Digital Stabilizers - Horrors in our Apartment

[madbullram]

9 pm (Friday)
Place: My apartment
Suddenly my Alpha Servo stab makes a funny noise and cuts off all supply. I usually dont switch on instant start, I let the Servo current and restart. Before it could restart, entire complex goes dark. Seems, some power surge.

My friend below my flat calls up:"Ram, I see smoke coming out of my Plasma TV"

I rush down, I see the V-Guard is fried and his Brand new 50 inch 5 day old Pana Plasma with a burning smell. I fear the worst. I tell him dont switch on anything lets get the service guys.

Morning. Pana guys lands up, opens it, all black and burnt. We do not know what the impact is on the panel. He says, sir, I am sorry, there was a power surge and looks like your TV is fried. We have to take to the service to see the damage. He is not really hopeful of the TV nor do we after seeing the melted board!!!

V-Guard guy lands at home,
V-G guy "Sir, power surge sir, stabilizer is burnt sir, we will repair it sir"
Friend " what about my TV? "
V-G "Not covered in our warranty sir, only stabilizer is covered"
FRD "Then why the hell I bought your stab if it cant protect my TV???????"
V-G "Sir, it will ensure current is maintained sir but if too much surge it wont protect sir. To be honest with you sir, you should buy a Servo stab or get a surge/spike board sir. I am sorry"
FRD: "Throws the stab and asks him to take it with him"

This is the 3rd incident in my apartment, 2 with V-Guard one more I forgot the brand. All these new age digital stabilizers are not really worth the money. They have simple circuit boards and cut off mechanism

During the same period (all 3), I had my entire music rig running and so was my plama and HT with my wife watching. All 3 times, we were saved, thanks to the servo.

In fact, another friend had his A/C also fried and he was using some digital A/C Stabilizer where as mine was on a good old 9 yrs old Stabilizer and it instantly cut off!!!!

My honest and pained opinion, stay away from these digital craps and trust the good old stabilizers. Pls buy something which will really protect. If not, get the Monster (I think its Monster) Spike Guard which gives 1 lakh as compensation if your equipment gets burnt.

 

[venkatcr]

If not, get the Monster (I think its Monster) Spike Guard which gives 1 lakh as compensation if your equipment gets burnt.

I think Belkin also provides a spike guard with insurance.

Cheers

 

[anm]

hey ram - can you tell us where to buy this monster?
Is UPS a good idea for a TV?

 

[madbullram]

hey ram - can you tell us where to buy this monster?
Is UPS a good idea for a TV?

I saw Crossword selling Belkin Gold Series surge protector in Bangalore Airport. They give you 1 lakh compensation also.

Cheap Belkin 8-Out Surge Protector Gold Series sales India | Belkin 8-Out Surge Protector Gold Series Themes | Belkin 8-Out Surge Protector Gold Series Accessories review

I dont know if UPS is a good idea, will let the experts answer it. Just wanted to share real life incidence that happened which showed the real face of all these digital craps.

I just found lynx india also sells this:
http://www.lynx-india.com/index.php?productID=7254

 

[vardu]

9 pm (Friday)
My honest and pained opinion, stay away from these digital craps and trust the good old stabilizers. Pls buy something which will really protect. If not, get the Monster (I think its Monster) Spike Guard which gives 1 lakh as compensation if your equipment gets burnt.

Wow! That is a really scary thing to have happen.

Has anyone ever had Belkin/Monster break down and claim for compensation? ?

 

[goyal.sanchit]

I never thought about such things! :-o


Is surge protector alone without the stabilizer enough?

 

[marsilians]

...
V-G guy "Sir, power surge sir, stabilizer is burnt sir, we will repair it sir"
Friend " what about my TV? "
V-G "Not covered in our warranty sir, only stabilizer is covered"
FRD "Then why the hell I bought your stab if it cant protect my TV???????"
V-G "Sir, it will ensure current is maintained sir but if too much surge it wont protect sir. To be honest with you sir, you should buy a Servo stab or get a surge/spike board sir. I am sorry"
FRD: "Throws the stab and asks him to take it with him"

....

I have to honestly say that I would not have been too impressed with your friend for his behaviour. What the salesman said is absolutely right, its a stabilizer whose job is only to provide a stable current until it breaks down - basically its a regulator. It need not guarantee the protection of components (though some advertisements falsely promote this). The spike or surge board is a conditioner which will offer expected current levels AND protect components. This is the reason when people purchase they have to ensure the guarantee card is available or its clearly stated on the packaging about the coverage. Keep the bill as well as some of these are for only for a specified period of time.

