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| Thread ID: 81475 | 2007-07-28 21:50:00 | Isolating transformer / power spikes and surges | ronr (1234) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 573652 | 2007-07-29 09:47:00 | Thanks for your answers. I am not too worried about the power outages, just the surges or spikes which could damage my computer gear. Perhaps I should just stick with the D.S.E. (throw away when burnt out) surge protector and forget about my isolating transformer as a method of protection ?? Incidentally how much extra power would the transformer use?? | ronr (1234) | ||
| 573653 | 2007-07-29 10:13:00 | 80 - 90 % efficiency, mainly, hysteresis, magnetizing current losses and I^2R losses I believe, >20% loss. | zqwerty (97) | ||
| 573654 | 2007-07-29 11:10:00 | Stick with your surge protector. The purpose of an isolating transformer is simply to isolate the neutral lead from earth thereby making it safer when old dickheads grab the phase wire. |
decibel (11645) | ||
| 573655 | 2007-07-29 11:21:00 | What I meant was that the lights actually went out and my PC was rebooted... twice. Thankfully I wasn't working on any video editing then. | beeswax34 (63) | ||
| 573656 | 2007-07-29 11:52:00 | Where's your sense of adventure, beeswax? :cool: Collapsing EMF, tweak'e? We're talking AC here. The EMF collapses (reverses) 100 times a second. That's normal. No, it doesn't "collapse" Graham, the voltage declines gradually following a sine wavefore as you well know, consequently there is no generation of spikes or any other transient artefact. tweak'e was quite correct in what he said, and I suspect you were being a bit disingenuous with your post. Either that or you were being excessively anal and temporarily lost sight of the facts. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 573657 | 2007-07-29 20:28:00 | imho not worth the extra power it uses. nothing a half decent surge suppessor board will do and also any decent computer PSU will handle those minor surges anyway. This is an interesting comment. I never thought about a PSU handling surges - are there PSU's that are designed specifically for this purpose, ie are some PSU's marketed as having superior surge-spike supression? |
Morpheus1 (186) | ||
| 573658 | 2007-07-29 20:54:00 | I have a UPS that protects from power spikes and also for loss of total line or brown-outs too. It cleans the supply and even takes care of my phone lines too..but that side doesn't protect for power loss or brown outs on the phone system. Come to think of it, the phone isn't lost when the power goes out anyway. |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 573659 | 2007-07-29 23:07:00 | This is an interesting comment . I never thought about a PSU handling surges - are there PSU's that are designed specifically for this purpose, ie are some PSU's marketed as having superior surge-spike supression? PSU's are basically a regulated power supply so minor changes in voltage don't make any change to the output voltage . for example i've had flicker in the power where the radio and other appliances have turned off and back on but the pc kept running perfectly . a family member has a lot of power glitches, the clocks all flash "12:00" because of it . the pc is not bothered by them at all . no doubt it increases the wear and tear on the PSU and that will soon take its toll . a good quality PSU is better in this regard . however a big spike/surge/brownout the PSU cannot handle, this is where an interactive UPS would certainly help . |
tweak'e (69) | ||
| 573660 | 2007-07-30 07:03:00 | A brownout is a low voltage condition. Most computer PSUs should handle that, though they have to pull more current to do it. This might be a problem for some supplies. ;) If I was in an area which frequently had lightning strikes, I would have an isolating transformer (which has an earthed screen between the windings) , and an UPS. It would give some protection from spikes. It might increase the life of MOV spike suppressors used in PSUs and UPSs. Have a look at what the original poster asked; have a look at what I answered. It's perfectly reasonable to describe a magnetic field which reverses as collapsing. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 573661 | 2007-07-30 07:19:00 | the MOV's in UPS and PSU's are generally fairly useless. i prefer a good quailty spike suppessor connected in front of the UPS. a lightning diverter on the main board is not a bad idea either ;) | tweak'e (69) | ||
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