Cheap UPS / power conditioner to protect Audio / computer

Nicholars

Gawd
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Jan 10, 2012
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I want to protect my audio equipment and also PC from brownouts, power spikes etc.

What is the best cheap method to do this? All UPS I can find that have a pure sinewave output are too expensive. Do I need a UPS to protect my audio equipment / PC? Or will a good circuit breaker / power strip / power conditioner work ok?

For example when my fridge/freezer starts it will make a loud clicking noise and then my dac will disconnect for a second.... I had other problems in my previous flat also.. This makes me think I need something to protect my electronics... Currently I have basic APC power strips but I would spend up to £100 if there is a better solution? The actual uninteruptable power supply part would be useful but I am more worried about ensuring that my audio equipment and PC do not get damaged by power spikes, brownouts etc.

Can anyone help me with this? Do I really need a "pure sine wave" output or can I get decent protection with something cheaper? Do I even need a UPS or will a good power strip / circuit breaker work for brownouts / power spikes etc?

Or would a line conditioner work just to stop the problems I mentioned obviously without the battery backup part.

Thanks
 
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A good power supply should protect you from moderate dips in voltage and power conditioners don't boost or reduce voltage a whole hell of a lot anyway. Or perhaps you could put your pc and audio equipment on a different circuit than that which your refridgerator is on
 
All UPS's should switch to battery power in a few milliseconds when there is a spike in voltage. I hear the beeping quite often even when the lights dont go off when there is a power supply switch happening due to loads etc.. I have found cost is not a particular factor in how good the UPS is. They ALL pretty much break after a few years if you live in a bad power neighborhood. It is hard to find the right UPS, so you have to read experiences of others with the same UPS. You could get a bunch of cheap 600VA UPS's for different things. And use them for line conditioning, they only work when voltages drop or spike up and dont really change the waveform. What I am saying is, they are not meant to run the equipment on battery power for long periods and only during the power spikes. Since wave reduces the hum in tube lights and fans but has no bearing on SMPS.

Good Power strips are also hard to find, prices are also variable. Again, you have to do a lot of research and they wont do anything for the spikes other than blow if the voltage gets too high etc.. Line conditioners cost as much as UPS's without actually providing much benefit during power failures.. Although they basically should provide some kind of protection if a nail falls into the socket. The ones with triacs and stuff will also go bad the same as the UPS since its almost identical protection. Only difference is, its cheaper and takes up less space and easy to install.. I seen some which cost more than basic UPS's and wonder what it has. These days they are ALL made in china. Powercom was taiwanese and had good cheap UPS's.. But APC has better warranty and service and hence higher prices. They dont work any better and usually work worse..

I did spend the money and got a 1KV sinewave UPS because of the fan noise and low fan speeds and the quite often power problems only around my block and no where else.. And use that for everything. Since I know I wont be using power in all the rooms at the same time and the computer as well, I can get away with it. But before that it was not as noticeable as the power only went out briefly.


Oh yea, the square wave UPS's will destroy those cheap Chinese circuits using RC power supplies.. The caps get very hot and melt or blow up. Not a problem with sine wave UPS's or mains. Keep that in mind. No major equipment uses RC supply but you never know...

A good power supply should protect you from moderate dips in voltage and power conditioners don't boost or reduce voltage a whole hell of a lot anyway. Or perhaps you could put your pc and audio equipment on a different circuit than that which your refridgerator is on

That wont fix things since its an inductance problem. But you could use different phases for different things and I use the 3 phase power to attach different equipment to each phase and that works better. Other wise when the AC came on my UPS always beeped indicating a drop in voltage but it did not affect anything and I only notice it because of the beep so I know there is a line problem, might cause problems ..
 
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Realize that most "power conditioners" out there are just junk that do nothing beyond what your power supplies are already doing in the downstream gear. True power conditioners are expensive, bulky, heavy equipment. Most of the furmans etc. are just nice power strips with lights and maybe an LCD screen showing the input voltage. Whooptie :p. Don't believe me? Take one apart and look for yourself... it's not until you get into the $600-$700 ones that they really do anything useful.

I'd recommend a good UPS, but even that will take a beating if you have substandard mains and are loading it often. I'd make sure to get all equipment on different circuits as much as possible to start.
 
It wouldn't hurt to check the building's wiring because I used to live in a place where many of the wire connections were bad and would make the voltage drop 20% when a high load was applied.
 
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