power conditioner question

[LLroomtempJ]

I've got a furman pl plus power conditioner. I purchased it after my preamp got fried after a gig two years ago.

 

As far as I can tell, it is doing its job.

 

Last night I played a venue where the voltage was up in the red range. The furman shut me down once before my soundcheck and stayed functional for the remainder of the night.

 

For the most part, I was in the high yellow/red range for the whole night.

 

What should I do in this kind of situation? I did some research on my phone and played with the understanding that my worst case scenario was a shutdown and best case would be everything holds up for the duration of the gig.

 

Were those assumptions sound? There was a pretty big house PA, so I figured that I was just as safe as the house DJ that spins every night.

[Mark Schmieder]

I'm not sure of the exact question, but I ONLY recommend non-sacrificial (i.e. non-MOSFET) units, as I live in an area that has such spotty power that it is almost guaranteed that multiple events will occur back-to-back -- often when unattended (such as when sleeping).

 

Very few people understand this characteristic of the more common "power conditioners" (a misnomer if there ever was one).

 

The first power event usually fries the protection circuitry. Thus, the second event passes through unfiltered, frying everything in its path.

 

Fortunately, non-sacrificial units are cheap. Although the patent has just run out and so there might be more brands now, the brands that TRULY protect your gear are: SurgeX, Brickwall, and ZeroSurge. The SurgeX is higher-end and includes filtration, so I use that in my gig rack to deal with lighting interference and use the unfiltered surge protectors in my home studio.

 

There's another brand that also licenses the technology from ZeroSurge, but I forget the name off-hand. The ZeroSurge and Brickwall units are practically interchangeable; they just market to different audiences somewhat.

 

I had one of those Furman units years ago, and my entire band lost several pieces of gear during a performance at San Francisco's most prestigious nightclub, who run their own power and typically hover around 92 Volts. Computer-oriented gear and digital effects etc. do not take well to that low a voltage.

 

Stay away from Monster Power as well. Fortunately they guarantee their products, but one of my bandmates lost a computer. I sold mine after they replaced the one that fried. When I opened it up, I noticed that many of the parts hadn't been soldered into place and were just floating around.

[LLroomtempJ]

The first power event usually fries the protection circuitry. Thus, the second event passes through unfiltered, frying everything in its path.

 

holy crap

 

Fortunately, non-sacrificial units are cheap.

 

:whew: who woulda thought?

 

All this kinda makes me wonder whether or not if the protection circuit on my furman is still functioning.

 

thank you for your advice, mark.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

OK, now you guys lost me. Are we talking about "power conditioners" such as some rack mounted thing that you plug your board and amps into? Or "surge protectors" such as the $5.00 piece of crap that doesn't really work that plugs into the wall and then you plug your computer into?

 

I play a lot of older clubs in crappy old buildings that have had more amature electrical remodels than what would be typically recommended and get some interesting noises (and sometimes the occasional mic shock) from my gear.

[rumpelstiltskin.]

For the most part, I was in the high yellow/red range for the whole night.

 

many power amps have a shutdown circuit that will protect at ±10% line voltage (i.e. outside 108V to 132V). however, in testing the threshold on a particular QSC amp in the lab once, i found it only had undervoltage shutdown, and not overvoltage protection.

 

Mark is right about repetitive protection. there's litte excuse to use MOV-based protection. of course most "power conditioners" are just rack mounted power strips. peavey used to make one that was only direct wiring with zero circuitry at all. i saw one collecting dust in a corner in plant 1 and lol'd.

[TimR]

Have you tested it since by plugging into a known good source and checking it lights up as it should?

[jcadmus]

Do you have to shampoo your power before you use conditioner? Just asking.

[Mark Schmieder]

Most power "conditioners" are just surge protectors (at best) with some filtration of electrical interference of various types.

 

What some people really WANT (especially in studios) is a device that regulates the power and keeps it within a certain threshold, as opposed to monitoring the power and shutting down to protect the gear. THAT sort of device is EXPENSIVE. A UPS is sort of in that category, but not quite, as most do not deliver the type of continuous power that is healthy for audio devices (vs. computers). It's all about sine waves vs. square waves.