Power Fluctuation Protection

[shrike1919]

The wiring in my house is quite old and I need some way to correct the voltage, but I don't need a UPS as far as I know, and I'm on a budget. I know a surge protector won't help because it's already fried several parts, cause it's not a full blown surge. Is there anything I can use that would regulate or correct the voltage/current? And if it turns out that I need a UPS, do I need one that will be 750 watts or higher, as I have a 750watt power supply?

 

[beenthere]

A UPS is the only realistic means to manage power surges unless you're an electrical engineer with too much time on your hands...

You need a UPS with enough capacity to handle whatever the max load is from your PC and any peripherals you may want to protect. The APC calculator should help. BTW APC's products have proven to be good in my many years of use. YMMV.

http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm

 

[BrianAbington]

http://www.furmansound.com/

click on 120volt pro audio video tab towards the left.

These units almost all have power filtration and surge protection.

Its a matter of what you need, if its just taking noise out of the power, or something that will provide 110V when your line drops to 95V they have something that can do it.

I plan on geting several of their units when I buy a house and can build a theater.

 

[BrianAbington]

By the way, Monster makes similar units but I would avoid them. Their power units are crap, and use really cheap components. And like all their products are way over priced compared to something of ewual quality from other brands.

Furman in my opinion makes the best stuff in the sub $1000 price range.

 

[shrike1919]

Well I was really lookin' for anything under $150, under $100 would be perfect though. Sub $1000 is over my price range lol.

 

[beenthere]

APC offers units in all price ranges. You should be able to get what you need for under $150.

 

[Evilsizer]

for the record you PSU is rated in DC voltage for power output, not for AC input. conversion of AC to DC is not 100%, you may need a UPS that is about 20-30% larger then the psu.

the kind of UPS your looking for is a always on, not switched on after power loss. im not even sure if i used the right term for its but there are two kinds of UPS's. the always on im talking about charges batteries at the same time as powering your computer. not one that charges a battery, then only switches on after losing power from the wall.

 

[madhatter256]

APC offers units in all price ranges. You should be able to get what you need for under $150.

I got my ES 550 for less than $80. Great battery backup, and it does help against brown-outs.

 

[Jmtyra]

Hi Strike! Welcome to the OC Community!

I know a surge protector won't help because it's already fried several parts, cause it's not a full blown surge.

Could you elaborate on what happened? If you're currently using a surge suppressor, and have had failed components if your computer, but not anywhere else in your house (DVD player, TV, microwave, etc) then you may have a faulty/failing PSU.

The wiring in my house is quite old and I need some way to correct the voltage

How old? Do you know if your wiring is grounded? (Mine isn't). I ask, because you can buy the best MOV based surge suppressor, but without a ground it's offering very little protection. (Most surge suppressors use Metal Oxide Varistors (MOV) for protection, as they are cheap to make and mass produce.)

Let me elaborate. There are three 'modes' that a MOV-based surge protector uses when encountering a surge: normal mode, which is hot to neutral (H-N) and two common modes neutral to ground and hot to ground (N-G / H-G). If your house wiring really is that old, and there is no ground, then no matter how expensive the MOV protector is, it's only protecting you from 1/3 of the surge types: H-N surges.

Any-who, all that to say, that if there is no ground then you'll need something different. The link BrianAbington referenced may have some, but do your research...if the products are MOV based (or, for example, have a "response time" or "joule rating") then move on to something else.

For the bad news: Adequate protection is expensive. I know, because the house I'm in is quite old, and actually doesn't have ground wiring. (And as you can tell, I had to do lots of research to find out how to protect my equipment). Here is what I ended up with. It's from a company called SurgeX, and they are awesome. They are not MOV based, do not have "response times" (technically it's 0ns response time) and are not limited by a certain "joule rating". It's called "Series Mode" surge elimination; more info here. Once I got this puppy installed, all of my flaky/weird power related system issues went away. Hell, even my broadband connection stopped dropping. (Did I mention I hate crappy old house wiring??) Sure, it's pricey (~$350) but how much would it cost to keep replacing computer parts instead?

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way affiliated with, own stock in, or otherwise have a vested interest in SurgeX. I'm just a really, really, really, really happy customer after all the problems it solved for my power filtering woes. Hell, the guy I was emailing with questions for, like, a week at their HQ actually sent me a post card.

 

[Jmtyra]

Oh -- I forgot to add. A UPS is great for power drops, but not so hot at power spikes. The few that have surge protection built in are usually the el' cheapo MOV based ones, and at a very low joule rating. If you decide to go with a UPS, but put it behind a good surge eliminator (series mode) or surge suppressor (MOV based).

 

[beenthere]

A quality UPS will also have decent power surge control.

 

[Randyman...]

Something like this is right at $100 - and probably has better filtering and regulation than an equivalently priced (read that "cheap") UPS - and no batteries to replace every 2 years.

