Dirty power - line interactive UPS fix?

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CokemonZ

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#255604 20-Aug-2019 10:56

Hi GZ'rs again.

Now that I work from home I'm starting to see some issues with the wiring in my house.

It seems 50% of my house is wired up via one cable run, Laundry, 1/2 my kitchen and my office.

What happens is that several times a day my monitors will blank, as something turns on - dishwasher, washing machine or dryer I expect.

It's not a disaster, but it's very annoying.

Everything that has capacitors in them - phone charger, surface dock, even my soundbar is fine - It only happens to the monitors. To be fair they are older, and I brought them second hand however they work perfectly - other than this.

I don't want to spend a lot of money fixing this, so I was thinking - If I get a secondhand line interactive UPS (and not care about the battery) would this solve the problem?

UPS keeps the voltage steady, monitors stop blanking....or would I need one with batteries in good condition?

Was looking at this as an example: https://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/peripherals/ups/listing-2275523130.htm?rsqid=770806f66a7747cc89952777a60767bf-016

Edit: made link work

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#2302297 20-Aug-2019 11:03

Mine do this every time the clothes drier changes direction. It's annoying but I just ignore it. I have a UPS not plugged in I could test it with, an older Dynamix unit.

Dynamic

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#2302317 20-Aug-2019 11:36

I believe you are referring to an ONLINE UPS, where the UPS is supplying power from its inverter 100% of the time and power issues on the supply to the UPS don't get through to the UPS load (your monitors). Online UPS are typically more expensive.

A Line Interactive UPS only 'interacts' when there is a problem (power failure, or over/under voltage) and you'll hear it 'click in' when it is doing its work.

http://www.minutemanups.com/blog/2014/02/newbies-nook-whats-ups/

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Beccara

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#2302319 20-Aug-2019 11:47

Yeah dual conversion UPS or a power conditioner would help cover the sags, You might also want to get a sparky in to see if you could isolate the laundry/kitchen circuit into a separate circuit as that would help with alot of things in general

Most problems are the result of previous solutions...

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CokemonZ

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#2302326 20-Aug-2019 12:04

timmmay: Mine do this every time the clothes drier changes direction. It's annoying but I just ignore it. I have a UPS not plugged in I could test it with, an older Dynamix unit.

A test would be great if you can.

Don't want to buy stuff if it doesn't work.

It never used to bother me, but now that it happens 'enough' it's pretty frustrating.

CokemonZ

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#2302328 20-Aug-2019 12:07

Dynamic:

I believe you are referring to an ONLINE UPS, where the UPS is supplying power from its inverter 100% of the time and power issues on the supply to the UPS don't get through to the UPS load (your monitors). Online UPS are typically more expensive.

A Line Interactive UPS only 'interacts' when there is a problem (power failure, or over/under voltage) and you'll hear it 'click in' when it is doing its work.

http://www.minutemanups.com/blog/2014/02/newbies-nook-whats-ups/

Right - that's annoying, as the cheapies all just appear to be line interactive.

Last time we had a sparky in his response to my ask was that slight whistle through your teeth as you intake a breath - implying money...…….

So really just after a cheap good enough solution as it doesn't seem to bother anything else

Beccara

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#2302336 20-Aug-2019 12:16

You'd be looking at around $500 for a entry level dual conversion. Have a look at the Vertiv GXT series

CokemonZ

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#2302340 20-Aug-2019 12:30

That trademe one I listed is $50 with dead batteries, and appears to be online.

That looks good to me.....?

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coffeebaron

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#2302342 20-Aug-2019 12:38

Dead battery will make it either not kick in when needed, or it will kick in then power fail.

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CokemonZ

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#2302343 20-Aug-2019 12:44

coffeebaron: Dead battery will make it either not kick in when needed, or it will kick in then power fail.

It's really about power conditioning - not actually using it as a ups.

