Help! I'm at the end of the grid line!

[Xargos]

Hello everyone. Today is the first time I discovered Audioholics, and more importantly, the forum.

I have an interesting power problem. My house happens to be, unfortunately, the last one on my line of the power grid. Because of this (or at least that's what people have suggested to me), from time to time I experience some decent sized power fluctuations (not all the time, but enough to be annoying at times). Obviously this doesn't help anything electrical/electronic to function any better.

I was wondering if anyone else might have this issue or have seen a similar one. Would a good line conditioner perhaps be of any help?

Thanks in advance!

-Xargos

 

[Dumar]

I was wondering if anyone else might have this issue or have seen a similar one. Would a good line conditioner perhaps be of any help?

Do you go through a lot of light bulbs? If you do it's a sure sign your power utility is screwing you around.

Man ... I have to buy light bulbs by the gross just to see what I'm doing at my place.

Definitely, a good power conditioner is a good investment. If you have some cash to burn, a nice UPS works well too. Use it to protect your most valued possessions ... electrical possessions that is.

 

[Xargos]

Man ... I have to buy light bulbs by the gross just to see what I'm doing at my place.

Thanks for the insight.

Thankfully I don't have too bad of a problem blowing bulbs, but just last year the electric company had me on a bad undervoltage. I forget what I was at, but the lights were dim, the microwave wouldn't work worth anything, etc... Plus around the same time the APC BackUPS Pro that I had on my computer got blown out. Poor thing went up in smoke. So far nothing else has been damaged, though...

With summer just around the corner, I can't wait to see if all the AC units at the houses in a new local development make matters worse...

-Xargos

 

[zumbo]

I use this.

 

[JohnA]

What you need

is a "line conditioner" it takes the varying voltage and outputs a constant 120 volt of clean power....so no matter what voltage your house is getting your equipment will only get 120! There are several companies that make them but I personally like Tripp Lite but also Furman is very good, you will pay a little more for the Furman. Monster makes good stuff too, but I think Tripp Lite and Furman are better.

Hope that Helps!

 

[Xargos]

Although Monster is supposed to make some decent equipment, I have a feeling that buying their equipment requires paying a premium for their name. Even Radio Shack sells their lower end power conditioning units! With the way Radio Shack is now, that kinda scares me off.

The Tripp Lite LCR-2400 is one unit that I've been looking at, but that Adcom looks nice too. I hadn't realized that Furman made higher end home units, though. I had only heard of their "pro-audio" stuff that looks kinda cheesy to me.

I've also looked at the specs on some Panamax units, and they don't look too bad, either.

Has anyone used the Tripp Lite LCR-2400? I'm wondering how it compares to other similar units. It looks rather plain, so perhaps it's more substance than flash?