APC J35B 8-Outlet J-Type Rack-Mountable Power Conditioner with Battery Backup

I used a typical surge protector on my two computers, music equipment, and other office electrical items. It worked fine but I was concerned with cleaner power. I wasn't sure that power conditioners really worked but when I saw the APC model that included battery backup I knew I had to try it. The unit is very heavy because of the batteries but it is well laid out and contains a small LCD screen that contains very useful information. The battery backup works, too! I tested the battery backup by removing the power supply from the outlet. The two computers and all the other electrical devices all worked fine. The real test came this week with Hurricane Sandy - the house briefly lost power but everything connected to the APC continued without any issue - no need to restart, no need to reload programs, or re-continue ongoing downloads. The power conditioning seems to work well. Sound from the attached musical equipment seems to have cleaner, more profound bass. Not sure I could prove that but I am very satisfied with the product. Five stars!!

Yeeeeaaaaaaaaa BUDDY! A round of applause, a fist pump, and a high five all in one unit I apologize in advance for the lengthy review/thoughts. I felt it important to include everything I experienced to help save the next consumer time and energy. You will still need to research but you will at least have the outline mapped out. As I researched I made a word document full of notes, if you are interested in this - feel free to comment and I can send. BACKGROUND/HISTORY: Lets start by saying before you go all in on a power conditioner, you want to do at least a dozen hours of research if not more to understand whats available and best for you, your equipment, and your area. I spent most of my time flipping pages in AVSforum. There is enough knowledge to fill dozens of college text books from industry professionals, extreme enthusiasts (audiophiles), and individuals like myself who want to invest a little money to protect their electronic valuables. If you really want to go down the rabbit hole and have some serious $ and equipment you probably want to check out audiophile or hifi forums. My understanding is on a very basic level, you have a couple options: 1.) surge protector and 2.) series-mode surge suppressors In a non-engineer explanation; Wikipedia hits all the highlights. You can have a licensed electrician set up a power conditioner straight from your homes electrical panel too. If your renting or in a condo this is probably not an option. So now after some research you've read keywords like SM, MOV, pure Sine Wave, UPS, UL and your still scratching your head saying WTF can someone just recommend an all in product?! Yeah the APC S15/S20 and Torus products do but be ready to shell out some serious cash. Series Mode options: ZeroSurge: Founders of technology & Military discount BrickWall targets the audiophile market and is a private label customer of our wide voltage range technology. SurgeX targets the professional audio market and manufactures their own products. High end stuff but read that engineers were not impressed with the internal hardware and build - its possible they were being to picky? Torus Power One other company but I can't find it in my notes! SORRY Hybrids: I was considering this section for some time. If the J35B were to fail within a 5yr window I would consider trying this set up. Furman power conditioner (professional grade) - Panamax MOV: Panamax, Monster, Tripp lite, APC Without a doubt you will read some negative comments about plugging a TV into a UPS that does not provide a pure sine wave. There are products out there, like APC S15/S20 that do convert to pure sine. The J35B does stepped approximation to a sinewave...This may not be as pure but it is without a doubt better than none. My scenario: Old apartment buildings, probably 1940s if not older that were renovated in the 80s. The apartments electrical panel is an actual "fuse box" 20 amps for the kitchen and 15amps for the rest of the apartment. Each apartment has a medium size air conditioner and some have two, maybe 7,000BTU? Nonetheless, there is some concern that our city grid has a fluctuation in power throughout the summer and fall but nothing as serious as Washington state or the Carolina's. My set up is based on 15amps and a budget of =<$500 Hardware: Panasonic TC-P55ST60, PS3, and Xbox. I will