Home > Consumer Reviews > Belkin Universal UPS 1200 VA Emergency Battery Backup with AVR (F6C120-UNV)

I just replaced the two 12V batteries on my F6C120-UNV. I had the UPS for 3 years to the day when it failed to hold a charge. The Belkin web site and some of the reviewers would lead you to believe that the batteries are not replaceable. A quick web search will show you that this 1200VA UPS uses the same batteries as the same generation 800VA and 1000VA Belkin products. It also uses the APC Replacement Battery Cartridge #17 (RBC17) that you can find on Amazon or elsewhere for between $40 and $60 for both bateries delivered. The original Belkin batteries are two 12V 7.2AH sealed lead batteries manufactured by BB. The RPC17 is two 12V 9AH sealed lead batteries made by American Battery Company. They are acutally an upgrade and will make your 1200VA UPS perform like a 1500VA UPS.

The replacement took me about 15 minutes and was about as complicated as adding a new hard drive to your PC. Remove the case -- 5 screws. Remove the circuit card -- 4 screws and 2 modular connectors. Remove the battery bracket -- 2 screws and 2 nuts. Replace the two batteries -- 2 flat slide connectors. Reassemble and you are set for another 3 years. $40 and 15 minutes of my time was well worth it for a 1500VA UPS with very good software and line conditioning.

I received the Belkin F6C120-UNV as a gift in December, 2002. It worked like a charm for 1-1/2 years. I occasionally put it through a deep-cycle test just to make sure things were in good shape and my system and monitor and peripherals would run for about 20 minutes before running out of juice.. ..plenty of time to clean up, save, print a few things, and shut down the system.

I even had my wireless access point and cable modem connected, so I would stay online for a while without power in the house (through my desktop or wireless notebook).

The only annoying behavior was that the unit will beep when you are running on battery power and there's no way to configure it not to beep. That means if you lose power during the middle of the night for a more than a couple seconds, it will beep until you tell it to stop beeping. Very annoying. Luckily we only lose power about 3-4 times a year.

The bad news; we lost power last week and the unit shut off in about 5-6 seconds! After recharging overnight, it will no longer hold a reasonable load (of say 25-30%) for more than 6-7 seconds, definitely not enough time to shut down cleanly. None of the trouble indicators were lit and the battery replacement indicator was not on. However, it was clear that the batteries were unable to handle the load any more. I learned the hard way (according to Belkin) that the batteries in this unit cannot be replaced! Also, I searched for after-market batteries and none of the popular sites list this model.

Lesson learned: many of the UPS systems out there have batteries that are not (or not easily) replaceable!

To Belkin's credit, they're replacing the entire unit free of charge (since it's only half way through it's 3 year warrantee period) even though it was a gift.

btw, in reference to the other reviewer (who has posted their review on lots of sites) who claim that the 3-second power on/off button is inconvient.. ..somebody doesn't understand the purpose of a UPS system. You're not supposed to turn the UPS off, why would anybody use the UPS to turn their PC on and off? Also, the only "hum" I ever hear is when the voltate drops too low and the AVR kicks in (which is a lifesaver if your power drops when the house A/C compressor kicks in).

I bought two of these Belkins 2 and 4 years ago and both died in the last 6 months with no warning. Poof. One day they just wouldn't power on and were completely unresponsive. After reading the reviews here I bought a pair of APC batteries to try and both UPS were brought back to life. If it costs less to ship than to buy another pair of batteries I'll get the newer one fixed under warranty.
It's simply stupid that Belkin doesn't sell the replacement battery packs. Replacement is straightforward...You need a long, skinny philips-head driver to get the battery bracket out (in addition to a 5/16 driver with a long extension).

