PC Peripherals Fried PSU, second one in 15 days

Status
Not open for further replies.
sato1986 said:
Go to any nearby electrical store. Ask for a V-Guard voltage stabilizer or equivalent brand. Btw, you must be using voltage stabilizers with your TV and AC I suppose.

Regarding the basic APC UPS, don't even try that. Cause this refers to the 500VA non-sine UPS, and fails all the required fields as follows:

1. 500VA UPS is insufficient to handle a loaded HX650. One needs 850VA-1KVA UPS for this PSU.

2. Basic UPS are not sine-wave. This causes the notorious humming issue in the Corsair PSUs as the power supplied to PSU isn't clean.

3. No point spending extra for a UPS when a good copper-based-voltage-stabilizer costs much less. (Provided you don't need the backup feature)
Click to expand...

You Sir, just solved my problem.

Much thanks.

Need to get a DMM first.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Which stablizer will work for a gaming PC?

There is none specifically for PCs, right?
 
^ APC has one. Its under voltage regulators on their site. But take everyone's advice here and get a ups. A voltage stabilizer wont work at very high voltages. It will either cutoff the current completely (means you're comp will loose power and you will loose data/hdd or whatever) or it will send all the extra voltage to your comp (meaning another rma wait).

A ups will switch to battery power at such times and will give you enough time to save and shutdown your pc. The 1000VA APC ups have avr in them such that the voltage is a constant 240v even at high voltages without running on battery. I think it was BR1000-CI or some model like that.
 
....just saw the thread...yes as diagnosed earlier by everyone it is a voltage spike killing your components...

Either get a APC 1100 or 1000 va regular one, for about 4800/- or so,...

or get a small Voltage Stabilizer, (I use one for about 1.5K for my TV etc) you don't need a a fancy one...I think even a cheapo Spike Guard would do something from Belkin or sorts should protect you from the frequent spikes in our elec. especially in the rainy season where somewhere or the other there are power cuts and stray current.

...and dont think too much about Stepped Sine wave or Simulated Sine wave etc, our Home PC's really have no issues as long as we are not juicing the PSU while power is out.

..Hope it helps.

:)
 
^^ APC BR-1100VA IN model available in Bangalore ~ 4600/- [inclusive taxes] @ Golccha computers / Aashirwaad Computers, last checked ~4 months back.
 
FWIW,

Phase- Netural is 240V.

Phase-Earth is 3V [ Tada, I know quite possibly reverse polarity].

Neutral-Earth is ~240V.

Looks to me a polarity reversal , No?

Point is, is it at my end or at supply end?

Looks at my end because the trend is not uniform. fscking retarded electricians. They burnt my PSUs :(
 
pr0ing said:
as a precaution get all your outlets checked for phase reversals.
Click to expand...

Checked with a DMM last night, only 3 switches have proper earthing. Rest all are screwed. Either earthing is faulty or there is no earth at all... lol.

Also came to know that aroun 3AM volatge fluctuates between 230-270V.
 
Stablizer won't work in your case Buy a 850VA-1KVA UPS.Don't use al-chepo spike guards.If power plug is at far end then use a simple extension cable before UPS.
 
It's an 'Earthing' problem. 3V on Phase-Earth indicates, leakage current. Ask the electrician to check not only the earthing inside the house but also the external earthing, by which i mean, the common earthing cable that runs to the ground. At times they don't shove the cable deep enough for earthing to be effective. Leakage current can also happen during monsoons due to water leakage in concealed electrical fittings.

Also, if your area is known for spikes in electric supply (the local electrician will know this), it's better to hook up your PC with a Voltage stabilizer. V-guard is good. Not all UPSes offer AVR (voltage regulation), some expensive models will, but you need to confirm their effectiveness. I feel a Voltage Stabilizer will be more effective in your case.

Hope it helps. Take care

--

Sanket
 
^^^ Nopes, coupled with a 240V difference between neutral and earth, it shows reverse polarity.

Fixed now.

But can't PSU's handle reverse polarity?
 
PSU can handle reverse polarity but its better to always have the correct polarity.

In bangalore you get voltages of 250v is the norm in night,i have measured upto 304V at night in bangalore,so repeatedly complained to the BESCOM engineer to fix it.Also shifted to a different phase(my house has a single phase).
Some UPS do have AVR typical called Line-interactive UPS. APC ups which have these boost the voltage if the input voltage drops below 200V ,it will continue to boost till the voltage drops to 160,beyond that it shifts to battery mode.
It also will trim/buck the voltage if it goes above 250v till 287v,beyond that it will switch to back up mode.

At 320V the APC ups or for that matter any stabilizer will go kaput.While APC UPS won't destroy the connected stuff,the same cannot be said for the stabilizer as there t&c clearly state that.

A stabilizer like the popular Vguard Digital series like VG crystal+(upto 660watt) or digi 200(1300watt) can boost the voltage from as low as 120v or 140v(digi 200) and buck the voltage from as high as 290 or 295v(digi 200).

So you can use a combination of a stabilzer and a UPS to be on the safe side or to conserve battery.
If you are going to use a stabilizer and a ups the stabilizer should be of higher capacity,since during the even the battery need to charge after a power cut,the total consumption will be your PC +UPS normal running current+the current used for charging batteries.

Lastly a good earthing is the most important thing,neutral earth voltage should be less then 2v.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom