APC H15 Power Conditioner - review - Page 9

I painted my silver H15 to black. Easy peezy. The power button light can be dimmed and even turned completely off under the 'Set Dimmer' function in the menu. For me, I have the dimmer set at the lowest setting and I'm good with that. I would likely turn it off if the H15 was out of sight/hidden. But mine is displayed along with the rest of my equipment and looks stupid with no lights in my opinion. When doing critical viewing/listening I just manually turn ALL the lights off on ALL my equipment and then back on after, to minimize any possible visual distraction as much as possible.

My dimmer function does not do anything to that light. Luckily (i guess) my faceplate showed up scratched so they are sending me a new one, maybe the new faceplate will allow me to do that. Anyone have experience with the j10?

Just double checked and indeed, all lights can be turned off. If you want information about the J10, that would be a different forum. This forum is specific to the H15.

Good luck. A simple faceplate change won't do it unless there is a specific power line for the button illumination (unlikely but possible) that you can disconnect. On the H15 it is menu activated and it seems if that option was eliminated on the J10 you are SOL. There is always the old standby of black tape over the power button though.

this is bs lol
edit there is an option to turn off lcd display and other led lights. Why they wouldnt let it turn that off i do not know.

Quick question, should the H15 be left on all the time?

Thanks

Mine is unless I go away for a weekend (3 days or more).

Im looking into getting 2 of these units in the next 6 months. I see them sold on Ebay for $230 or so and also on Amazon through a dealer for almost the same amount. Are either of these places that are selling the units true dealers for APC? I'd hate to find out APC won't cover repairs because of whom I bought them through. Also does APC have warranty in Canada?

Any quality control issues with these units lately? They only offer black now.

I just purchased one of these for my home theater off Amazon. When I took it out of the box I could something rattling around inside. I couldnt help myself. I took the cover off to find 3 of the main circuit board screws rolling around inside. Im thinking its a refurb and I was not told it was. Seems to work fine though.

Not a refurb. Read in this thread there were some units like that. Just replace and go on normally.

agreed. mine had a few loose screws when I received it. I disassembled and painted it anyways so I was not concerned.

Its been on 24/7 for 2 yrs now (minus a few power outages)

Well that makes me feel better about about. Thanks guys!

found this thread by chance

vanns.com has the apc s15 ups / power conditioner for 299 shipped.

Killer deal and one I might jump on, but truth be told, I am completely satisfied with my H15. Not to mention I'd have no clue where I would place that behemoth!

The $299 deal for the S15 UPS is still going on at Vanns but reading a few reviews made me nervous. Some people had DOAs and some had units made in 2005 (actually several). The batteries did not work. Yikes. This would be a perfect unit for my projector, receiver and BD player.

2005?! Well of course the batteries would be expired! But hell, just tell APC and they'll send NEW batteries under the warranty. But that is something to think about that in a couple of years, the batteries may need replcing and that could be costly. But the electronics are very viable regardless. I have had my H15 for 2-3 years now and see no reason to replace it. It does all I want and more.

I installed my two S-15s in 2005 and the batteries are still doing fine.

Really? Outstanding man. What is the average life span?

Dunno but I am surprised they are working. The one in CT has switched to battery power a few times but the one in NYC has not been stressed afaik. Still, when I pull the plug on either one, the system plays on and the estimated run-time is pretty much what it was.

New batteries are inevitable, though, and they run between $100 and $150.

I talked to the Vann's agent over the phone asking him why the silver one was $299 and the black was $799 and he said they bought a whole bunch of back inventory of unsold silvers. But otherwise the black and silver are the same. I ended up ordering one last night. I got it for $280 with free shipping. They had a $20 off special yesterday. I will post here once I get it. Hopefully the battery works properly! Now my problem is my component shelves. They shelves are made of glass and I don't think it can hold this unit. I think this unit is 60lbs right. Currently, it is holding my 44 lb NAD T763, 22 lb Sony S5000ES, 20 lb BreatheAudio whole home amp, and a few small items. One component per shelf though.

Thinking about getting an H15. A couple questions:

1. I have a few items (record player, ipod dock) I have plugged into a surge protector which I keep switched off unless I'm actually using these devices, which is not very often. If I plug these into the power conditioner, will they then always be receiving/wasting power, even if it's a small amount? Is there a way to turn specific outlets on and off?

2. Currently have the rest of my HT equipment (lcd tv, blu-ray, NAD receiver, wii, cd changer) plugged into another surge protector which is always on and all connected devices are in standby mode. This includes the subwoofer, and I've read about the H15 causing some sub amps to blow. Do people generally plug their subs into a separate surge protector?

Only if they do not have a 12v trigger.
I don't. My old sub was plugged into a surge/power strip and took a hit and blew out my AVR & sub. The H15 with my DUI sub, never an issue (knock on wood, don't want to jinx anything) and I have EVERYTHING plugged into the H15 including 2 sub amps, AVR, DLP, HD DVD, BDP, DVD recorder & Wii. On 24/7 (unless we go out of town) and I wouldn't have it any other way, personally.

If you are getting it from Vanns, I would recommend the S15 battery backup for only $50 more. At least if you have anything that has fans to cool things like a DLP lamp. But again, out of all the power outages and brown outs we have had over the past 3+ years or so, battery backup wouldn't have made any difference.

An alternative is to plug your power strip into the H15 for those 2 things you don't use often and still switch on/off manually while still receiving all the benefits the H15 offers.

What do you guys recommend setting the avr range to??? I have a pioneer sc-35.

thanks

Mine is set to 'narrow'. The AVR range IS NOT for your AVR Pioneer, is means Automatic Voltage Regulation and is for the entire power output.

that makes more sense now... thanks

So I was thinking about buying a monster, then I read bad reviews and I was led to APC. However I only would consider a power conditioner if people noticed a difference in cleaner power distribution and sound. Any experiences of this with any conditioner?

Absolutely noticeable. At least with the H15. I have no experience with any other. And while I say it is absolutely noticeable, it does so subtley. Really all depends on how 'in tune' YOU are with your system BEFORE the power conditioner is added.

After experiencing what my H15 does in my HT the past 3+ years, I won't readily do without again.

Thanks splicer, I guess what I'm really wondering is if the H15 "cleans" the signal as well as other power conditioners because this really is the only feature I care for. I don't have tons of electronics and I feel basic surge protectors will protect electronics just the same.

The H15 ALSO has AVR - automatic voltage regulation, as well as power conditioning AND surge protectection. Make no mistake about it, a grocery store bought power strip that claims surge protection IS NOT in the same class as the H15.

As to "cleaning the signal" well, that is a completely different issue. Crap in equates to crap out, plain and simple. No power conditioner changes signal quality.

It still seems like the these devices are worthless, unless I had a bunch of equipment. The only time my avr/tv/speakers would need anything more than the surge protector I bought from office depot (not grocery store) is if I had a lightning strike and these devices don't even stop that. However, 200$ is nothing and I'd rather have one of these than not. Thanks for the input splicer.

When in doubt go with the Monster HTS 3600 MKII it is a bit expensive but, it truly saved my $2200 desktop from a malfunctioning main power supply that kept tripping and resetting itself. My TV and all my surround sound along with lights and fans and everything burnt out. Luckily for me I had renter insurance anyways to take care of that, but since I bought my computer afterwards it wasn't covered, because I never added it to the protection plan.

Needless to say I have everything hooked up to this bad boy and i stand by it 100%. You can read about it hear at http://powerconditionerreviews.com