The tenants who recently vacated my condo left this behind (see attached photo).

Can anyone tell me, in non-technical language, what it is, please?

Protects against surges and spikes and provides power backup.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply

UPS 1200VA ETECH Grand By ZIRCON

UPS 1200VA ETECH Grand By ZIRCON (advice.co.th)

E-Tech Power Supply Grand 1200 VA / 720 Watts

• UPS Line Interactive UPS with Stabilizer
• High Performance specification provides up to 720W of power.
• Digital LCD screen with 9 electrical status displays
• Operate with intelligent Microprocessor
• Software can be used to manage the electrical system through a USB connector.
• It can be triggered to turn off the computer automatically.
• There are up to 6 power outlets that can be plugged into round and flat plugs.
• There is a slot to block lan line surges (RJ-45).
• Up to 4 computers with a power supply of 15-30 minutes

In plain language - it is a battery, which powers your computer or other things plugged in it (in your case up to 720W total power consumption) for a short time (10-20 minutes, depending on how much power they use) while there is a power outage on the sockets.

This model also has a surge protection, which means that when there are power spikes on the power line, instead of damaging your equipment, this box will either filter them out, if spikes are not very high, or kill itself to protect your equipment plugged in if the spike is very high.

If you have a PC, and (non-laser) printer, a screen... you could plug them in for protection and power backup.

 

Note though - these things come with 2 year warranty, generally. But what you would notice is that the battery inside (which looks like a small version of car battery) could die a lot sooner. It is generally not expensive to replace battery even outside warranty (maybe 500-800 baht).

Commonly known as a UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply.

If the battery inside is any good then it's a useful aquisition can protect anything electrical up to the rated output (720 watts) not only computers.

Even if the battery is shot it can usually be replaced (depending on the cost of the battery and complexity of the process it's sometimes cheaper to buy a new one

These are not necessarily cheap.  Why would it be left behind?  

4 minutes ago, Jerno said:

These are not necessarily cheap.  Why would it be left behind?  

Maybe the batteries are dead.

As others have said. Easy to replace. If not sure what to do, can often find videos showing how on Youtube.

In situations like that use Google Image Search.

https://www.google.com/imghp?sbi=1

 

Sometimes, and also in this case, it works well.

36 minutes ago, Jerno said:

These are not necessarily cheap.  Why would it be left behind?  

Cannot take it on a flight?

47 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

In plain language - it is a battery, which powers your computer or other things plugged in it (in your case up to 720W total power consumption) for a short time (10-20 minutes, depending on how much power they use) while there is a power outage on the sockets.

This model also has a surge protection, which means that when there are power spikes on the power line, instead of damaging your equipment, this box will either filter them out, if spikes are not very high, or kill itself to protect your equipment plugged in if the spike is very high.

If you have a PC, and (non-laser) printer, a screen... you could plug them in for protection and power backup.

 

Note though - these things come with 2 year warranty, generally. But what you would notice is that the battery inside (which looks like a small version of car battery) could die a lot sooner. It is generally not expensive to replace battery even outside warranty (maybe 500-800 baht).

 

Thank you for taking the time to explain so that a numpty like me can understand.

 

Appreciated! 

40 minutes ago, Jerno said:

These are not necessarily cheap.  Why would it be left behind?  

I don't know for certain, but they probably couldn't easily fly with it. I know for a fact that they were leaving Thailand by plane, so that's likely to be the reason.

 

You'd be amazed at the stuff some people leave behind.

Plug it in, switch it on, attach say table lamp switch that on then unplug the unit from the supply - it should start beeping and the light should stay on.

Alternatively (much simpler) plug it in switch it on (probably the button on the front) and see if there is a battery level indicator on the front panel.

One of these will give an indication if the battery backup part of the unit is working

1 hour ago, Negita43 said:

Even if the battery is shot it can usually be replaced (depending on the cost of the battery and complexity of the process it's sometimes cheaper to buy a new one

Yepper, my previous one died and the two batteries were hard to source and cost about 70% of what a newer/bigger model did.

1 hour ago, dingdongrb said:

Yepper, my previous one died and the two batteries were hard to source and cost about 70% of what a newer/bigger model did.

Lazada's got affordable replacement UPS batteries, but must check to be exact same size, and same or better specs. I`ve needed to replace my UPS battery twice already. The push-on connectors on the battery terminals make it a pretty easy task, once past the partial disassembly.

 

Update; I added a loud alarm to alert me to power outages, removed my laser printer from the UPS, and NOW I kill the power on the UPS as soon as I do a power-down of the PC.

IE I no longer keep the wifi powered up forever off the UPS.

The lead‐acid batteries live much longer, using this scenario. 

23 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

In plain language - it is a battery, which powers your computer or other things plugged in it (in your case up to 720W total power consumption) for a short time (10-20 minutes, depending on how much power they use) while there is a power outage on the sockets.

This model also has a surge protection, which means that when there are power spikes on the power line, instead of damaging your equipment, this box will either filter them out, if spikes are not very high, or kill itself to protect your equipment plugged in if the spike is very high.

If you have a PC, and (non-laser) printer, a screen... you could plug them in for protection and power backup.

 

Note though - these things come with 2 year warranty, generally. But what you would notice is that the battery inside (which looks like a small version of car battery) could die a lot sooner. It is generally not expensive to replace battery even outside warranty (maybe 500-800 baht).

Good description.  I would just add that many makes and models of UPS also top up incoming electricity if it is too low, which in my country is called a "brown out."  Apparently, brown outs can also be quite damaging. 

 

Most of us have seen a light become dim, or flickering, for no reason.  This is usually caused by low current.  No problem for the light, but not real good for electronics, and particularly damaging to white good with motors in them, but you can't put a UPS on a frigde or washing machine.

22 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Cannot take it on a flight?

Heavy, so might lead to being charged for excess weight, depending on your total luggage.