help!! (with power)

[Arijaali]

hey all,

i dunno if many of you can help but i am facing a very awkward problem.

me and my band buddies have just been constructing our new practice room/studio in a farm unit. we have spent the last two months sound proofing and treating it ready for us, but today as we put the lights in we realised that every time a person using the units adjacent would turn something electrical on we get a dip in power and our lights dim.

anyway, its enough of a dip to completely wreck our amps and P.A....what the heckery can we do??

we are contemplating getting Furmann Power Conditioners, cause not only do they prevent damage front surges but they help regulate, but im not convinced that they will be sufficient enough!!

can anyone tell me of any thing that can help us out?

maybe sometype of voltage regulator that we can fit to the begining of our power chain.

thanks guys

sorry its a bit of a boring question.

ali

 

[Damocles]

first question back to you, do you really mean if someone next door turns on 'anything'?

If you are getting a voltage dip when nextdoor turns on a lightbulb then what is most likely wrong is far too small a cable to these buildings from the main supply. You might fix this by installing a thicker cable. On the other hand, if what you meant was next door turning on a milk bottling plant then it probably has an adequate supply already and there might not be much scope for doing this.

How much power do you need? It might be that a separate cable back to the supply for your building might be a better solution rather than doing anything to the supply for this block as a whole. That way you would eliminate some of the voltage drop which you are inheriting from next doors switching on.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

OOI - if someone is providing unit space on a commercial basis, and this includes the supply of electricity, are they bound by the ESQCR like the DONs are? i.e. does Aarijali's landlord have a duty to ensure that voltage and frequency remain within limits?

 

[Arijaali]

hey thanks guys for the help.

basically, the guy next door was using a pressure washer cause he fixes up cars, but i dont think light bulbs make any differnce, sorry should have been a bit more specific.

also, the deal with the farmer is rent every month and we can do what the hell we like, so i assume its all kinda 'unofficial'!!

our bassist is an electrician and he said that maybe we could run an extra cable from the main supply, taking us out of the chain, is this what you meant Damocles?

is that a tough job?

thanks again

 

[Damocles]

I think that is what I meant. It will only work if the main supply is not overloaded, which it probably is not, but this may depend on how jury rigged the setup is already. How difficult it is depends on how far you have to go, whether there is an easy route for the cable, how much power you need, exactly what there is to connect to already. But it sounds as if the cabling is inadequate up to you. Probably too thin for such a long distance (though you have not said how long the cable run is so I am guessing)

I don't know how much power some sort of industrial pressure washer might use but I can't imagine a domestic one should be using a significant proportion of the power available at the main.

 

[Steve]

domestic ones are about 2.5kw, a compressor that size would have quite a sizeable startup current i'd have thought. so a commercial one . . . . enough to make lights dim.

 

[mapj1]

If you get really stuck, and are on good terms, - it might be worth looking at trying an inrush suppressor for the washer, rather than uprating the supply if this proves too expensive.
They can be built into a box to make an "extension lead with a bulge", so not invalidating any warranties by opening up boxes. However, this would have to be done for all the loads causing a dip..
something like a rhopoint SG40 in series with the live conductor will reduce by a factor of 10 the startup surge.. Also good for 'fridge pop' effects.
see
http://www.rhopointcomponents.com/p...t+Protection&st2=Surge+Gard&ProductWebCode=SG


for data. They get as hot as a filament lamp in use and need to be on ceramic choc bloc or similar and well away from thermoplastic insulation.

 

[plugwash]

hey all,

i dunno if many of you can help but i am facing a very awkward problem.

me and my band buddies have just been constructing our new practice room/studio in a farm unit. we have spent the last two months sound proofing and treating it ready for us, but today as we put the lights in we realised that every time a person using the units adjacent would turn something electrical on we get a dip in power and our lights dim.

anyway, its enough of a dip to completely wreck our amps and P.A....what the heckery can we do??

i dunno how much power you need but one soloution to such brownouts would be to use a UPS

 

[Beanzy]

Genny'll do it for the price of a decent pre-amp. Those 'Wolf' ones seem cheap and cheerful and claim to be quiet running.