add a BD player and a soundbar/AMP in the future as funds become available. Final decision: Wall--> Surge Suppressor--> UPS--> Stuff Wall--> ZeroSurge 2R15W --> APC J35B --> Stuff APC J35B Product: Something to consider before purchasing is the warranty is only good from a certified reseller and APC will verify. The entire unit has a 3 year warranty (APC website). APC customer support is 10 stars for sure, even if it takes them an hour or two days later. They do follow up. SHIPPING/RECEIVING The item was boxed in an Amazon Prime box and had additional paper packing around the APC manufacturer box. Item was labeled HEAVY and a note for GROUND SHIPPING ONLY due to the battery. Unwrapping the box was fairly frustration free, just make sure you have adequate space to pull out the APC unit and place it on a flat surface. Item is heavy, 30-32 pounds The top surface will probably have a QA print out with all the tests to confirm they passed and a yellow sticker displaying steps of how to remove the battery and replace it with the terminal facing the correct way. After removing the face plate, rotating the battery, and close it back up... NOTE: Be cautious of the faceplate power terminal...the 8pin? adapter seemed to move a bit and found that if does not sit right, the power button will not turn the unit on Save yourself some frustration and do a quick test on a separate outlet from your AV equipment to make sure the unit actually works. First without being daisy chained with a SM Surge Suppression. Then again with the SM if that's what you decide to do. Quickly skimming the user manual I found this unit recommends a 20amp circuit (to avoid electrical fires?) Maybe for max load? but it is working fine in my 15amp SM Suppression and 15amp circuit. You'll be greeted by a bright blue light and it will cycle through a system test. ~2minutes. Everything checks out - Awesome. CABINET/SHELF placement: The item is a large rectangle; Unit Dimensions (H x W x D): 97.6mmx 431.8mm x 406.4mm ; 3.84in x 17in x 16in again item weighs in at 30 pounds. DISPLAY & SETTINGS: I found the datasheet for this unit at digchip There are about a dozen settings you can change, a couple displays to view, a system test, a battery test and of course the blue light can be turned off. Probably the most important setting is the.... Automatic Voltage Regulator: I contacted APC to find out if their APC LE1200 Line-R 1200VA Automatic Voltage Regulator was better than the AVR inside the J35B. The phone call lasted over an hour and no level of tech support or engineers on duty could provide an immediate comparison answer. It took some digging and they did find the answer. The J35 tolerance level is better then the 1200R. Unfortunately I don't have those specs with me but will update later. The J35B will switch to battery if the voltage drops below <88 and spikes above >140v. You can set the tolerances to less stringent. They cannot be set to filter out even more, not possible and I was a little disappointed to be honest. What I did like is you can change the Transfer Sensitivity level: Low - Mid - High. I changed it to High right away and the J35B High settings are set internally at: 107Vac (boost to On Line) 98Vac (On Line to Boost) 94Vac (On Battery to Boost (low line)) 88Vac (Boost(low line) to On Battery) 126Vac (Trim to On Line) 133Vac (On Line to Trim) 138Vac (On Battery to Trim (high line)) 144Vac (Trim(high line) to On Battery)) The Mid and Low are available via .gif from APC tech support, I'll try to post later System Specifics: Their classification is FCC Part 15 Class B,UL 1778 (UPS Standard) at ???V clamping or let through? and 894 Joules which is very good Output Power Capacity 865 Watts / 1500 VA - Max Configurable Power 865 Watts / 0 VA Nominal Output Voltage 120V The display can show how much power is being drawn, Voltage In/Voltage Out, and an estimated battery run time on current load. PRICE: The price is on point compared to its competition and abilities: SurgeX XU 115, Panamax M5400, Furhman Elite-15 PF. OVERALL: 4.5 out of 5 Functionality, ease of use, set up, protection, warranty, electrical protection, tolerance levels, built in AVR, and price point. While it may seem expensive, a small investment is instrumental in safeguarding your more expensive purchases. Like my boss says, Do it right the first time and you won't have to worry about the consequences of failure. ha. Hope this review helped at least a little bit. Cheers

