APC BACK-UPS CS 500VA 230V USB/SERIAL

SKU: BK500EI

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PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

APC Back-UPS CS 500VA 230V USB/Serial (BK500EI) - 2 Years Local Warranty

APC BK500EI — 500 VA / 300 W Backup Power for Singapore Offices

The APC Back-UPS CS BK500EI is a standby UPS built for the everyday job of keeping a desktop, a router or a small till system alive through the brief cuts and dips that Singapore's grid produces during a storm. It delivers 500 VA / 300 W across four IEC C13 sockets, three battery-backed and one surge-only, protects an analogue phone or DSL line as well as the mains, and runs from a user-replaceable sealed lead-acid battery. It is a deliberately simple product — LED indicators rather than a screen, and nothing to configure. You plug it in and it works.

230 V, 50 Hz Mains Protection Built for Singapore Conditions

Singapore's mains is nominally 230 V at 50 Hz and PUB's grid is among the most reliable anywhere, but lightning is frequent and brief interruptions do happen, particularly during the monsoon months. The BK500EI is a standby design: it passes filtered mains through under normal conditions and switches to its inverter when the supply fails or drifts outside 180–266 V. It accepts input across that window before transferring, so ordinary fluctuation does not cause needless switching. Note that this model does not include automatic voltage regulation — if your supply sags persistently rather than failing outright, the Easy UPS BVG range with AVR is the better answer and SourceIT stocks it.

Surge Protection and Equipment Safety

The BK500EI carries a surge energy rating of 310 Joules (5% IEEE surge let-through), absorbing the transients that follow a nearby lightning strike or a large motor switching on the same circuit. The unit also protects an analogue telephone, fax, modem or DSL line, which matters because a lightning surge that reaches your equipment down the phone line does exactly as much damage as one that arrives through the mains. Surge damage is cumulative and usually silent — equipment does not fail on the day, it fails months later — which is why the protection is worth having on equipment you would rather not replace.

User-Replaceable Battery and Humidity Considerations

The BK500EI runs from a maintenance-free sealed lead-acid battery that you can replace yourself when it reaches the end of its life. The correct cartridge is the APC RBC2, which SourceIT stocks: APC Replacement Battery Cartridge RBC2. Battery life in Singapore is genuinely shorter than in temperate markets: sustained heat and humidity accelerate the chemistry, and a unit kept in an un-airconditioned store room or a closed cabinet will age faster than one on an open desk. Giving the vents clear air is the single most effective thing you can do to get full service life out of it, and treating the cartridge as a scheduled consumable rather than waiting for a failure is the difference between a planned five-minute swap and an unprotected server room.

Where This Model Fits — SME Office, Home Office and Comms Cabinet

At 300 W of usable output across four IEC C13 sockets, three battery-backed and one surge-only, the BK500EI suits a desktop and monitor, a router and ONT, a small NAS, a point-of-sale terminal or the network gear at the bottom of a comms cabinet. It is a tower unit, not a rack product, and there is no rail kit for it. If your requirement involves a rack, a server with an active-PFC power supply, SNMP monitoring or extended runtime, that is Smart-UPS territory and SourceIT will point you at the right SMC, SMT or SMX model instead of overselling this one. Everything we supply comes with local Singapore warranty and a GST invoice.

APC BK500EI Datasheet — Technical Specifications

General

Part Number (SKU)	BK500EI
Schneider Electric Product Name	APC Back-UPS, 500VA/300W, Tower, 230V, 4x IEC C13 Outlets, User Replaceable Battery
Series	Back-UPS CS
Topology	Standby (offline)
Form Factor	Tower
Status Display	LED status indicators (on line, on battery, replace battery, overload) plus audible alarms
Warranty	2-Year Manufacturer Warranty (APC by Schneider Electric)
Local Warranty (Singapore)	Supplied by SourceIT Pte Ltd with GST invoice

Output

Output Power Capacity	500 VA / 300 W
Nominal Output Voltage	230 V; 230 V ±8% on battery
Output Frequency	47–63 Hz synchronised to mains on utility; 50/60 Hz ±1 Hz on battery
Output Waveform	Stepped approximation to a sine wave
Transfer Time	6 ms typical, 10 ms maximum
Output Connections	4 × IEC 60320 C13 — 3 with battery backup and surge protection, 1 surge protection only
Supplied Jumper Cords	2 × IEC jumper cords supplied
Surge Energy Rating	310 Joules (5% IEEE surge let-through)
Data Line Protection	Analogue telephone line protection (RJ-45) for phone, fax, modem and DSL