When one of my appliances kicks in my monitors flick on and off. I'm thinking the conditioning aspect of the ups would deal with that. Would that work?

timmmay

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#2302345 20-Aug-2019 12:47

CokemonZ:

A test would be great if you can. Don't want to buy stuff if it doesn't work. It never used to bother me, but now that it happens 'enough' it's pretty frustrating.

I'll try to remember to do this in a few days, won't have need for drier before then. My UPS is a Dynamix one I got for $20 from a guy who just wanted to get rid of it, battery works ok, but not sure if it's line interactive or not.

Seems like a bit of a waste of money to get a UPS for this to me, unless it's doing it constantly.

CokemonZ

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#2302354 20-Aug-2019 13:25

timmmay:

CokemonZ:

A test would be great if you can. Don't want to buy stuff if it doesn't work. It never used to bother me, but now that it happens 'enough' it's pretty frustrating.

I'll try to remember to do this in a few days, won't have need for drier before then. My UPS is a Dynamix one I got for $20 from a guy who just wanted to get rid of it, battery works ok, but not sure if it's line interactive or not.

Seems like a bit of a waste of money to get a UPS for this to me, unless it's doing it constantly.

4 - 5 times a day, every day, and I work from home. It's one of those things that get under your skin.

Oblivian

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#2302358 20-Aug-2019 13:30

Back in the startup days of Home theatre, before larger power and in-built protection was a thing Amps/speakers use to be quite fussy in this way.

My fridge or Microwave would go, and off would go the AC3 decoding (or pops in speakers).

The solution short of re-wiring was add a ferrite coil here and there, And a filtering powerboard - not your every day over-priced and hyped feel-good purchase.
But an active device that did a job I think driven on small CAPs and switching mosfets (it's been un-phased when the CFL lights and alarm clock browns out)

Can't see any priced around the $120 mark anymore (all a lot more) but after I got one, Issues be gone! So there is such a thing that *may* help your case in small format form. It probably depends on the amount/type of interruption being caused

This seems to be about todays equivalent.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/SURTHR1009/Thor-B12R-Green-Board-8---Smart-Technology-Power-P

But take that particular model with a grain of salt. Especially with claims of "Can also improve computer gaming speeds and fix internet dropout"

CokemonZ

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#2302387 20-Aug-2019 14:28

Oblivian:

Back in the startup days of Home theatre, before larger power and in-built protection was a thing Amps/speakers use to be quite fussy in this way.

My fridge or Microwave would go, and off would go the AC3 decoding (or pops in speakers).

The solution short of re-wiring was add a ferrite coil here and there, And a filtering powerboard - not your every day over-priced and hyped feel-good purchase.
But an active device that did a job I think driven on small CAPs and switching mosfets (it's been un-phased when the CFL lights and alarm clock browns out)

Can't see any priced around the $120 mark anymore (all a lot more) but after I got one, Issues be gone! So there is such a thing that *may* help your case in small format form. It probably depends on the amount/type of interruption being caused

This seems to be about todays equivalent.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/SURTHR1009/Thor-B12R-Green-Board-8---Smart-Technology-Power-P

But take that particular model with a grain of salt. Especially with claims of "Can also improve computer gaming speeds and fix internet dropout"

That sort of thing could be a go. However I have seen $20 boards with 'power filtering' as a feature.

This seems to be the sort of thing ( a bit cheaper) https://www.jaycar.co.nz/10-way-home-theatre-surge-protected-powerboards/p/MS4033

rhy7s

625 posts

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#2302832 21-Aug-2019 10:57

I've had half-a-dozen UPS units fail in various ways, just find them too much hassle now. However, I have a couple of APC Line-R 1200VA units that often manage to keep equipment up through brownouts or fairly sustained undervoltage.

Beccara

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#2302839 21-Aug-2019 11:03

Power filtering wont help here as it sounds like when heavy devices come online he's getting momentary voltage sags. Unless these boards are coming with massive capacitor banks they wont help with sags.

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