APC Back-UPS Connect - CP12036LI - 12V DC 36W Lithium-Ion Mini UPS, designed for Routers, Smart Home Controllers, VoIP devices, Networking gear and more

As advertised: Supports a recent-model Openreach ONT no problem, ran for over an hour and went about 30% discharged (ish). Installation quick, plug-and-play, with the supplied yellow tip adapters. Cable on the unit, though not shown in the pictures, is plenty long enough!

Other than the Eaton3s mini, this Schneider APC CP12036Li is the only other widely recognised make of mini DC UPS being sold on Amazon and as such its a welcome addition to a market place full of transient clone-like products from short lived suppliers. With the planned withdrawal of the UK PSTN by the end of 2025 and the ongoing switchover to VoiP many more people will come to recognise the value in adding a battery backup to their routers. Given the importance of product safety when relying upon li-ion cells, its good to see a few established UPS manufacturers offering these small domestic products. The UPS doesn't come with an AC/DC adapter its assumed that it will be connected in-line with the one already powering the router etc. The guidance indicates the UPS can deliver 3A/36W. With around 22Wh of tested usable capacity this UPS should run a typical domestic router for between 2 and 3 hours, most routers seem to use between 6-10Watts. In the event of an extended power cut the device has a simple soft On/Off button, allowing it to be shutdown and restarted as needed. There is no audible warning to indicate an input power failure, the On/Off button just has an LED which flashes to indicate the UPS is discharging its battery. The battery max recharging current is <400mA, which means the AC/DC adaptor you use has to have around 5W of headroom to safely supply the UPS and the device it normally plugs into. The documentation doesn't make this point clearly enough in my view. If in doubt about how many Watts you router is really using then it makes sense to measure it and then decide if the existing AC/DC adapter is up to the small additional load. The unit itself is a solid performer with good voltage regulation across the discharge cycle and across different load. The output voltage held steady at 11.2Volts even @3amps. One observation is that APC used to sell a much larger capacity version of a similarly styled UPS; I still use a CP12142LI and nearly 5 years on it is still protecting my gateway router from regular power cuts; sadly they stopped making it a few years back. This new mini UPS is a good solution which could have been better if they had kept some of the features in the previous model, specifically capacity, audible warning, wall mounts. The price is also on the slightly high side, but you are paying for the name and all the safety, certification that goes with it.

Why did you choose this product over others?: I got this to keep my network up in the event of a powercut as we were having a large amount in our area at the time. (one for this my router and one for the cityfiber box, and a larger UPS for my PC and Server) with my router of the time (FRITZ!Box 7530 AX) being powered and working fine, Sadly for me, Ill need to change one of these out as I brought a new router (Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Fiber) and this doesnt provide enough power output to run it. it works well, but before you buy one you might want to check the power draw required to run whatever you are buying it for if it's a little bit power hungry. recently during the heatwave, a family member unplugged the CityFiber box to plug in a fan, we only noticed it had been unplugged a few hours later when the internet suddenly stopped working, gave us a laugh when we noticed, it held up for a good bit so overall I would recommend.

The device itself is great but it comes with a very limited range of adapters. Had to make up my own from an old power supply. I was using this on a virgin media router.

Good assortment of adapters which makes it compatible with my adtran fibre box. Taking a while to reach full charge but i like that its dc. I also like that i can have this & another ups for the rest of my equipment at the other end of the room

One of the biggest telecoms companies in the UK - BT - but this device doesn't have the power adapter for it. Very poor.

Needed to be able to keep the fiber ONT up and running in power blips because it takes forever and a day to reboot then connect. This is absolutely perfect and lasts happily for an hour without power for just that. If you need power resilience because your ONT is on a wall that's miles from any other UPS option, couldn't recommend it enough.

Was still keeping Openreach ONT going after 8 hours. Slow to recharge

Utilizzato per il vecchio modem Fastgate di Fastweb ha funzionato benissimo. Nel giro di un paio di ore si è completamente caricato e non è stato necessario tenere il modem spento. In seguito ho poi sostituito il modem con quello nuovo, il Nexxt One, sempre di fastweb ed è stato necessario sostituire il connettore di alimentazione del trasformatore del modem, verso l'UPS, non più compatibile. Non è infatti stato possibile utilizzare gli adattatori forniti in confezione. Ho utilizzato lo spinotto del vecchio alimentatore Fastweb. Tutto a funzionato a dovere dopo questo piccolo intervento.

Concept et conception générale du produit intéressant. Utilisé comme UPS avec une caméra de surveillance. Plug and play. Différents connecteurs 12V fournis (moi je n'en ai pas eu besoin) Le bémol : performance limite en cas de rupture de courant. D'après les calculs par rapport aux specs de la caméra devrait tenir quand même sensiblement plus longtemps. Donc un rapport prix/performance quand même défavorable.

I had issues with my router at my summer house. Whenever there was a power outage, the internet would go down, and the router couldn’t reboot on its own. With this little device, shorter power outages are no longer a problem. A few adapters are included to make the connections fit. I’m very satisfied!

This is pretty much plug and play for a typical Australian NBN HFC Modem. You just put this between your existing power adapter and the modem - the standard plug size is 2.5mm barrel type DC connector - but they include two other size options if you need them. Installs in seconds and just works. I tested a full charge and got 90 minutes of use on my modem before it reached 1/2 power remaining - I would guess it could run the modem close to 3 hours. Why not 5 stars? because the price is too high by 2x. This little DC UPS costs more than a 4 plug AC UPS which granted is far less efficient and makes a bunch of heat, but the AC UPS can serve many devices. So you only want one of these if for some reason you don't want a standard AC UPS - in my application I have a small enclosed network shelf in a closet and it heats up too much with an AC UPS in it - so I bought this. If they cost half as much I'd buy more and use them for routers, security devices, etc. I paid 113 AUD, and got it within 2 days free delivery.

Excellent UPS. I'm using it to keep my FRITZ!Box 7583 online in the event of a power failure.