Back Up ps or just a line conditioner

[JustEd]

First off, it is refeshing to find a forum that supports scientific evaluation of equipment rather than "pretzel logic." While not a professional sound or video engineer, I think my experience in electronics, mostly ham radio, mostly has kept me from geting fleeced.

I saw here a review of power line conditioners for about 300 bucks and the reviewer admirably pointed out its true purpose. ie It won't make you system sound or look better but will keep it from looking worse if you are experiencing power voltage fluctuation, transients, or surges.

What I did on our HDTV (46 inch Panasonic) is hook up a back up power supply that was designed for computers. It has the capacity 800 watts, enough to run the TV and DVD plus the DirecTV decoder box. These bu supplies have power line filtering and conditiong as well as a battery to take over during power failures. The switching to the battery bu is quick enough that we don't notice any interruption of the HDTV video (TV, DVD or DirecTV box).

The reason this appealed to me over a simple line conditioner is we get a lot of quick power turn off and turn on events in our Mojhave Desert local. It really racks havoc on the DirecTV box and causes it to reboot after even a second or two break in the power service. I also think this solution should help protect the TV from the ill effects of these quick on and off power events during lightning storms. Although, it does seem that TV manufactures have gotten pretty good about taking such trouble into account. But I still feel better not subjecting the TV to the local power companies service irregularities.

While I am addressing a somewhat local power problem it still seems to me that our solution is worth anyones consideration. I would like to hear why people think just a power conditioner is the best way to go, even without the Mojhave Power and Lightning (joke)? My bu supply was about 200 bucks on sale but these prices vary with the manufacturer and where you purchase it.

For discussion purposes I should point out that in my setup the Nakamichi 5.1 receiver (minus two as we don't bother with the rear speakers anymore) is NOT hooked up to the power bu but to a ADCOM powerline filter. I can stand to lose the audio for a few seconds more than the DVD player or the DirecTV receiver.

How do other feel about my using a buck up power supply for HDTV?

 

[nibhaz]

Great thread.

Your situation is the perfect argument as to why some people actually need a UPS as apposed to just a line conditioner. Most people don't face the localized problems that you experience so they can get by with a line conditioner/surge protector for protection purposes.

Personally, I use a UPS that also has built in automatic voltage regulator to protect my equipment from the mini brownouts that occur in my high-rise. For me the battery backup is just there so that I can shut down my equipment properly in the event of a true power outage.

This thread should be interesting, since I've seen some claim that some UPSs are capable of introducing noise into a system, which hasn't been my experience.

 

[JustEd]

Mine too

I think my battery bu kicks in if the ac power drops under 90 volts, but possibly it is a higher point than that.

The only noise would be from the power supply which is always on and keeping the batteries at full charge. That technology has been around long enough it would surprise me if manufacturers did not take steps to eleminate any noise that could leak out. If a switching type ps is present those are noise sources, at least in the rf specturm. I have encountered a couple of switching power supplies (in this case ac to dc) in Ham radio and there the measures to avoid radiation of rf noise is quite good (Samlex and Astron) but indeed not perfect. We have run battery back ups all through our home for computers many years now and I could never find one as being a source of interference. Point is, if a battery bu ps is giving off noise, it should not be.

I also use the coaxial connector on this bu ps to help filter out any voltages present on the sattelite dish coax comming into the house. A source of this excess voltatage or static electricity would be nearby lightning or even just the dry air and wind in the desert. While this filter was intended for coaxial wiring in a computer network it should work the same on a satellite dish. The MOV's don't care if you are running a computer or tv they only see excess voltage. At least I can see no difference at all in picture quality with it inline.

Does anyone make this type of equipment solely for HDTV lovers? Seems it would be a interesting market niche.