Some of the best conditioners apart from those mentioned in earlier mails include Furman, Panamax, PS Audio & Accuphase.

 

[Viki]

Varistor + Physical fuse on the input phase would have saved him. Rs. 50 (shridhar - kudos).

Next step up - double conversion on line UPS.

 

[anm]

I have two of the belkin surge protectors (IIRC it is gold) and purchased from staples and reliance. But I have lost bill and thrown away the packaging :-(

Why these components themselves don't have a fuse to protect themselves from the surge?

 

[raj]

A little more expensive but easier one to deal with is to get a big servo stabilizer to supply power for one phase that runs all expensive electrical equipment in the house. My friend did this (based on the lessons I learned at my house) in his new house. IIRC He bought a ~30KVA servo for about 35K and uses to connect AC/TV/Fridge/Stereo etc. The advantage is that you don't need to buy small V-Guard for each appliance (and more reliable too). The disadv is that power consumption will be more and probably you need to plan during construction.

 

[madbullram]

Raj: Thats good to know. But would not still go with adding all power consumer in one phase!!! I would rather split them into 2 phases and have 2 servos of lesser rating.

The less than ideal setup is what I have. All my HT and HiFi are connected to the Servo. This saves on the servo cost also and usually its the HiFi equipments which are more sensitive than a fridge or A/C.

 

[vardu]

Raj: Thats good to know. But would not still go with adding all power consumer in one phase!!! I would rather split them into 2 phases and have 2 servos of lesser rating.

The less than ideal setup is what I have. All my HT and HiFi are connected to the Servo. This saves on the servo cost also and usually its the HiFi equipments which are more sensitive than a fridge or A/C.

The stabilizers that are sold (or given away rather) with the AC or fridge nowadays are pretty much useless. If the devices are able to overcome issues at all, it is because of the inbuilt mini stabilizer coils rather than any thanks to the external guards.

I have a surge protector installed at the breaker box and it is for the entire house. I was told that it was easier to install it that way rather than isolate the 15A or individual 5A socket points through the house.

I have to do a manual reboot when it gets "tripped" but that has happened only twice or so in the past three years , so i don't consider it as too much trouble so far.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Not an electrician, but... my understanding is that stabilisers are intended to cut or boost voltage within a specified range. Unless advertised as such, I don't think we should expect them to protect against major surges.

I expect my computer system to protect against surges, because it is part of it's specification, but to take risks to the next level, would it protect against lightning-strike voltages?

I have a surge protector installed at the breaker box and it is for the entire house.

Good idea: can you tell us more? What was the cost?

 

[madbullram]

V-Guard prints Line Noise/Spike protection and all dealers sell them to customers saying they have spike protection which will take care of voltage spikes.

Products

The whole point of this thread is to make people aware of stabilizers so that they dont blindly buy something based on what the dealer says or whats printed on the websites!

 

[vardu]

Good idea: can you tell us more? What was the cost?

It is not a "branded" item - a friend of the family runs an electrical business (inverters, generators etc...) and he designs and builds these and this was done as a favour.

Regular manual surge protectors that are slightly blocky and ugly are not that expensive - and should be within 1K.

The whole point of this thread is to make people aware of stabilizers so that they dont blindly buy something based on what the dealer says or whats printed on the websites!

This thread has me totally scared and I have asked for a quote for installing a custom single/multiple stabilizer system around the house.

 

[madbullram]

This thread has me totally scared and I have asked for a quote for installing a custom single/multiple stabilizer system around the house.

Even after reading this, you want to by a Stabilizer?

 

[crewcut]

Our country has an entire "backup" economy. Stabilisers for poor power quality, UPS for power outages, generators for extended power cuts, Sintex tanks for erratic water supply...

 

[vardu]

Even after reading this, you want to by a Stabilizer?

Dude! :lol:

Not an over the counter from e-zone. I have asked an electrical/electronics professional (an acquaintance incidentally) to design a custom Stabilizer for my requirements and depending on the cost/effort - might choose to include single or multiple points across the house.

 

[Kittu]

Dude! :lol:

Not an over the counter from e-zone. I have asked an electrical/electronics professional (an acquaintance incidentally) to design a custom Stabilizer for my requirements and depending on the cost/effort - might choose to include single or multiple points across the house.

Voltage fencing is there a stabilizer that can be installed on street transformer

 

[goyal.sanchit]

I have a 32" Bravia LCD which has a fuse built on the 3 pin plug. It is connected to socket through a converter which also has a fuse.


Would that help in case of a power surge?