Input

Nominal Input Voltage	180–266 V
Input Frequency	50/60 Hz ±3 Hz, auto-sensing (47–63 Hz)
Input Connection	IEC 60320 C14 inlet, 1.2 m detachable cord

Batteries & Runtime

Battery Type	Maintenance-free sealed lead-acid (VRLA), leak-proof
APC Replacement Battery Cartridge	RBC2
Typical Recharge Time	8 hours typical
Battery Replacement	User-replaceable

Communications & Management

Communication Port	USB and RS-232 serial
Bundled Management Software	PowerChute Personal Edition

Physical & Environmental

Dimensions	165 × 91 × 284 mm (H × W × D)
Operating Temperature	0–40 °C
Operating Relative Humidity	0–95% non-condensing
Audible Noise	40 dBA
Certifications	CE, VDE, C-Tick, GOST
Package Contents	UPS unit, software CD, documentation CD, detachable power cord, telephone cable, USB cable, warranty card
Barcode	UPC 731304016359 / SCC14 10731304016356

Every figure in these tables is taken from Schneider Electric's published documentation for this exact part number. Where Schneider does not publish a value, or where two of its own documents disagree, the row is left out rather than estimated — ask SourceIT and we will confirm it with the distributor.

Compatibility & Runtime

What you can plug in

The BK500EI provides 4 × IEC 60320 C13 — 3 with battery backup and surge protection, 1 surge protection only. Its usable output is 300 watts — that is the number to size against, not the 500 VA headline. Add up the wattage of everything you intend to protect and keep the total comfortably below 300 W so the unit is not running at its limit every day.

Because the outlets are IEC C13, this unit connects directly to computer, monitor, switch and NAS power leads without adapters. Note the split: three sockets carry battery backup and surge protection, and one is surge protection only. Put the machine you need to keep running on a battery-backed socket, and use the surge-only socket for a printer, scanner or anything else that draws heavily but does not need to survive an outage.

Runtime

Schneider Electric publishes runtime for this model as an interactive graph rather than a table of figures, so SourceIT does not quote minutes here — any number we invented would be wrong for your load. As a rule the lighter the load the longer the runtime, and a UPS in this class is intended to ride through short dips and give you a clean shutdown rather than to keep working through a long outage. Send us your equipment list and we will size it with you.

Battery and replacement cartridge

The BK500EI takes the APC RBC2 replacement battery cartridge, which SourceIT stocks: APC Replacement Battery Cartridge RBC2. The battery is user-replaceable, so a cartridge swap does not require a service visit. In Singapore's heat and humidity a UPS battery generally reaches the end of its useful life before the electronics do, so budget for a cartridge as a consumable rather than a fault.

Management and monitoring

Connectivity: USB and RS-232 serial. Schneider supplies PowerChute Personal Edition for this model, which lets a connected computer shut down cleanly when the battery runs low during an unattended outage. Schneider lists no SmartSlot bay or network management card option for this range, so if you need SNMP monitoring or EcoStruxure IT integration, that is Smart-UPS territory.

Siting it

This is a tower unit measuring 165 × 91 × 284 mm (H × W × D), and it is rated for 0 to 40 °C. It is designed to stand on or under a desk, on a shelf, or on the floor of a comms cabinet — it is not a rack-mount product and no rail kit is available for it. Leave clear air around the vents; an enclosed cupboard in an un-airconditioned room will shorten the battery's life more than anything else you can do to it.

Package Contents & Back-UPS CS Ordering Information

In the box

UPS unit, software CD, documentation CD, detachable power cord, telephone cable, USB cable, warranty card.

Back-UPS CS series — ordering information

BK350EI	350 VA / 210 W — 4 × IEC C13 (3 battery-backed, 1 surge-only)
BK500EI (this listing)	500 VA / 300 W — 4 × IEC C13 (3 battery-backed, 1 surge-only)
BK650EI	650 VA / 400 W — 4 × IEC C13 (3 battery-backed, 1 surge-only)
BK650-AS	650 VA / 400 W — 4 × IEC C13 (3 battery-backed, 1 surge-only)

All four Back-UPS CS models share the same 165 × 91 × 284 mm chassis and the same four-socket IEC C13 layout; what changes across the range is capacity, and on the 650 VA models the battery cartridge. Note that the BK650EI and BK650-AS are different builds rather than the same unit under two codes — their input windows, surge ratings and supplied cord sets differ.

Replacement battery cartridges

APC RBC2

Replacement battery cartridge for this unit. Also fits: BK350EI.

