UPS and voltage regulation question

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patric

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Mar 10, 2008
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698
At my photography studio I evidently have some dirty power problems. I've tried connecting 3 different PCs to different circuits and they all freeze and eventually blue screen when a load is put on the processor. Two of the computers I've used at my house and have had zero issues there, so I'm assuming it's something with the power at my studio.

Would a UPS with automatic voltage regulation help fix this problem? And if so, would it be an issue if I used a smaller UPS, like a 850va unit on a computer using a i7 13700K and 3080ti? I don't really need it to provide power in case of power loss. I just want to be able to use a computer at my studio for culling and editing photos.
 
Not really, the UPS would scream at you often and kill the batteries in short order.
I would investigate the electrical issues before there is a fire if it happens to be internal to the building.
If its the power company you can have ammo to get them to fix it.
Are there other companies in the same building? are they having issues also?
 
If it’s an actual voltage issue a UPS or conditioner may fix it but if it’s a grounding issue (which can cause all sorts of issues) it will not.
 
stormy1 said:
Not really, the UPS would scream at you often and kill the batteries in short order.
I would investigate the electrical issues before there is a fire if it happens to be internal to the building.
If its the power company you can have ammo to get them to fix it.
Are there other companies in the same building? are they having issues also?
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There's a warehouse in the floor below me and residential apartments in the units to the side of me. The power comes into a single meter for the building. Some of the people in the apartments work from home on their computers and have no issues. I also don't have any problems with my studio lights, etc which draw way more power than a computer while they're recharging their capacitors.
 
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You could have a grounding issue, as mentioned above, get an electrician, A real one.
You will need to get access to the electric room from your landlord if they find a grounding problem.
Don't know where you live but around here it will cost you $$$.$$.
 
It has been said but i agree, do not try and band aid it, get an electrician out there to check your wiring. It could be a symptom of a bigger problem that is best fixed.
 
Your power supply should be doing 99% of the cleanup. It should take virtually whatever AC power is given to it and deliver clean DC to the components. Power supplies since the beginning have dealt with dirty AC, non-sinewave AC from UPSs, etc. If your power supply can't clean it up, I doubt a UPS will. Like others have said, you need to look elsewhere.
 
Does the case zap you? Like, after it's been on for a few minutes and you're not at your computer, walk up and touch an unpainted area of the case - zap?
Oh, and - no, a UPS is not the device to use when faced with this specific issue you describe.
 
Funny you ask that because I have that problem. My keyboard is part metal and I get a shock virtually everytime I return to the computer. Usually the minute I step back on my chair roller mat, my computer screen flickers, then I know I'm in for a shock. I've had an electrician come out and he didn't find anything wrong. I'm plugged into an APC Backups Pro 1000 UPS.

I've even tried grounding the case to my computer desk, it is right now, and it doesn't help. I blew up three Schiit Audio Magni Heresy headphone amps in 6 months of ownership. Finally had them upgrade me to a Schiit Magnius. This one hasn't blown up yet and it's nearly three years old.

If someone would put me on the path to resolving this, I'd be eternally grateful. Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread.

To the OP. I'd call an electrician but would also opt for a double conversion online UPS. When I have to run my house on generator power (portable unit) none of my AVR UPSes will charge off that power. They will flip to battery every few seconds. I wouldn't waste my money on trying anything but a double conversion, if you end up having to deal with it.
 
staknhalo said:
The spider in the corner of my patio is Czechoslovakian
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^ I had that stuck in my copy/paste clipboard, I guess this is as good of an opportunity to use it as any!

ochadd said:
Usually the minute I step back on my chair roller mat, my computer screen flickers, then I know I'm in for a shock.
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Your screen flickers just because you step back from your PC, walking on your chair mat, without touching the computer/desk? That sounds like some powerful electrostatic field of some kind coupling you to your PC :D

ochadd said:
To the OP. I'd call an electrician but would also opt for a double conversion online UPS.
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Well, I did see this "double conversion or bust" argument a few times, and I guess it has its merits. But in OPs case:
- you can't just add power from the battery constantly. If the wall can't cut it powering a few computers, then it won't be able to also concurrently charge up a UPS battery in addition to the computers,
- many UPS actually warrant specific wiring, down to the breaker type (amperage and delay), not the other way around.

