Thread: mains voltae two low for desktop

Where are you measuring the current - at your fuse box or at the meter, if there is a difference? I -believe- it is unlawful for a power company to supply less than 230 volts to your property, but once its past the meter or delivery point its your problem if your cables are too long or thin for the load.

About 30 years ago McKellar C.C. - that used to cover the Manly & Northern Beaches area in Sydney - got sued by its customers for regularly supplying undervoltage, down to 180 volts in some areas instead of 240-250 as was then required. They ended up being merged by the Government with Sydney C.C. who then had to install several major sub-stations & main power lines.

Supplying undervoltage means appliances draw (or try to draw) higher amperage which made the old analog meters read at a higher rate (according to a Sydney C.C. techo I spoke to who was involved in the case against McKellar) - I don't know if undervoltage has the same effect on modern meters.

You may want to check with Fair Trading if the power coming onto your property is undervoltage, they may be able to force the supplier to install a local transformer or otherwise fix your problem.

If you are running any motors e.g. fridges, freezers and pumps etc if you are getting low voltages it can burn the motors out. I have lost two electric pumps because of brown outs by Country Energy.

As far as the PC goes you can get various surge protectors and voltage regulators to suite such as the APC ones:

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/...gulator&spos=3

You could replace the desktop power supply with a universal one, that works on on a range of voltages. These will work on a supply varying from 90VAC to 240VAC.

Originally Posted by Mathuranatha

G,day all,
I just found out why our desktops keep turning them selves off , wont run etc .We live in a rural area and the transformer is too far away and there is too much voltage drop.Our computers work fine in town ,and run fine on a 240volt inverter running of 12 volt car batteries or sometimes work ok late at night.Laptops are fine .

All computers must work just fine when incandescent bulbs dim even to 40% intensity. Put a bulb on that outlet. Does it dim that much?

If not, well, is this a computer constructed by a computer assembler or from a responsible manufacturer? Computer assemblers typically have no electrical knowledge making them targets of power supplies missing essential functions. Then a supply selling for less money and missing essential functions has an even larger profit margin. A market created when a computer assembler (ie an A+ Certified Tech) has minimal if any electrical knowledge.

But again, step one - does the light bulb dim that much? If yes, then you have other problems requiring other solutions.

It is possible that a UPS will solve your problems, they usually have an input voltage range that will cover what you are getting on your line, and output a steady voltage to suit your computer although it may be worth your while mentioning this to your supply authority and see if you can get them to check it out, they are required to supply to about +/- 5 percent of 240 volts generally speaking, you may have to be persistent over the phone on that one.

Having said that the problem may be with your cabling, difficult to check yourself (safely) unless you get an electrician (sorry I live too far away ) to check it out.

Good luck !

Russell.

Matt

as someone else suggested get yourself a UPS (uninterupted Power supply)
I've been using an APS one for years

I wouldn't be spending any money on anything until I got a definitive word from the Supply Authority about the inadequate situation.

1] Find out exactly what quality of electricity the Supply Authority must sell to you.
2] If your supply quality does not meet the standards, lodge a fault.
3] If a fault is lodged, ask how long it will be until the problem is solved. This will give you an idea if you wish to spend money or not.

So many solutions. And so few instead would discover what the problem really is. Bad diagnostic procedure is to fix somethng before even learning what the problem is.

Step one - does the light bulb dim that much? If yes, then you have other problems requiring other solutions. If no, then a problem probably exists inside the appliance.

The most expensive solution is a UPS. So many want to spend massive sums to fix a wild speculation rather than first learn what is defective.

Originally Posted by westom

So many solutions. And so few instead would discover what the problem really is. Bad diagnostic procedure is to fix somethng before even learning what the problem is.

Step one - does the light bulb dim that much? If yes, then you have other problems requiring other solutions. If no, then a problem probably exists inside the appliance.

The most expensive solution is a UPS. So many want to spend massive sums to fix a wild speculation rather than first learn what is defective.

How do I measure the brightness of a light bulb and how do I know how bright it should be?

Close your eyes...turn on light....open eyes...if you can see everything it's bright...if not then it's not bright enough

Originally Posted by westom

So many solutions. And so few instead would discover what the problem really is. Bad diagnostic procedure is to fix somethng before even learning what the problem is.

Step one - does the light bulb dim that much? If yes, then you have other problems requiring other solutions. If no, then a problem probably exists inside the appliance.

The most expensive solution is a UPS. So many want to spend massive sums to fix a wild speculation rather than first learn what is defective.

the problem as described is
computer runs OK in town,
computer runs OK from a 12V to 240V inverter driven by a battery charger
computer runs OK late at night when other elec loads are low and

seems to me the "does a light bulb dim" test has already been done
ergo, it's a supply problem

the problem doesn't seem to call for a large capacity UPS, more like one with a run time measured in minutes rather than hours
my budget may be different to yours, but I wouldn't call $150 for a UPS "expensive"

Originally Posted by Mathuranatha

How do I measure the brightness of a light bulb and how do I know how bright it should be?

To repeat it again: electronics must work just fine even when the dims to 40% intensity. Even your eyes can see an intensity drop that major. Electric standards require voltages to remain so constant that you should not even notice (measure with your eyes) any dimming. If bulbs are dimming that much, then at greater risk are motorized appliances. You should never see anywhere near to a 40% dimming. If you do, you have an electric problem - not an appliance problem.

Originally Posted by westom

To repeat it again: electronics must work just fine even when the dims to 40% intensity. Even your eyes can see an intensity drop that major. Electric standards require voltages to remain so constant that you should not even notice (measure with your eyes) any dimming. If bulbs are dimming that much, then at greater risk are motorized appliances. You should never see anywhere near to a 40% dimming. If you do, you have an electric problem - not an appliance problem.

I'm glad westom has disappeared (3 posts).

The info he posted in regard to this thread was rubbish.