Related equipment

These are standalone tower units, and Schneider Electric lists no rail kit, external battery pack or network management card option for any of them. If your requirement has grown past that — rack mounting, SNMP monitoring, extended runtime, or a pure sine wave output for an active-PFC server power supply — the APC Smart-UPS SMC, SMT and SMX ranges are the step up, and SourceIT stocks them with the same local warranty and GST invoicing.

Datasheet & Downloads

Schneider Electric product page for the BK500EI — the official product record. This is the Singapore record.

Each link above was checked and resolves at the time of writing. Schneider Electric hosts its documents through a redirect service that sometimes serves a different model's file; where that happened during our checks we have linked the document record page instead of the direct PDF, so you always land on the correct document for this product. If you need a copy of the data sheet for a tender submission, email SourceIT and we will send the current revision.

Frequently Asked Questions — APC BK500EI

What is the difference between 500 VA and 300 W, and which should I size against?

Size against the watts. VA is apparent power and W is real power; for this class of UPS the watt figure is the honest ceiling on what you can actually run. The BK500EI is rated 500 VA / 300 W. Add up the wattage on the labels or power supplies of everything you want to protect and keep the total below 300 W with room to spare. A modern desktop and monitor typically draw well under 200 W together, but a laser printer can spike far higher, which is one reason printers should not be on a UPS at all.

How long will it run during a power cut?

It depends entirely on your load. Schneider Electric publishes runtime for this model as an interactive graph rather than a table of figures, so SourceIT does not quote minutes here — send us your equipment list and we will size it with you. In practice a UPS of this size is bought to ride out the brief dips and momentary cuts that come with thunderstorms on the Singapore grid, and to give you a few minutes to save your work and shut down properly — not to keep working through a long outage.

What does the "EI" or "-AS" suffix mean?

They denote genuinely different builds, not marketing variations. "EI" is the international 230 V IEC build; "-AS" is the ASEAN build, which Schneider Electric lists as the model for the Singapore market. The BK650EI and BK650-AS look alike and share a chassis, but their input voltage windows, surge ratings and supplied cord sets differ — the specification tables on each listing give the exact figures, and we have not copied one model's numbers onto the other.

Is the output a pure sine wave? Will it work with an active-PFC power supply?

No — the BK500EI produces a stepped approximation to a sine wave on battery, which is what Schneider Electric's documentation states for this model. That is entirely normal for this class of UPS and it is fine for the great majority of desktops, monitors, routers, modems, NAS boxes and point-of-sale terminals. It is worth knowing, though, that some high-efficiency power supplies with active power factor correction — typically in servers and higher-end workstations — can be fussy about a stepped waveform and may shut down or refuse to transfer. If you are protecting a server or an active-PFC workstation, ask SourceIT about the APC Smart-UPS SMC or SMT range, which produces a true sine wave output.

Which replacement battery does it take, and can I change it myself?

Yes. The correct cartridge is the APC RBC2, which SourceIT stocks: APC Replacement Battery Cartridge RBC2. It is user-replaceable, so you do not need a service call — follow the instructions in the user manual, and take the old cartridge to a proper battery recycling point rather than putting it in the bin.

How does this compare with the other Back-UPS CS models in the SourceIT range?

The four Back-UPS CS models share one chassis and one four-socket IEC C13 layout, so the choice is really about capacity. This one is 500 VA / 300 W. Stepping up, the BK500EI gives 500 VA / 300 W and the 650 VA models (BK650-AS and BK650EI) give 400 W. The two 650 VA units are different builds rather than one product under two codes: the -AS is the model Schneider Electric lists for Singapore, with a 160–282 V adjustable input window and a 320 Joule surge rating, while the EI is the international build at 160–286 V and 310 Joules. A useful rule of thumb is to buy one size up from your measured load, because the headroom is what buys you runtime.

Is this suitable for a server?

A UPS in this class is designed for desktops, monitors, routers, modems, NAS boxes, point-of-sale terminals and small office equipment. It is not the right protection for a production server: there is no network management card option, no SmartSlot, no extended-runtime battery pack, and the output is a stepped approximation rather than a true sine wave, which some server power supplies will not accept. For a server, a comms cabinet or anything in a rack, ask SourceIT about the APC Smart-UPS SMC, SMT and SMX ranges.

Does it come with a Singapore warranty and a GST invoice?

Yes. Every APC BK500EI sold by SourceIT comes with local Singapore warranty and a GST invoice; APC backs the BK500EI with a 2-year manufacturer warranty.