Tripp Lite LC1200 line conditioner (1200 Watts):



I, personally, love me some APC UPS' - the big rackmount ones . But if you can't afford a descent UPS that will meet your power needs, the Tripp Lite line conditioners aren't a bad choice if you have badly fluctuating power and are on a budget IMO...

 

[Jmtyra]

A quality UPS will also have decent power surge control.

Unfortunately, this isn't the case. I wish it were, but...

The UPS Madhatter referenced? 310 joule rating, MOV based.
First $200 UPS I could find on Newegg: 1500VA, 865w. Nice unit, right? 340 joule rating.

The cheapest ($6) surge suppressor on Newegg? 1045 joule rating.

I'm going to this detail to let others know to not rely on their UPS for surge suppression. It's false protection, other than helping with power drops. I have one, and it's great, but again it's sitting behind a very solid surge eliminator. It's only job is to keep drops from occurring, and that's it.

 

[Jmtyra]

Tripp Lite LC1200 line conditioner (1200 Watts):

Nice item That would work if he has a ground wire at the receptacle. I'd probably put a good 4k joule suppressor in front of it, though, as the conditioner is only rated at 1k.

 

[beenthere]

I emphasize QUALITY UPS...

Some useful whitepapers:

http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/VAVR-5WKLPK_R1_EN.pdf

http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SADE-5TNM3Y_R7_EN.pdf

 

[Randyman...]

And if the OP's voltage is all over the place (as seems to be the case) - lots of the cheaper UPS's will actually attempt to use BATTERY POWER in brown-outs (around 95v or so) - and then you are dealing with runtime limitations, etc. The LC1200 I linked to has descent surge protection (over 1000 Joules IIRC) and uses a simple multi-tap transformer to step the voltage up and down as needed w/o a battery. For $100 it's likely a solid contender in this "voltage sag" scenario IMNSHO...

For UPS's - I like the APC SU1400RM and SU2200RM units - but they ain't cheap (unless you score them for free like I did ).

 

[Jmtyra]

I emphasize QUALITY UPS...
Some useful whitepapers:

Mmm, and how much would it cost for said quality UPS?

And if the OP's voltage is all over the place (as seems to be the case) - lots of the cheaper UPS's will actually attempt to use BATTERY POWER in brown-outs (around 95v or so) - and then you are dealing with runtime limitations, etc. The LC1200 I linked to has descent surge protection (over 1000 Joules IIRC) and uses a simple multi-tap transformer to step the voltage up and down as needed w/o a battery. For $100 it's likely a solid contender in this "voltage sag" scenario IMNSHO...

Aye, I agree that it's a solid unit for the price. It's a nice item! However, it's almost useless for surge suppression if s/he does not have ground wiring in their home.

For UPS's - I like the APC SU1400RM and SU2200RM units - but they ain't cheap (unless you score them for free like I did ).

Oh...oh....I so don't like you right now!!!

 

[Randyman...]

Aye, I agree that it's a solid unit for the price. It's a nice item! However, it's almost useless for surge suppression if s/he does not have ground wiring in their home.

The Op stated in his original post:

"I know a surge protector won't help because it's already fried several parts, cause it's not a full blown surge."

This seems to be more of a "Brown Out / Voltage Sag" issue than large surges or spikes.

I don't know if the LC1200 HAS to be on a grounded outlet as it uses a simple transformer with multiple taps to step the voltage up and down (I have a LC1800 - and it simply uses relays to switch through the taps - switch time is practically instentaneous).

I'm not aware of many (any) voltage regulators and/or surge protectors that wouldn't come with a standard 3-prong (grounded) AC cord - so any unit the OP is considering *might* need a 2-pin modification to work if he really has ungrounded outlets...

So shrike1919 - Are your outlets grounded (3-Prong) or ungrounded (2 prong)? I know our 1973 house has 3-prong outlets, so the house would have to be pretty old to have 2-prong (I know my Grandma's house had 2-prongs and was built in the late 30's or early 40's IIRC).

Oh...oh....I so don't like you right now!!!

LOL. I was pretty stoked. My employer was upgrading and was GIVING AWAY tons of APC UPS' - so I snagged (2) SU2200RM3U's and a SU1400RM3U along with a nice Sony Isolation Transformer (used to galvanically isolate broadcast video cameras) for $0.00. Of course the batteries were about $100 for each 2200 and $60 for the 1400 - but I wasn't complaining AT ALL !!! I also had to swap the connectors on the 2200's to standard 15-Amp plugs. I patted myself on the back after that score!

 

[Jmtyra]

LOL. I was pretty stoked. My employer was upgrading and was GIVING AWAY tons of APC UPS' - so I snagged (2) SU2200RM3U's and a SU1400RM3U along with a nice Sony Isolation Transformer (used to galvanically isolate broadcast video cameras) for $0.00.

<-- jealous! Very nice indeed. My employer is too cheap to give away cool stuff.