I purchased this item in June 2012 to supply power to my AV system: DVR cable box, 46" LCD TV, Onkyo TX-NR709 receiver, a Blu-ray player, a Roku, an Ethernet switch, and a cabinet light. It's been performing flawlessly for last 13 months. In South Florida (tropics), we get at least one momentary power interruption per day during the rainy season. The unit has handled this stress with ease, even while we're watching a streaming HD movie. When the power interruptions occur at night, the unit switches over quietly; I can barely hear it from the bedroom, which is only about 50 feet from the living area. According to the unit's reported run time, it is the same today as it was when I first installed it. Never tried to verify it, though. The TV is connected to the master switch, and the switched outlets turn the power off completely to the all the other items except the cable box, which has saved on vampire electricity consumption (don't know how much, though). When we want to watch TV, the other parts of the AV system power up pretty quickly. There's no unreasonable delay waiting for the switched outlets to supply power to the receiver, for example. An unanticipated benefit is that the unit will serve as an emergency power supply for cell phones and small electrics during an extended power outage, like in a tropical storm. All in all, a great product!

Wonderfully functional device. However, I should have paid more attention to the weight! This thing is HEAVY! I also had to take my home theater wiring setup apart, move the cabinet out for rear access, and rewire everything. That would have been required by any UPS. Once the installation was completed (just wiring), and the cabinet pushed back into position, the J25B worked fine. OK, I had accidentally pushed buttons on the front panel, requiring removal of the panel and reinserting it to get the J25B to work. Remember that I said that it is HEAVY! So, I held it in place while my wife inserted the power and coax cables. Anyway, it now works fine. I wish that it gave some history of activity. The display seems rather useless after the setup is complete. I will probably set the display to 'off'. This was indeed a good buy. Just be certain that your intended slot can handle the dimensions AND THE WEIGHT of the J25B. UPDATE 5/16/2016: After using the J25B for almost one year, it has worked superbly. Through a few power outages, I never lost power to my Home Entertainment system. I am very pleased with this purchase and recommend it to anyone who has unreliable utility power.

- APC J25B Note: I added two Customer pictures for this, one that compares Utility Power to the ACP Power on battery and the second is a picture of the J25B unit with the rest of the Home Theater Equipment. Pros: - 865W UPS is well sized for all but the more extreme Home Theater Systems (you want your average load to be about 1/2 the max, so 432.5W) - Power Conditioner for power plus cable and phone line protection, but also plays well with power conditioners if you have one you want to keep - Home Theater PC Integration (USB) with PowerChute to orderly shutdown your HTPC - Form Factor / Style that compliments Home Theater equipment, looks great with the other components (See Picture) - Information Display with -- Batt Run time at current Load, Current Load in Watts, and input Voltage and Frequency - Dead silent when not on Batts, fan only comes on when the batt is charging or if you are running off of battery Cons: - Display does not actually Dim as the manual and ads say, the only display options are On/Off, when Off you need to hit a front panel button to see it, when it is ON it is at full brightness and is too bright for Home Theater setting, I prefer a true dim option as the rest of the components have. - Stepped sine wave, very well done but still stepped, there are some TV's and receivers that do not work well with stepped sine wave power no matter how well done, APC makes a true Sine wave version of this unit but it is very expensive, I would only get if this impacted your system. (See Picture) Review -- Having used APC products for over 20 years both at home and the professional grade gear in our data centers I was glad to see an APC UPS in this form factor/style to fit as a component in a typical Home Theater AV stand. Most of the products are more form over function and I knew there was no way APC would just make something just look good and not still have the APC engineering one expects behind the name. The J25B UPS is classic APC put into an AV gear style case at 17" wide and just under 4" high, it looks like the rest of AV components and fits well. I picked the J25B over the J35B because in my opinion less is more when it comes to messing with the power. To adjust utility power means more active parts in the power path, the J25B picks a low and high voltage point and goes on batt, it does not attempt to adjust utility power, less things to go wrong and less things in the main power path. The J25B lets you change the threshold voltage to go on batt and how reactive it should be, I found the defaults just fine. My core components, are a 64" Plasma TV (Samsung 64F8500) and Sony AV Receiver (STR-DA1800ES) on average runs at about 400W and peaks at 720W so this is just the right size. Watching TV it will give me about 15 minutes, everything turned off about 3 hours, which will more than cover most power outages. The 720W peak leaves plenty of room for transient spikes, the J25B will shut everything off is the things plugged into exceed the 865W it is rated, I have not tested it but from prior experience in computer UPS's, it is pretty quick, enough tolerance for power on spikes and not much more. Overall I give this a solid 4 - The lack of real dimming was worth a point to me as it is designed to be in a home theater where it is important. Note: This is the second unit, the first one I got was bad out of the box, it had a 60 cycle hum any time the power drawn hit 450-500W and by 650W it sounded like something was struggling, I unplugged it and removed the battery, then opened a case with APC and Amazon and they exchanged it with free shipping. I have 2 APC Tower UPS's for computer in our home and have been using their UPS's for years and this was the first that ever had an issue, so I went for an exchange and so far so good, this one is absolutely quiet under any load.

