Sudden power drop

[verywierd]

Lately I've been experiencing sudden momentary drops in electrical supply at my apartment which cause my PC to shut down. It happens so quickly that the fans hardly slow down at all, while the lights go off and on again as if someone was playing with the switch.

I have a UPS (new), but the current drops and recovers so quickly that the UPS does not trigger. Normal outages of a couple of seconds or longer are handled properly by the UPS.

Is there anything that can be done?

[Pib]

Probably not...sounds like it's the electric company balancing/switching the electrical grid load in your area... it happens here in western Bangkok also.

Sent from my Samsung S4 (GT-I9500)

[ThaidDown]

Although your UPS may be new it is not working as it should.

The U is for uninterruptible and all cuts (or sags) however short should be covered and not be noticed by the PC.

Agree with Pib re the supply get it here (Rayong) as well sometimes but PC does not go off, UPS bleeps though (as it should).

[Pib]

Sorry I didn't specifically address your UPS issue also...read your post too fast. If you are saying your UPS is not maintaining power to whatever you have hooked into it until after a few seconds then your UPS does have a problem (or is not turned on). Or maybe you have an item your want protected by the UPS but your UPS also has a pass-thru outlet which provides no UPS protection as it really just for convenience and that device is plugged into that pass-thru connector...but the other output connectors do provide UPS protection.

A typical UPS should provide protection for power drops as brief as around 10 milliseconds...give or take a little.....exactly how fast will depend on the model/brand/cost...some are a little faster (maybe around 5ms)...some are a little slower (maybe around 15ms). But even one that provide protection as fast as 15ms should meet basic needs of typical household electronics items/computer/DVDR/etc. Maybe your UPS is "protecting" your devices, it's just you think it's not because the UPS audible/light indications don't come on for a few seconds....this is normal....but it doesn't mean the UPS actually didn't kick-in within milliseconds of a power drop/outage.

So, are you saving whatever device you have hooked to the UPS senses the power drop as if the UPS is not working or are you saying it usually a few seconds before the UPS notifies you it is protecting your device? If it's the later, that's normal; if it's the former that bad...something wrong with your UPS or it not turned on...or you have he device plugged into a pass-thru connector.

And hopefully you don't have the UPS overloaded like it's rated for 500VA/300W but you have a 1000VA/600W worth of devices plugged into it....if you do then that will load it down immediately.

[Crossy]

Certainly sounds like a UPS issue. Can you let us know the make and model of the UPS please.

As others have noted:

Check you're not overloading it.

Check you've not plugged the PC into the bypass outlet (sometimes marked as being for a printer).

Most PC PSUs will bridge over a switching dip (house lights flicker) which is similar to a UPS switch-over blip. Is your PC power supply a decent one? Is it loaded to near its limit?

If you pull the inlet plug of the UPS does the PC stay powered up?

[h90]

UPS problem and cheap power supply on the computer.

When we have this, the cheap power supply computer are off the expensive one don't care because they have enough capacitors.

[Suradit69]

Although your UPS may be new it is not working as it should.

The U is for uninterruptible and all cuts (or sags) however short should be covered and not be noticed by the PC.

Agree with Pib re the supply get it here (Rayong) as well sometimes but PC does not go off, UPS bleeps though (as it should).

"Although your UPS may be new it is not working as it should."

Yes, I get the occasional power blip but my UPS handles it without any noticeable reaction on the computer, modem or monitor. I thought that was the point of having a UPS, that along with getting the time to manage a controlled shut down in case the power stayed off.

That said, a recent "event" signaled the demise of my last UPS, which was about 3 years old. Not sure what their life expectancy is. but I think the one before that met a similar end when it was around 3 years old too. Battery no longer held a charge.

The replacement cost nearly Baht 6000 at TukCom in Pattaya. The others on offer looked fairly cheesy and a lot cheaper. I know more expensive doesn't always translate to better, but for the tech-challenged like me, appearance and price are about all we can go by.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Suradit69

[Cloggie]

Have a look at your UPS, make sure your PC is NOT connected to the printer power outlet as the printer power outlet is surge only!

Happens many times at my work that people connect the PC to the wrong power outlet of the UPS.

[verywierd]

Thanks for all the replies.

UPS is 1000VA/550W supporting basically just a PC and monitor.

I think I did plug the PC into a "surge protect only" socket. The UPS manual was in Thai only and I did not notice that the socket did not provide backup as well. My previous UPS was backup on all sockets and just assumed it was the same on this one. My bad.

Have changed the plugs around. Hopefully this will fix it.

Thanks again for all the help.

[lopburi3]

Although your UPS may be new it is not working as it should.

The U is for uninterruptible and all cuts (or sags) however short should be covered and not be noticed by the PC.

Agree with Pib re the supply get it here (Rayong) as well sometimes but PC does not go off, UPS bleeps though (as it should).

"Although your UPS may be new it is not working as it should."

Yes, I get the occasional power blip but my UPS handles it without any noticeable reaction on the computer, modem or monitor. I thought that was the point of having a UPS, that along with getting the time to manage a controlled shut down in case the power stayed off.

That said, a recent "event" signaled the demise of my last UPS, which was about 3 years old. Not sure what their life expectancy is. but I think the one before that met a similar end when it was around 3 years old too. Battery no longer held a charge.

The replacement cost nearly Baht 6000 at TukCom in Pattaya. The others on offer looked fairly cheesy and a lot cheaper. I know more expensive doesn't always translate to better, but for the tech-challenged like me, appearance and price are about all we can go by.

You are not replacing the battery during this 3 year period? They normally do not last more than about 2 years but can easily be replaced with a new one at about 600 baht (although normally you do have to dissemble the case a bit - without it plugged in or touching circuit board and being careful of capacitors). Am sure you can have done cheaply at any computer or TV service desk at less risk.

[kkerry]

 

Although your UPS may be new it is not working as it should.

The U is for uninterruptible and all cuts (or sags) however short should be covered and not be noticed by the PC.

Agree with Pib re the supply get it here (Rayong) as well sometimes but PC does not go off, UPS bleeps though (as it should).

"Although your UPS may be new it is not working as it should."

Yes, I get the occasional power blip but my UPS handles it without any noticeable reaction on the computer, modem or monitor. I thought that was the point of having a UPS, that along with getting the time to manage a controlled shut down in case the power stayed off.

That said, a recent "event" signaled the demise of my last UPS, which was about 3 years old. Not sure what their life expectancy is. but I think the one before that met a similar end when it was around 3 years old too. Battery no longer held a charge.

The replacement cost nearly Baht 6000 at TukCom in Pattaya. The others on offer looked fairly cheesy and a lot cheaper. I know more expensive doesn't always translate to better, but for the tech-challenged like me, appearance and price are about all we can go by.

 

6000??? Is that for a brand new UPS or just the battery? Replacement batteries for a home UPS e.g 500-1000VA should cost 500-700 baht at Amorn or any place that sell UPS. Easy to replace the battery yourself or if you take the unit with you most places will install it for you while you wait.

I have one APC UPS, must be ten years old, replaced the battery twice and still works fine with the power outages we have.