question regarding so-called "power conditioners"

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Ptownkid

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 1, 2005
Messages
4,256
Location
Ajax, Ontario, Canada
I have an ART "power conditioner" and i had a look inside and it seems to me that it is nothing more than an isolation xfmr on the input and then 8 power jacks.

Is that really all it is?

Does that really help at all?
 
In our TV truck, we have a (massive) two-winding isolation transformer followed by a multitapped-transformer voltage regulator (also massive). The regulator is way too cool--it switches taps on the fly with nary a glitch. I assume it must be switching on the zero crossings of the waveform. It'll click away like mad during periods of fluctuating line voltage (e.g., summertime) but none of our equipment glitches.
 
I have one of those multi-tapped switchers on my computer right now. It's horrible. I've seen Furman make better ones, but in fact if you connect 'dumb' equipment (like light bulbs) to it, they surge slightly, but very suddenly (I think the taps are spaced at 5% intervals) as opposed to slowly dimming up & down through a wider range. -The range may be wider, but the sudden 'steps' are more noticeable on some gear. -My computer monitor (21" trinitron) plainly has a poor power supply design, because ther are noticeable small-but-sudden shifts in screen size when the taps switch.

I bet that Ptownkid's "transformer" is actually an inductor. That'd do rather more conditioning.

I despise most 'conditioners' because the MOV's and filter caps that you find in them end up bleeding noise onto the ground, and that's a worse problem than you had before you bought the conditioner, most of the time. The trouble is that they get gradually worse with age, so you only really notice an improvement when you take them OUT.

...and I haven't had an installation where 'dirty' power has been a problem for a LONG time, so power conditioners normally get shunned by me. Good power regulators of the sort that Dave describes have LOTS of tiny taps, (as opposed to my crap 5-tap version) expensive zero-crossing detection and switching, and start at about $2000 for a cheap one. Even though Furman makes them, don't think for a minute that the $300-or-less IU rack 'conditioners' from the same company do much for you, other than give you a pretty display and a few more sockets.

Keith
 
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