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power conditioning, surge and spike protection

Any thoughts out there on Power conditioning? I currently use whole house surge peotection and surge and spike protection on my audio and video gear. I have been looking at the Furman Elite 15i and the APC AV 1.5 kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V. There are a few mirrors + smoke in the power conditioning arena. I struggle with the point where the returns start to diminish quickly for some of the technology that is advertised or claimed and the dollars that are charged. Any Input?................
 
I am convinced that the absolute most critical aspects of AC line noise and surge issues can be addressed with the most simple AC noise filters and MOV solutions. Based on decades of experience, science, and advice from other experts, the most one will ever NEED from an AC conditioner is found in all of the Tripplite IsoBar products. They offer very effective noise filtering, isolation, and absolute surge protection in very affordable solutions.

The only reason to spend more is if you experience regular brown-out conditions in your house. If you do, then a true AC regulator is the only practical solution, and those can get very expensive.

There is absolutely no value in adding meters, lights, or other gimmicks to the AC solution, and I find it silly that people will spend so much on solutions.

There are extreme solutions, such as the Furman balanced power products for pro-recording studios, which can offer the ultimate in noise elimination, but if you aren't already spending tens of thousands of dollars on speakers and room acoustic treatments, then the benefits of balanced power is pointless.
 
For once I again with Flint. I spent a small fortune on a Monster 3600 surge protector and then found my Tripplite isobar 10 does just as good for about 80.00 I also have two Monster voltage regulators that I paid only 300.00 each on Circuit City close out when they retail for 1900.00 I bought them because AZ has horrible power conditions during the summer and they have stabalized my voltage. Before on just my 3600 I would see my digital gauge constantly fluctuate from 112-120 now it remains constant at 119 with no hint of any fluctuations. But what should be noted is those levels are all within "normal" voltage ranges for most gear. But for peace of mind I own them and they sure look purdy.
 
I also have a Monster HTS 3600 AC conditioner. I bought it before I knew any better. I've often thought about selling it and replacing with something else, but thought it's already paid for, just keep it.


I have two Tripplite Isobars I bought when I was still running powered speakers in my setup.
 
575-3400_large.jpg


Rope
 
Sorta On-topic: My APC UPS died a few weeks ago (right during an OS upgrade, d'Oh!) and today I finally got around to ordering a replacement battery for it.
Ouch: $87 with shipping! Hopefully by the time this one dies I'll have preceded it. Kudos to the APC guy on the phone, he went over a bunch of possibilities with me to make sure it was the battery. :handgestures-thumbup:
 
Botch said:
Sorta On-topic: My APC UPS died a few weeks ago (right during an OS upgrade, d'Oh!) and today I finally got around to ordering a replacement battery for it.
Ouch: $87 with shipping! Hopefully by the time this one dies I'll have preceded it. Kudos to the APC guy on the phone, he went over a bunch of possibilities with me to make sure it was the battery. :handgestures-thumbup:


Hey Botch,

What APC Model do you have? As you guys know, I spent 5 years of my career with those guys and they do take very good care of their customers. The used to have a trade-up/exchange policy that was also very good. Not sure if they still have it.

Keith
 
I've got the BX 900R. Its around 5 years old, and yes they did offer the trade-up, but the closest model to mine would've been over $140, so i just opted for the battery.
The power grid here is susceptible to storms, and a few times my lights have gone out downstairs, the iMac flickered but kept running and I've never lost any work. I'm happy with it.
 
Does that unit have the software package that will actually capture all the power conditions that you can down load for review.

The event logs on their older PowerChute Software was pretty neat.
 
When working on the old Smart UPS 1000 from APC they actually helped me when replacing the battery to help reset the system to recognize the new battery and for the unit to recalibrate on the battery and safe operating times for the unit.

We are now using a Tripplite 1u rack mount UPS to protect the computer and the Presonus studio live mixer on shows.

One of my concerns on the power protection is that we are moving to Switching power supplies to improve the efficiency. equipment in past had old heavy transformers, diode and huge caps to filter the dc and isolate from the AC. These new power supplies show that voltage regulation and voltage conversion to be a cleaner source. I have seen where commercial amps on diesel generators have been known to fail. I would like to see a report from some of the concert people on the statistics and causes for the failures once to see how they would compare with our gear at home.

It has also been highly recommended that our digital gear can cause problems on the RF areas.
The more we have switching power supplies with digital processing, we might be seeing more reception problems on our wireless devices.
 
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