0) Unplug it!
1) Remove the 5 screws holding the cover, pull it back enough to disconnect one of the battery terminals, then remove it completely.
2) Disconnect the large 5-pin connector from the circuit board on the opposite side from the battery connectors (you have to squeeze both sides and pull on it) I used a flathead screwdriver to lever it out instead of rocking back-and-forth since I was worried about flexing the circuit board too much.
3) I had to cut the zip-tie holding the iron-core "donut" to the case to allow the front-panel wiring to move out of the way.
4) This gives you enough slack to remove the 4 screws holding the circuit board to the frame then pull the circuit board forward allowing the rear-panel connectors to clear the back of the case, then you can lift it up and push it to the side near the batteries. The cables are heavy-gauge wire but will bend enough.
5) With the circuit board out of the way, remove the 5/16 nuts holding the battery bracket at the bottom and the two philips-head screws holding it to the front.
6) Carefully lift the bracket up to free the batteries, being careful not to nick the insulation on the various wires.
7) Pop out the old batteries.
8) Clean up any acid residue in the bottom of the unit (one of the sealed batteries on my 4-year-old unit leaked a bit!)
9) Pop in the new batteries and reassemble.
10) Leave the last battery connector unconnected until you get the case cover almost all the way in place to avoid shorting the exposed circuit traces with it. When you reconnect the last battery connection, don't be surprised if there is a small spark since there doesn't seem to be anything to limit the inrush current to the unit as it recharges from the now-working batteries.
11) If nothing's smoking yet, plug the unit in and try turning it on.
12) If it's still not smoking, hang around for a few hours to let it charge, then try returning it to service.

Overall, these units have worked well for a couple years, providing lots of backup time when called upon, but you simply cannot trust the battery life reports from the unit. Once a month after running your backups I recommend taking the unit out of service for a few minutes to run a test. You can configure the software to do this automatically, but I prefer doing it manually when I know there won't be any impact from a loss of power.

I had this unit nearly three years and it performed fine during numerous power glitches. I never run the PC to battery depletion, I only use the UPS to filter spikes and brownouts, so my batteries (date stamped October 2002) died on 23 March 2006 -- decent life for this class of UPS.

The bad news is that despite front-panel indicator lights and Bulldog software, the UPS did nothing to alert me to the failing batteries. Only when my PC shut down abruptly did I realize that the UPS needed attention. Upon checking the Log file kept by Bulldog Software, I saw that the battery capacity had dropped to zero 10 days prior, and the battery voltage had been running at 18.5 volts. Why there was NO indication from either LED lights or Software of these serious fault conditions I'll never know.

OK, so it was time for new batteries. I took off the cover only to discover that the two standard size sealed 12 volt cells were bolted in the frame such that removal meant complete dis-assembly of the circuit board and front half of the chassis. This is Pee-poor design, even for a high-school intern level engineering type. Why would anyone bolt batteries which require replacing into the frame?

Because the unit had been running hot for 10 days due to the un-alarmed condition of the dead batteries, I decided to first test performance with the replacement batteries before wasting time taking the whole thing apart. I placed the unit on my workbench and connected the new batteries laying next to the UPS. After verifying that charging voltage was OK, I charged them overnight. Upon testing the internal voltages, all looked normal -- but then I checked the output voltage when the load is running on batteries. Instead of the expected 110 to 115 Volts AC, I'm getting 83-88 volts AC. Cool -- this UPS will now generate its own brownouts free of charge. (Perhaps it has been this way for years -- I trusted the Bulldog SW voltage reporting, but based on recent experience, I should not have).

So I'm working through Belkin Support to see if I have any options besides the re-cycling bin.... but I can tell you all that I have four APC UPS units, one dating back to 1994, others to '96 and '99. I've replaced batteries and continue to run the APC units with no problems.

This was my first, and will certainly be my last, Belkin UPS product. Shop around - you can get an 800Va APC unit for $79... a MUCH better deal than this Belkin unit for the same price. (both use the exact same batteries so don't be fooled by the higher VA rating of the Belkin - it is the battery capacity that ultimately determines your run time when the power fails) And with APC, you can replace the batteries without taking apart the unit - just slide off the cover like any kid's toy, and replace the batteries. What a concept, eh?

BA Zimmerman

First Id like to say the product and delivery were fine. I followed all the instructions provided by Mike Murphy. They were accurate. Please add two.
1) As you remove the cover to the ups back it up a few inches and remove at least one of the battery leads. This insures there is no current on the circuit board. Then continue.
2) On re-assembly slide the cover almost all the way into place then attach the last lead before making that last inch of push on the cover.

If you don't, you stand a chance of the cover touching the back of the circuit board and cooking the whole UPS. Then you are out the cost of the batteries and you still have to replace the UPS. By the way I should know better. So those of you who don't know better you stand a chance of cooking yourself. When these batteries are live you have high curent and possible high voltage in there.