PC Peripherals Crazy Low voltage Less than 150V HELP!!!!

S

sam000

Adept
Flashback :

Yesterday i assembled a rig for a relatives daughter ....before that her dad told me how his neighbours computers are going kaput cause of the voltage fluctuations.....i assured him that a wide voltage range UPS like microtek will take care of the problem and his PC wont go kaput like his neighbours.So i got the following rig assembled yesterday for him

G620
GA-H61-D2H
500GB Hitachi
VS450 Corsair
4GB DDR3 Corsair
DELL IN2030M
BXR1221 Altec lansing
MICROTEK 800VA double battery UPS

Reality :

When i connected the UPS the microtek remained in battery mode like it was not getting any power from the mains...i thought that socket was faulty or something so tried it in another room....there it switched to green for a few seconds and again came back to battery mode...it stays in the battery mode for like a min then switches back to green...this is when i got a rude shock of how worse the problem really is...i mean he lives in proper chennai and i thought the power supply there would be better than my village but never imagined it would be this horrible :boxed: .
The Mcirotek 800VA is capable of boosting from 150V so if his unit stays in red for so long then the voltage dips even lower than that...even the fans in his house move in slow motion .

I have the same UPS and it has earned my trust by outlasting and outperforming my APC 1KVA ups....but still the low voltage in his house has really scared me.I dont want to be blamed later on if something goes kaput :(.

The microtek manual clearly states not to connect Stabilizer and stuff to it ...i really have no idea what else to do in this kinda situation so please pour in your thoughts .Thanks you .
 
How frequently is it shifting to battery mode? Can you get a multimeter and measure the voltage?
You can put a voltage stabilizer between the AC mains and UPS. The manual asks you not to connect it from the UPS to PC.
Get an air conditioner voltage stabilizer so it can handle any UPS startup surges.
You can also look at an online UPS - Online UPS

BTW, AVOID Corsair VS450 in future. Corsair is selling this only in India and China and have replaced the CX430 with this.
They have cut costs some more since the CX430 and used poor quality Jun Fu capacitors in this model.
It would have been ok if they were selling this for 1000 bucks but no they are still charging Rs. 2200 for this!
 
@op am in chennai too we have to live with this fluctuations dude it goes ever more crazy in the night..Till now my apc is holding good :) only way out is getting online ups but its way too costly..Sometimes in case huge fluctuations i will turn my apc inverter to ups mode and connect to it..
 
i used to live in choolaimedu last year and shifted to anna nagar for this reason mainly. There the problem was even worse. Every evening from 5pm-10pm the voltage will be around 120-130volts. Its really terrible. All the electronics are in gods hand in that place. The situation is really pathetic. Even i bought a UPS which went in vain as the voltage was beyond its reach.

Just inform those guys about the voltage using a voltmeter and tell them you cant do anything about the source of power.
 
you should have got a laptop and ups instead of assembling a new rig in this case.

if voltage falls so much to around 110V then even a stabilizer will be useless. probably your only hope is to run it on an inverter if your relative has it. inverters can charge at 150v too. but the battery will die fast.
cost of new inverter and cost of laptop = almost same.
 
My area too suffers from voltage fluctuations during 7pm-10pm. Voltage gets as low as 140-150V during that time. Earlier I used to switch off the computer during those hours. 4 years back I got myself a V-Guard stabilizer (VG EW 50) which can handle 120V-275V input voltage and now everyhing is fine.

P.S. As #6pack said, a laptop would have been a better buy. If you use a desktop during low voltage hours, your electricity bill will skyrocket!!
 
I have a digital 200 stabilizer from v guard i can give it to him but the thing is if i connect pc to the stabilizer i get shock in the monitor.i think
there is some fault in the stabilizer.Will try to persuade him to go for a inverter then as reading the reply gives me the impression that only a servo stabilizer would be able to satisfy .
 
my house used to have lots of fluctuations, initially had a step up stabilizer for the PC alone, then got a servo stabilizer for the whole house . works down to 90V
 
Well, Sorry for Going Off Topic. But Yesterdays Money on Advertisement by Government could have been used to Improve Power condition in Chennai I feel...!!
Even in the Village I Lived in Karnataka, I Got around 180 V during Peak hours well being at the end of Transmission line connection for transformer [3Km's].

And as for your problem, Voltage Stabilizer is One option.
 
sam000 said:
I have a digital 200 stabilizer from v guard i can give it to him but the thing is if i connect pc to the stabilizer i get shock in the monitor.i think there is some fault in the stabilizer.Will try to persuade him to go for a inverter then as reading the reply gives me the impression that only a servo stabilizer would be able to satisfy .
Click to expand...
If you get shock in monitor or the cabby or in some iron parts of the system, it means that there is no proper earthing. If the monitor gives shock only when connected via stabilizer then there is a fault with the earthing passing through the stabilizer, maybe the stabilizer don't have the three-pin plug.
 
Lozil said:
Well, Sorry for Going Off Topic. But Yesterdays Money on Advertisement by Government could have been used to Improve Power condition in Chennai I feel...!!
Even in the Village I Lived in Karnataka, I Got around 180 V during Peak hours well being at the end of Transmission line connection for transformer [3Km's].

And as for your problem, Voltage Stabilizer is One option.
Click to expand...

True ...even i have the same UPS and i have not sen it go to battery mode even once in my village :D.

---------- Post added at 09:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 PM ----------
sunny4691 said:
If you get shock in monitor or the cabby or in some iron parts of the system, it means that there is no proper earthing. If the monitor gives shock only when connected via stabilizer then there is a fault with the earthing passing through the stabilizer, maybe the stabilizer don't have the three-pin plug.
Click to expand...

I get shock both from cabinet and monitor when i connect stabilizer...i connect it only to 3 pin socket :).

---------- Post added at 09:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:33 PM ----------
greenhorn said:
my house used to have lots of fluctuations, initially had a step up stabilizer for the PC alone, then got a servo stabilizer for the whole house . works down to 90V
Click to expand...

boost from 90v :drool:? wow how much would such a stabilizer cost for a 2 KVA unit?

---------- Post added at 09:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:35 PM ----------
Jarod said:
BTW, AVOID Corsair VS450 in future. Corsair is selling this only in India and China and have replaced the CX430 with this.
They have cut costs some more since the CX430 and used poor quality Jun Fu capacitors in this model.
It would have been ok if they were selling this for 1000 bucks but no they are still charging Rs. 2200 for this!
Click to expand...

I tried to get hold of the CX but no stock in chennai :(.And the guy was pressuring me to get the pc assembled that day itself so instead of going for some crap brand i decided to opt for the VS 450 as it is from corsair ...also it has 3 yrs warranty .Only after reading your post that i realize corsair has cheated me :(.
 
@sam000
Have look at this thread at TDF. Some very good posts which explain in detail about why and how of fluctuation and UPSs. You can skip first 36 posts and start from #37.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
sam000 said:
[/COLOR]I get shock both from cabinet and monitor when i connect stabilizer...i connect it only to 3 pin socket :).
Click to expand...
This is what am telling, you may connect it to 3 pin but it doesn't mean that there are 3 wires in the stabilizer plug to pass the earthing. If without connecting the stabilizer it doesn't give any shock then the earthing is ok, otherwise you should also get the earthing checked.
 
sam000 said:
boost from 90v :drool:? wow how much would such a stabilizer cost for a 2 KVA unit?.
Click to expand...

The servo one is around 8~10K in 2009 or so. On the other hand, if its just for the comp, you can get a manual one ( works like a fan regulator) 500VA for about 1k
 
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