only plug the PJ into it and have the rest of the gear in the power conditioner only.

Do most people run UPS here (if so, for some or all of your gear?)

My current setup upstairs is split across two UPSes, both are home PC style Belkin's. I have not power conditioner beyond a simple TrippLite AV power strip.

 

[eugovector]

I'm saying that I use a surge protector and UPS, and while I've gained a lot of piece of mind for the safety of my equipment, I've never seen/heard any difference in the performance of my equipment thanks to cleaning up dirty power.

Ever been to bestbuy where they have the monster power display with a speaker hook up so you can hear the difference between their "clean" power and their competitions "dirty"power? Yep, that's snake oil right there.

I think everyone should have at the very least a surge protector, and for more sensitive equipment a UPS, but only to protect against spikes and sags, not to improve performance.

Back to you original question, a quality UPS will protect sensitive equipment by putting out a fairly consistent 110-120, and should be as clean as anything else you could buy, assuming it is not a poorly designed or defective unit.

 

[cavchameleon]

I too agree that you cannot hear/see the difference, but I do use them for added insurance (we have a LOT of lightning strikes and power surges here).

To the OP, I also have the PF60 from Belkin (great unit) and the Belkin PureAV™ Home Theater Battery Backup with AVR Technology (it's not as fancy as the AVU1500 - which is actually just the PF60 with UPS in one unit). If you are using the AVU1500, the PF60 would be redundant. Since I have more equipment than the PF60's outlets, I did need the two units. I have all my main gear (that does not need a UPS) on the PF60 and all my 'memory gear' (DVR, DVD Burner) + display on the Backup. Each unit (PF60 and HT backup) is plugged into it's own outlet and I have not had any grounding issues doing it this way. I figured it would be good to have my audio equipment and the display on different circuits anyway - the audio portion does have the capability of using the available power all by itself (although it never does - most it ever pulls is 9 amps on peaks). Look at the Belkin PureAV™ Home Theater Battery Backup with AVR Technology, it's 1/3 the price of the AVU1500. You already have the PF60, so are pretty well covered with your none UPS needed gear.

Ray

 

[1canuck2]

Thanks for the input, I am glad someone owns and likes it!

I didn't so much buy them for the snake oil idea that my picture/audio would be magically and drastically improved, but we get brown outs and occasional power outs, so I bought it for that, and the number of outlets and the delayed turn on, etc... And it certainly looks like a very nice unit.

The thing I found weird with the Home Theater Battery Backup is that it doesn't match the PF60. The PF60 has a nice blue backlit screen and the Home Theater Battery Backup has old school looking LEDs. Not a reason not to buy it, but it looked less like something I'd want in my rack. My current plan is to run a smaller (cheaper) UPS that will be hidden behind my rack of gear, and only for the PJ. Everything else will go straight into the PF60.

I also found it weird that the cost of Home Theater Battery Backup + the cost of the PF60 is still notably less than the AVU1500, which simply seems to be a combination of the two...

 

[cavchameleon]

Yes, the Home Theater Backup does have an amber display, not as nice as the blue display of the PF60 (which by the way displays the current being used, I like that option). I too wanted the PF60 due to brown outs and especially for the sequential turn-on ability of the outlets. It's a great unit. Teh AVU1500 is not quite the combination of the two as it does have a bigger battery (almost twice the storage) not that it would really be needed. Your option of a hidden one will work great.

 

[horray]

Does the Belkin PureAV enhances the overall sound quality of your HT?

 

[1canuck2]

That's debatable. Some people (prolly the marketers) claim yes. But if it does anything its certainly not to any obvious extent. If you are buying it expecting that highs will be higher, crisper, cleaner, etc you are not going to hear anything notably different.

The main reasons I purchased it was:
Its a power distribution unit (i.e. a trumped up power bar)
It fits in a standard rack of equipment, and it looks good
It displays input voltage and output current (useful to know)
It has configurable delayed power on/off for certain outlets
It should be very good at protecting against spikes and surges (better than a power bar)

From an electronics equipment perspective, it delivers pretty "clean" power that should help protect the equipment's lifespan.

As my initial post indicates, I also thought it had a battery backup, (based on the marketing page on the Belkin site - it is priced between the Home Theater Battery Backup and the AVU1500, both of which have batteries and I assumed it did too), but it does not. You have to step up to the AVU1500 to get that.

 

[cavchameleon]

Does the Belkin PureAV enhances the overall sound quality of your HT?

I think 1canuck2 summed it up pretty good. I also like the programable turnon feature (you can set the delay on each set of banks). It's nice if you have a lot of equipment that you don't want to turn on all at once. Usually amps/subs should be turned on last. I've never found power conditioners to improve the sound or video, especially if your supply source is fairly good (we do have a LOT of lightning here in Albuquerque, so during those time when some of the lights are flickering around the house, this unit does keep it pretty stable, and will shut down if it notices too much of a voltage variation (something a simple power strip will not do).

Ray