APC BR1000G Tear-Down

BR1000G vs. SL300

Why does it look so weird? My guess is high stray inductance limiting the current and voltage change rates. The stray inductance interacting with X-class capacitors across the transformer’s outputs would also explain the slight ringing at the FETs’ turn-off.

BR1000G vs. EA-650

With reasonably square voltage waveforms, both my APFC and non-APFC supplies produce similarly square current waveforms. Upon seeing the oddly shaped voltage waveform and unexpected current waveform from my SL300, I had to find out how an APFC power supply would respond, so I threw my PC at it.

Curious gets even more so as the UPS’ output becomes a half-sinusoid closely following the 60 Hz fundamental for the first half of each alternance. The Delta-made EA-650’s APFC circuitry handles the odd waveform like a champ, producing a current waveform that still follows the voltage’s waveform as expected if you ignore the APFC noise.

With my PC pulling 108.6 W and 119.4 VA from the UPS, the UPS put out 118 VRMS with a voltage THD of only 22%.

Not Comparable

In person, the buttons look much dimmer with the cover on than they do on the left. Without the cover, they are uncomfortable to look at.

I went into this tear-down to see how much APC's build quality may have changed over the past 10 years. While the old BX1000 was a Chemi-Con wonderland, this newer model is a Chinese capacitor convention. I was particularly disappointed by the Chemi-Con capacitor on the power supply’s input paired with Jamicon and Chang capacitors on the TOP285’s outputs, as they are critical components in flyback power supplies.

While the output voltage waveforms may be odd square-sinusoid hybrids, neither of my test power supplies had any issues with them, so I’ll shrug them off as acceptable. Otherwise, build quality is par for APC, and kudos is earned for coming up with a cable-free battery hook-up solution.


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Daniel Sauvageau is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He’s known for his feature tear-downs of components and peripherals.