I am in IT and have been around UPS' for a very long time. Our second TV (LCD) and Bluray is unfortunately located in an area where they share the same wiring as the table top microwave, toaster, and Tassimo in the kitchen, and some mornings with the TV on, the microwave on, and the Tassimo on, the breaker will trip. Adding this UPS took care of the problem and the breaker no longer trips. Note that this UPS is not designed to handle large current draw of appliances like the Tassimo coffee maker, the Microwave, or even the toaster. So if the power were ever to go out, and you happen to want to make some coffee with the Tassimo, toast some bread, or make some hot water with the microwave, this unit is not designed for that, and will shut itself off. That is not a design flaw, this is after all really made for things like TV, bluray player, etc. Which is also to say that I wouldn't connect any semi powerful receiver to it, let along separates. It is however, perfect for an LCD TV, bluray, and sound bar type setup.

The first one I got had a bad battery interface connector. I called Amazon and they sent me out a new box right away. I would give 3 stars for the box and 5 stars to Amazon for their backing. The new box works great, and Amazon was more than responsive. But I was disappointed that such a nice piece of equipment had such a questionable battery interface connector. I would have expected something more robust. I fixed the connector on the defective box, so now I have 2 of them. UPDATE: (3/28/2017) The new box worked for a few weeks, then started giving me a battery error messages, same as the first box. The problem seemed to resolve itself after a few days when I finally had time to mess with it. A week later, again, I had no time to work with it and the error message came up and resolved itself in a day or 2. It's been fine for a few weeks now, but I have lost all confidence in this piece of equipment. I expect much higher quality from APC, as I've been using there UPS' for years. UPDATE (5/4/2017) A few weeks ago, the red error message came up again and did not resolve itself. I opened up the box and it turned out to be the same battery interface connector issue. I fixed the connector and now it appears to work fine. I reduced the rating to 1 star because having 2 boxes, both of which had to be opened up to fix a simple connector, is unacceptable. I will also need to open the box and mess with the battery interface connector when I need to change the batteries on BOTH boxes. I'm just glad that I'm an Engineer and could fix it myself so I didn't have to stack up a bunch of bad boxes.

This is an all around excellent product for a decent price. I love the display and the test mode that displays all functions. The menu is very nice and is easy to set to different modes. I rely on this product to protect my expensive home theater equipment and with the brownouts and power fluctuations in my area and associated with a whole home backup generator this protects everything. APC has a full range of products for a full range of budgets and uses. I am not rich but I just don't buy any other UPS backups from anyone else anymore. I have tried other brands and I just keep coming back to the APC brand because they are just made better. I have been using there products for 15 years or so. The batteries are easy to replace and the products perform great.