APC AV H15 1.5kVA H Type Power Conditioner Review

admin · #1 02-08-2008, 01:00 PM

The American Power Conversion (APC) has long been associated with UPS and power solutions. The H15 performs its every job superbly - of that there is no doubt. Personally, the H15 embodies the perfect marriage of form and function. It looks as good as it performs. The H15 provides top of the line protection and regulation along with the piece of mind that there isn't a problem that can come along that it can't handle.

Discuss "APC AV H15 1.5kVA H Type Power Conditioner Review" here. Read the article.

Kolia · #2 02-10-2008, 11:36 AM

Interesting review.

I just got the H10 from the Audioholic Store (hurray!). These are components that, for those of us without an oscilloscope or other measuring instrument, is pretty much impossible to evaluate.

As for the surge protection, you never really know if it just saved your whole system. For my part, 4 days after connecting the unit, we had some freak power failures, with lights dimming, turning OFF and ON a couple times in a few seconds. The unit sure clicked and pooped during that time.

The delayed power ON seemed like a very good thing during the light show. No power ever got to the bigger equipment.

The only draw back is it add a component to my rack and made a messy jumble of wires back there. Something I'll have to address (again)...

MDS · #3 02-10-2008, 12:08 PM

I have the H10 which is about the same but doesn't have the LCD display. I have only one little trivial criticism and that is the Dimmer doesn't dim low enough.

At night the Line Boost LED is almost always on (I left the range at Normal).

rollinrocker · #4 02-10-2008, 12:09 PM

nice review

i've used the rotel rlc-1040 (made for rotel by apc) for about a year now. i believe they are the same unit with rotel cosmetics. has worked great up to this point, with no hickups, and my power goes out 3-4 times a year. living as i do in southwest ohio, snow, WIND, t-storms, ice, and did i mention WIND, are common.

Kolia · #5 02-10-2008, 12:10 PM

It does look like it's always Xmass! lol

That plus the cable modem and wi-fi router, I have plenty of led!

You can dim the display completely OFF tho. I haven't checker to see if an error code would still show up?

gene · #6 02-10-2008, 02:22 PM

Quote:

i've used the rotel rlc-1040 (made for rotel by apc) for about a year now. i believe they are the same unit with rotel cosmetics. has worked great up to this point, with no hickups, and my power goes out 3-4 times a year. living as i do in southwest ohio, snow, WIND, t-storms, ice, and did i mention WIND, are common.

The Rotel is a clone of the S15 with Battery backup, not the H15. I love the S15s and recently upgraded to S20s with the only drawback being the latter don't have any 12v triggers.

jcPanny · #7 02-11-2008, 11:47 AM

Tom,
Nice review. You mentioned the sub problem, but do you have an amp in your system? If so do you have it connected to the APC high current outlets or directly to the wall?

I have had good results with the lower end APC H10 and currently have all my electronics connected through it including the amp and sub. The power usage rarely gets above 20% under normal usage. I have also seen the line boost LED come on several times, it sounds like that is pretty common.

Tom Andry · #8 02-11-2008, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcPanny

Tom,
Nice review. You mentioned the sub problem, but do you have an amp in your system? If so do you have it connected to the APC high current outlets or directly to the wall?

I have an amp (RPA-1) but because of location (it's in a separate rack) it is plugged into a separate surge protector. This sounds like a problem inherent to some sub amps. I actually had the sub plugged into the H15 for a couple of months without a problem and then it blew the fuses twice in a day. Weird.

trikoid · #9 02-13-2008, 07:27 AM

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!

I got an H15 about 1 year ago or so, and plugged into my Yamaha receiver and put the Rotel 2x200Wpc amp on the delay on circuit.

Two problems:
1. Two units broke because the rotel's surge-on current fused the relays closed
2. I could hear a buzzing noise on my speakers (especially noticeable at close range at the tweeter). I could hear the buzzing from my couch. How annoying!

I returned both units and got a Monster HTS 3500 MKII, which does the same thing but no buzzing.

I was so happy to get the H15 because it was supposed to smooth out the power and make it cleaner! It did the opposite!

Folks who have the H15: please try this yourself! Put your ear next to the tweeter and see if you can hear the buzzing and try to get an idea of the noise floor. Then plug in your amp into the wall directly and see if it gets better. It probably depends on your amp, though, so it might not be a universal problem.

Also, if I recall, I think having a dimmer circuit on anywhere in the house may be what makes it buzz (but of course, it was touted as able to clean up the power! not make it worse!)

Kolia · #10 02-13-2008, 10:01 AM

Did grounding the amp back to the H15's ground connector help?