Digital Stabilizers - Horrors in our Apartment

[cmsajith]

MBR, have your apartment association tried to find the root cause of the surge as it seems to be happening frequently? Ask the EB guys to check the transformer in your complex asap. It seems there is some issue related with that.

 

[digitalv]

+1 to above...Please ask the apartment maintenance team or the EB guys to root cause the real problem.

Also don't be under the impression that servo stabilizers/UPS saves the day. These days they are also as poorly made as generic stabilizers. Forget the spikes/surges, I've seen instances of both Servos and UPS's giving up the ghost for no apparent reason and damaging lacs worth of connected equipment. Servos are more prone to problems as they age and all it takes is their mechanical contacts getting stuck in one of the wrong taps and an OVP failure which might have gone undetected. In one of the instances, a 12KVA online UPS malfunction at my office almost literally burned down an entire lab needing fire service personal intervention.

Aside to your normal protection, put a good spike/surge buster (varistor+Fuse) and insure your expensive equipments...Also if you are in a surge prone area, it is recommended that the spike busters be replaced every 2 years or so since the varistors in them have only a finite protection cycles which it can go through after which they fail to function as intended.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

In one of the instances, a 12KVA online stabilizer malfunction at my office almost literally burned down an entire lab needing fire service personal intervention.

This thread is going from frightening to terrifying!

 

[vardu]

This thread is going from frightening to terrifying!

:lol:

I am unplugging my setup for even the ten minutes that I am not watching or playing anything.

 

[Spidey]

Stabilisers (including servo) are like a call girl. From Rs 1000/- to few lacs that is the range.

Pls remember :

for home theater use with average load, you need a 2kv to 3kv good factory made Servo Stabiliser and it costs above 20k-25k.

So hoping a cheap 5k stabiliser will give all mighty protection to your 1Lac+ system is a foolish dream.

Theorotically speaking, UPS that too ONLINE UPS in same load range is a better solution but that it requires a battery backup. Remember banks and even hitech gyms use a online UPS to protect their systems.
But for our Home theaters , a good Company Servo-stab would do, not one picked up from street-side electricity shop or even a mall.
V-guard is not a servo stab but just a stab.

Now the question of Inverters. Lots of companies sell their inverters with fancy names like Sine-wave UPS, offline UPS etc... these are good for power backup of your apartment but not for your home theater.
In fact , many amplifier compaines write in their manual, not to run the amp on a inverter backup.



Or a simple rule would be : the cost of power protection for your equipment should be from 10-20 % of the total equipment cost for the solution to be effecive.

So now a 1k Vguard should be good enough for a equip upto 10k ... how will it protect a 50 inch plasma.

SO choose your power protection wisely and carefully.

thanks

 

[Kittu]

If CRT looks like this after a burn , wonder how LCD will be :lol:

 

[suri]

This thread is going from frightening to terrifying!

i am going to find me a cave - safe from this terrifying world

 

[suri]

This thread is going from frightening to terrifying!

i was safe -

walking the thin line between despair and the will to live - but this thread has tipped me headlong into the terrifying unknown -

gods of SERVO - what are the rituals that will please you? - will intercession help my case? are you (gods of servo) open to receipt of money and gold (ornaments)? - if i shave off the locks that give me the strength (of Samson) - will that please you?-

i am so confused - must i pray (instead) to Zeus? -

or, like Cleopatra (towards the end )- must i spend my day with rituals that save me from (the straight and narrow path to) the quicksand?

the end is certain - i will be (fatally) bitten !

ah! - glorious death - my equipment (and I) long for your cold, romantic embrace

 

[moktan]

suri,
up north they would address their entreaties to Viswakarma..

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Suri's third day hanging out in cave: spots wood outside, and starts to plan primitive tools to turn it into a pair of speakers

Suri, you cannot escape --- but with brilliant poetry like that, at least you can laugh about it! :yahoo:

 

[CANDUU]

does going to a consumer court makes any good?

 

[vardu]

does going to a consumer court makes any good?

In the first place - I don't think V-guard would have given a blanket protection clause and there would be enough loopholes for them to escape, even if they did make such promises.

India is very poor at consumer protection and we suffer for it.

Even without that , if the corrupt (and incompetent) government ensured constant regulated Power supply it would result in an immediate 30% improvement in efficiency, growth of economy and lifestyle benefits.

 

[theironhorse]

well i use.. normal spike protectors.. and ups..

and that works..

i had 2 ups lying unused got the battery replaced and both of them have a fuse as well as backed up with a spike protector..

nomal 500va ups gives 20mins back up for tata sky HD and LCD together with medium backlight. (that i have tested )

 

[anm]

those who say their solution works, have you experienced a mighty surge and survived, or it's just that it hasn't struck as yet?

 

[theironhorse]

i guess it hasn't stuck yet and lets pray it should never happen ever to any one of us...

and it should never never ever come between our audio and video nirvana..

i know how it pains..

 

[anm]

no one wants it. but to avoid it, exp of people who survived such surges is invaluable.

 

[vardu]

those who say their solution works, have you experienced a mighty surge and survived, or it's just that it hasn't struck as yet?

I don't have a stabilizer and mine is only a surge protector. I have had to reset it twice - I would assume that it worked as prescribed.

 

[Kittu]

I don't have a stabilizer and mine is only a surge protector. I have had to reset it twice - I would assume that it worked as prescribed.

reset the surge how ?

 

[vardu]

reset the surge how ?

My surge protector (has a switch) is in-built in the breaker box - When there is a spike it tends to switch itself off ( and hence the entire house supply) - I have to (manually) switch it back on.

 

[Kittu]

My surge protector (has a switch) is in-built in the breaker box - When there is a spike it tends to switch itself off ( and hence the entire house supply) - I have to (manually) switch it back on.

Are you talking about MCB switch ?