patric said:
And if so, would it be an issue if I used a smaller UPS, like a 850va unit on a computer using a i7 13700K and 3080ti?
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UPS can be divas, so who knows. But 850VA apparent power is cutting it really close considering the hardware involved. I'd go 1200 VA minimum, and look at the Power Factor specifications to obtain actual wattage.
 
michalrz said:
Your screen flickers just because you step back from your PC, walking on your chair mat, without touching the computer/desk? That sounds like some powerful electrostatic field of some kind coupling you to your PC :D
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Correct. If my computer is sleeping and I walk up and touch the mat with my foot, it will wake up. When I touch the metal perimeter of my keyboard I get shocked.
If the computer is running and I walk away, when I return the screen will flicker before I ever sit down. I'll get shocked the minute I touch the keyboard.
 
ochadd said:
Correct. If my computer is sleeping and I walk up and touch the mat with my foot, it will wake up. When I touch the metal perimeter of my keyboard I get shocked.
If the computer is running and I walk away, when I return the screen will flicker before I ever sit down. I'll get shocked the minute I touch the keyboard.
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Place a fluorescent tube on something soft, connect one of its pins to a ground. Go do your thing for a while, come back and try touching the tube's other pin (non-grounded one). In a dark enough room you might thus solve part of the mystery :D - if it glows - it is YOU who has the higher potential.

I'm also not an electrician, and the above experiment is probably wrong. A safe bet would be to connect all the weird-behaving electronics to one outlet, and maybe have someone check your prong. Either way, this is a different problem than OP's.
 
ochadd said:
Correct. If my computer is sleeping and I walk up and touch the mat with my foot, it will wake up. When I touch the metal perimeter of my keyboard I get shocked.
If the computer is running and I walk away, when I return the screen will flicker before I ever sit down. I'll get shocked the minute I touch the keyboard.
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You should probably get an ESD chair mat and ground it (and triple check your grounding is good), what's the indoor humidity like?
 
toast0 said:
You should probably get an ESD chair mat and ground it (and triple check your grounding is good), what's the indoor humidity like?
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Never heard of such a thing but I'm going to buy one. No idea on the actual humidity levell but it's dry. We don't have any humidity control. South Dakota in the winter. The shocks are worse in the winter than the summer.
 
ochadd said:
Correct. If my computer is sleeping and I walk up and touch the mat with my foot, it will wake up. When I touch the metal perimeter of my keyboard I get shocked.
If the computer is running and I walk away, when I return the screen will flicker before I ever sit down. I'll get shocked the minute I touch the keyboard.
Click to expand...
I’m almost positive you have a grounding issue. The only time I’ve ever seen a PC act funny with an electro static discharge on the chassis is when it was plugged into an outlet with a bad ground. A discharge directly on a component is another matter but the chassis is grounded and shouldn’t be transferring that shock to the components IF you have a proper ground.
 
WilyKit said:
I’m almost positive you have a grounding issue. The only time I’ve ever seen a PC act funny with an electro static discharge on the chassis is when it was plugged into an outlet with a bad ground. A discharge directly on a component is another matter but the chassis is grounded and shouldn’t be transferring that shock to the components IF you have a proper ground.
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My thoughts exactly. I have an outlet tester and had a home inspector check random outlets before we bought the house and several were wired backwards or wrong. At one point my wife got shocked by touching the microwave. I also found the ground from the panel is touching the garage door hardware when they replaced that. I plan to get some tubing to wrap the copper wire for that, but I need to rewire the outlets that are messing up.

I'm not an electrician so my theory may be wrong, but my understanding is that 'stray' power will find its way to the ground if the ground is correct. If not, it stays on the appliance until something grounds it--you! And that's why you feel the current. Speaking of which, if you have an APC UPS, those units will indicate a ground fault if they are not properly grounded--I would check as well as another clue.
 
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