Protecting against power fluctuations

[desura]

Power went out recently and...two expensive pieces of electronic equipment are not turning on. one is a 55 inch plasma, the other is a gaming PC.

Ouch.

Hopefully I can get them to work again...

What's the best way to protect these things? Ideally I'm thinking something that sort of resembles a laptop's power arrangement where you have a power strip that has built into it both protection from surges but also protection from under voltage in the form of a little battery which can act as a buffer...having enough power to keep a computer running for like 2-3 minutes before shutting off safely.

 

[CM Phaedrus]

The two devices you are thinking of are a line filter and an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). The first will protect you from transient spikes, surges, and brownouts. The latter will give you a few minutes to turn your computer off in a blackout.

Neither will protect you from lightning.

 

[Blain]

55" plasma and a gaming PC = Plenty juicy AVR UPS

The more details you can provide us, the more help we can offer you.

 

[desura]

55" plasma and a gaming PC = Plenty juicy AVR UPS

The more details you can provide us, the more help we can offer you.

Umm, I did a quick google and someone mentioned...replacing a fuse? Is that possible with these things?

 

[desura]

So why hasn't anyone made a computer PSU with a built-in APC?

 

[Nec_V20]

OK, the word "fluctuations" reminds me of my favourite Japanese joke.

A Japanese tourist goes into a bank in London and asks
"How much Pound I get for 100,000 Yen"

The teller behind the counter tells him and the Japanese tourist exchanges his Yen for UK Pounds.

A few days later the tourist goes into the same bank and asks again how many Pounds he would get for 100,000 Yen and the guy in the bank tells him.

The Japanese tourist asks, "Why I not get so many Pounds today for my 100,000 Yen?"

The bank teller says, "I'm sorry sir, it's fluctuations".

The Japanese tourist replies, "Well fluck you Blitish as well, but why I not get so many Pounds for my 100,000 Yen?"

 

[Torn Mind]

The power supply circuitry of both devices are compromised somewhere. Could be a mere transistor that has failed. Regardless, servicing the units is possible, but it involves soldering and component testing, both of which requires investment of time, money, and cognitive resources. You'll need to acquire skills; such as soldering skills, etc; information, such as stuff related to electricity, product specs, repair manual; and equipment, such as a multimeter, etc.

Were the units on or off prior to the event? I am just curious to see if something that is in a state of soft off could be damaged in a power outage.

CM Phadreus is right, but I think the term is line conditioner, not line filter.

Protection from "surges" involves diverting current to ground in some manner.

The power brick of a laptop serves the same purpose as any other PSU unit. Protections found on a PSU involves implementing specific circuitry that monitors current, voltage, temperature, shorts, etc; should anything wrong be detected, the PSU would be put into its soft off state. PSUs are never completely off unless up cut the circuit off by flipping the switch on the back of the unit or pulling out the plug. But a power outage can damage the PSU unit because the electrical loads varies in an extremely short period of time in which even being "soft off" might not be enough to protect from damage.

 

[CM Phaedrus]

Conditioner, not filter. I knew it wasn't right.

There are power supplies with built in batteries, but they are for servers, are massive, expensive, and weigh a ton. The problem with doing it for consumer devices is 1.) space (batteries take up a lot of it) and 2.) cost.

 

[Blain]

So why hasn't anyone made a computer PSU with a built-in APC?

Consumer PS manufacturers don't build them because you would not buy them because of the expense.

 

[lucky9]

I use surge suppressors for anything electronic. TV, Microwave, Stereo, etc.
I'd suggest an inexpensive Standby UPS for a computer. Modern operating systems write to the HDD at times that you wouldn't think of. But you can get by with a surge suppressor if money is tight.