Power conditioner

[Gswitz]

I have had some power sags that impacted recordings. 

I'm looking at getting my first power conditioner. I'm looking for something that does not get too hot. 

Furman? Thoughts? 

[DeeringAmps]

I use a TrippLite for my embroidery machines, followed by a 1500 watt UPS. 
Same UPS in the studio, but no conditioner. 

t

[mettelus]

11 hours ago, Gswitz said:

I have had some power sags that impacted recordings. 

Can you explain this further Geoff? If you are connected to commercial power, I am confused how you could experience a "sag" or recognize it as such. A portable generator will sag, since it loses RPM momentarily when loaded, but commercial power won't see this (would be more circuit related). As Tom mentioned, a UPS would be more appropriate, but I am trying to understand your situation better. If this is in a static location (like your home), having the circuit to that room modified to a higher amperage (30-35) might also be a solution since most circuits are 10-20. Typically the only sag seen with such circuits are when an inductive motor kicks on close to the circuit rating (an inductive motor pulls 3-5 times its running current on start, so a 13-amp vacuum will pull roughly 50 on start, but that is only on start). Are you experiencing this sag when everything is already powered on and running in steady state?

[Amberwolf]

2 hours ago, mettelus said:

but commercial power won't see this

Brownouts can happen anywhere that has sufficient loading on the grid. 

 It used to happen here in Phoenix back in the 80s fairly often, then whatever SRP and APS did then fixed most of it, and we only had it happen a little in the early 90s.  After that, brownouts virtually never happened until the last few years when it has happened a few times in the hotter weeks of summer each year, with a few complete power failures as well (oddly those almost always happen late at night when there is much less load on the grid).

These days I use a laptop so none of that loses any of my work, since it kinda has it's own built in UPS  but a friend of mine a few miles away had power conditioners installed in his condo because he didn't want to risk damage to expensive A/V equipment and bigscreen TV and computer, and UPSes on everything important so no data loss (even on hte DVRs) happens.

 

Some people I know from california (don't know exactly where, but more than one area) have had numerous brownouts over the last several years, mostly in summer, worst when there have also been "rolling blackouts".  

 

 

 

[mettelus]

Yeah, that is why I am trying to get a feel for if this is systemic or localized, and under what conditions it is occurring. Eaton does industrial electronics (made some very unique ones used in my Navy days), and has a nice summary of power conditioning on their web page for anyone interested. They actually have a pretty hard core rack mounted unit with 14 outlets for $425 listed on that page; but if Geoff has specific questions, I would recommend contacting a vendor for specifics. For something like that I would lean more toward an industrial solution (if needed) over a consumer one, but I am still wondering if a simpler solution is adequate (i.e., if the issue stems from loading on the local circuit).