Amp Cuts Out When A/C Comes On

[jjborders]

I picked up an Audiosource Model Amp Three at my local Goodwill store for $20. I hooked up a Schiit SYS passive preamp/volume control and pumped music from my computer using JRiver. The amp was working great, until the central A/C kicked on, and the music just stopped. The amp made a click noise but stayed powered up, however I had to press the Play/Stop button on JRiver a couple of times to get the music playing again. When I reconnected my Yamaha AVR the problem disappeared. The A/C is on a separate circuit from the audio components, and all the audio components are plugged into the same surge suppressor. Any ideas?

Thanks,
James

 

[TLS Guy]

I picked up an Audiosource Model Amp Three at my local Goodwill store for $20. I hooked up a Schiit SYS passive preamp/volume control and pumped music from my computer using JRiver. The amp was working great, until the central A/C kicked on, and the music just stopped. The amp made a click noise but stayed powered up, however I had to press the Play/Stop button on JRiver a couple of times to get the music playing again. When I reconnected my Yamaha AVR the problem disappeared. The A/C is on a separate circuit from the audio components, and all the audio components are plugged into the same surge suppressor. Any ideas?

Thanks,
James

Your AC is causing a sag in the household current.

AC motors need starting caps, which help the motors get started and correct phase. They also prevent excess startup curren draws. Some ACs also have inductors both starting and running, same with the caps.

Anyhow caps age, and if the caps are going bad then you will get the problem you outline. In addition motors can age and start to fail. As they do they draw more current, and this becomes exacerbated by causing the staring caps to fail.

Another issue is plugging with dirt and debris of the outside AC coils. This causes excess current draw also.
So job 1 is to remove the AV cover and clean out the AC coil. Blowing it out is best. Air is safer than water.

If you still have the problem then you need to call a service tech to replace the starting caps. Then check the motor for excess current draw, especially on start up. If the caps are good and there is still excess current draw, then the motor needs replacement.

This is a common AC problem. Failing starting caps and coils plugged with dirt are the usual causes and sometimes both together.

 

[PENG]

I picked up an Audiosource Model Amp Three at my local Goodwill store for $20. I hooked up a Schiit SYS passive preamp/volume control and pumped music from my computer using JRiver. The amp was working great, until the central A/C kicked on, and the music just stopped. The amp made a click noise but stayed powered up, however I had to press the Play/Stop button on JRiver a couple of times to get the music playing again. When I reconnected my Yamaha AVR the problem disappeared. The A/C is on a separate circuit from the audio components, and all the audio components are plugged into the same surge suppressor. Any ideas?

Thanks,
James

If this happened every time the AC kicked in, then the AC's compressor may be to blame. If it only happened sometimes then you should try connecting the amp directly to the outlet and see what happens. Cheap surge suppressors based on MOV (metal oxide varistor) that are on the way out could be activating at lower voltage level spikes. One thing that could not be explained yet, was that if you had to press the play/stop button on JRiver, then your computer was affected too for sure, but then the AVR would have nothing to do with it. In fact, you said the amp stayed powered up. So given the information, I would think that the computer suffered from a mild voltage dip that affected JRiver but not enough for the devices to power down. If that's the case, whether you had the AVR or the amp "ON" and being used would not likely (but of course possibly) have made a difference and the trouble spot could be the "surge suppressor", or the AC compressor.

Questions:
- Did it happen just once, or it is repeatable, like every time the AC kicked in?
- You said all the audio components are plugged into..., what are "all" the components?
- Was the computer plugged into the same surge suppressor?
- What kind of surge suppressor/model?
- How old is the AC, approximately, 5,10,15,20 years? Are the lights still dimming when it kicks in for the same short split seconds like always, or the dim seems to last longer now than before?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

TLSGuy and Peng posted the actual fix for your issue, but if you're in the mood for a band-aid you may want to get UPS for your stereo and pc.

 

[jjborders]

Thanks for the input everyone. I've got some things to think about, and some experiments to perform this weekend.