Possible Down Time

[DailyDi]

Seems I am about to loose another computer to our crappy electric grid here. 2-3 times a day it freezes up or reboots as the voltage spikes or drops. If/when it crashes I may be offline for a bit except for checking in on my iphone. Working on one of our ad contracts hoping to get it paid early to cover a new computer, so hopefully things will work out.

[babykeiff]

Mike, did you ever think of getting an Uninterrupted Power Supply. They tend to protect connected devices from surges and spikes.

[DailyDi]

Mike, did you ever think of getting an Uninterrupted Power Supply. They tend to protect connected devices from surges and spikes.

I have one. Doesn't help when the problem is so frequent. Getting a power conditioner to try and regulate the power coming out of the UPS

[Dougie]

A UPS is a power conditioner. You might need a larger one for your system.

[Bettypooh]

A UPS is a power conditioner. You might need a larger one for your system.

A UPS always helps but it is not designed to be a power conditioner, which is a totally different animal serving a totally different purpose The battery and capacitors in a UPS do smooth out voltage transients, drops, and spikes but don't remove them from the output altogether A power conditioner is designed to give a steady smooth output voltage to a much tighter tolerance range, boosting the lows and absorbing the highs as needed. They are designed for and serve two different purposes

Where I live my neighbor, who shares the same line transformer as I'm on, has fried several PC's and a couple printers due to voltage spikes and drops, though my older stuff doesn't seem to mind the exact same conditions. I have seen line voltages here drop as low as 88 volts and peaks go up to 150 which is as far as my meter range went The specified 125 volts AC that you get is only a nominal figure and +/-5% is considered great with occasional variations of 10% perfectly acceptable according to most utilities. The spikes here are short duration but the lows here can last a full second or more- well beyond the 'standard' . The cause here is very old lines working at full capacity, a manufacturing facility close by that draws intermittently from the same substation on the same overworked lines, and inadequate pole transformers serving higher loads than they were meant to regularly deal with when they went up 40+ years ago

Before PC's became common wider voltage variations didn't cause much trouble and most electronics were happy. Now the voltage variation tolerance for the average home is far more critical and new lines are designed to accommodate that Utility companies aren't going to replace still-functioning lines and transformers for you because of the astronomical cost factor involved so it is up to you deal with it The first step is a UPS- it's usually enough- but when it isn't a power conditioner may be needed and the older the power infrastructure is the more likely you'll need both. It's your expensive equipment so protect it because nobody else is going to

Bettypooh

[DailyDi]

Our normal voltage range is 113v to 120v which isn't that bad. The problem is that on average twice a day the "smart grid" shifts us around causing it to drop to 50v for 8-10 seconds before jumping back up to the normal range. UPS doesn't trigger fast enough - I guess because it's not an outage, just under-powered -

[Bettypooh]

Our normal voltage range is 113v to 120v which isn't that bad. The problem is that on average twice a day the "smart grid" shifts us around causing it to drop to 50v for 8-10 seconds before jumping back up to the normal range. UPS doesn't trigger fast enough - I guess because it's not an outage, just under-powered -

Why can't you have simple problems? That's as bad as those adults who like to wear diapers and write about it online

Seriously your problem is bigger than the usual power conditioner will handle Your best bet is to rework the UPS to kick in at a higher voltage with a lower duration It may be as simple as turning a couple "pots" with a screwdriver (best case) or it may require reprogramming a chip along with some component changes (worst case) Either way it will take me at least a schematic diagram and preferably a service manual (which likely isn't available since only the factory services this stuff that deeply and most programs and some schematics are proprietary and thus unavailable) Tell me what kind of UPS this is (make and model with build date if it's on the sticker) and I'll see what I can find out With some luck I can find a schematic and the trigger circuitry will be simple enough for me to fathom

In the meantime I think repaid 1 might know a thing or two about this and I'd defer to him if he does because my knowledge of electronics is both rusty and concerns other types of circuits almost entirely Whatcha got?- maybe we can fix it!

Bettypooh

[DailyDi]

I have an APC XS 1500

Build date I'll get if ya really need it, but it would be a pain to try and get to it, lol.

[DailyDi]

Model: Back-UPS BX1500G

Firmware revision: 866.L3.D

Software version: PowerChute Personal Edition 2.2

Date of last manual self-test: 8/22/2010

Result of last manual self-test: Passed

RAM: 8 GB

Free disk space: 1,468,642 MB

[Dougie]

Some high end UPS units have a power conditioning circuit built in. Most desktop units don't. Get on that is designed to run in a computer rack and it will help maintain a very computer friendly output.

I have a Deltec PRA 2000. It wasn't cheap. It puts out a constant 120VAC @ 16 AMPS 60Hz. It will output that power within +/-5% as long as the batteries are healthy and charged. It can support a continuous output of 120VAC @ 10A for about 40 minutes before the batteries are exhausted. The UPS shuts off the power to the device load when the output drops below 115VAC at the current load. I have had both spikes and brown-outs that have lasted for several seconds up to a few minutes. The UPS has a crowbar circuit that can disconnect and reconnect the input in milliseconds. I have heard it alarming several times per week at times. The electronics I have plugged into it haven't missed a beat in the several years I have been using that Deltec.

I used to use an APC power strip that was designed to cut off power if it got any spikes on drops in power that exceeded 5% of 115VAC. It was plugged into the UPS. I decided to run a meter on the UPS for several days and found out the APC would never get hit with anything that it was designed to trigger with. I don't use the APC protection strip anymore. I plug directly into the UPS now.

Not all UPS units are created equally.

[Bettypooh]

So far I've found one tiny blurry schematic for smaller units in a .gif format which I don't know how to sharpen up enough to actually see the details, but from what I can see there's a relay which does the actual switching and the circuitry looks simple enough I can't tell if the relay core gets it's power directly from the AC line input (which would mean a total power loss is needed to switch it on) or not. I need a readable schematic!

If anyone can get us a clearer schematic specifically for the 1500 (preferably in .pdf so I can enlarge it) I would really appreciate it.

I'll look some more after work today if not. If the 1500 is like the smaller ones this looks very do-able though we may have to build a relay control board which would need only some very simple soldering work to install.

Bettypooh

[Bettypooh]

Sadly I can't find the schematic anywhere so I can't say what to do. It might be easier to read reviews on UPS's and people with problems like yours then see if you can trade in or sell your old one to get one that will work for you. If I had the circuit board here I could likely figure it out but that is no guarantee that I could and it would leave you without it for at least a week. Tonight I'll try one last hope for the schematic- a long shot but a possibility.

Wish I could do more

Bettypooh

[DailyDi]

Got some software from the APC website that has allowed me to turn up the sensitivity and tell it specifically to correct under-voltages. Seems to be helping.

[DailyDi]

Puter has frozen twice tonight, grr. Half-way to my "new PC" funds goal. Hope I make it in time!

[lil_baby_wet_n_squishy]

You should be able to use your power chute software to tweak when the UPS will kick in. It is supposed to handle the situation you are have.