My apartment is suffering from occasional brownouts, unfortunately. Each time it’s causing to sound loss and I’m required to shutdown/startup of my DS DAC to solve the problem (Off/On from remote doesn’t help).
Is it expected/known issue with DS DAC?
Any ideas/suggestions on how to automatically stabilize voltage? Seems Power Plants are not intended to hande brownouts and overvoltages.
In my case, a power regenerator was the solution to wild voltage changes, though in my situation power surges were more likely than brownouts! My voltage moves between 223 and 238 volts and occasionally surges higher! My fridge with gave in and could not be repaired, though it had a DC inverter system!
Methinks, if your brownouts are within the tolerance PS Audio regenerators, then it’s one solution to consider! As opposed to old mechanical stabilizers regenerators store energy in capacitors.
From Wikipedia:
“Brownouts can cause unexpected behaviour in systems with digital control circuits. Reduced voltages can bring control signals below the threshold at which logic circuits can reliably detect which state is being represented. As the voltage returns to normal levels the logic can latch at an incorrect state.”
Power Plant 12, for example, has nominal input voltage of 200–285VAC. My voltage drops are maybe lower that 200V for fractions of sec, but I’m not sure. These drops, I believe, are the ones that causing sound loss. Surges usually occur after outages and for short outages I’ve added surge protector with 3min delay.
Unfortunately, 30 days trial is available for US residents only! Is there a dealer or a friend in your town who could loan you a P3 or a P12?
There is a PS Audio dealer not far from me - will check with him. Although it is a costly solution for electricity problems … I was thinking of something like APC Line-R 1200VA Automatic Voltage Regulator, Schuko Outlets, 230V - APC Armenia
If you’re happy with your sound quality, and one of these regulators can handle the job, why not! But if I could get to try both a regulator and a regenerator for sound quality, I would do so, then act depending on budget
There is always a room for SQ improvements, but, yes, I’m satisfied in general. I do not know how noisy/output quality are these regulators…
Protecting your gear is the top priority! Everything else is next
Agreed! The question is how to do that so SQ will intact and no mortgage needed…
I@Tair, not certain where you are located, EU possibly. I’d touch base with your local utility to see if they have a solution. There could be a problem in the distribution system. Also, there could be a nearby large electrical load that cycles on/off or has wide load swings. Secondly you may want to have an electrician check incoming voltage at the apartment building, and verify your circuits are within local electrical code. guidelines. The problem could be magnified by problems in the distribution panel, such as a circuit breaker problem, under torqued terminations, undersized wire to your equipment, a problem with receptacles servicing your stereo. As the voltage swings are severe I’d rule these out and then consider a regenerator. You may wish to discuss options with a PS Audio representative. Best of luck with resolving the problem.
Thanks @weedeewop for advise. I’m located in Middle East (230V). It’s a about 30 apartments building. Problems become more frequent for about 0.5y. I doubt there is a problem b/w distribution panel and the stereo, as all lights in apartment are blinking for a sec when brownout happening. It could be a “nearby large electrical load that cycles on/off or has wide load swings”, although it happens any time of a day.
Local PS Audio retailer is more of sales person rather specialist
Regarding regenerator: the Q whether P3 can handle (IMHO - yes) DS DAC + DPA 50S + Phono preamp + DUAL 1229 or there is a need for P12 (3x price). Maybe @jamesh can advice here…
It’s likely that a P3 will do it but I can’t say for sure. I tried to find the consumption specs for everything and couldn’t find them. At the very least, you could use the P3’s high-current zone for your amp if it pulls too much. At a certain point though, if these brown outs are bad enough, even a regen can’t solve it for sure. They usually can do the trick, but they of course can’t solve for massive voltage swings.
Thanks, James
Don’t discount download distribution in your apartment as contributing toe the problem. As i is whole house the utility may have some suggestions as well. Also, the main termination coming into the distribution box should be inspected and torqued. Are your neighbors experiencing similar problems or is it just your apartment. The utility service is the primary cause from you description, either due to a large variable load in your area or other local electrical distribution system issues in your region. A PS Audio Power Plant may be beneficial., but it will be addressing the symptoms not the root cause of the problem. Discussing the issue with James or a PS Audio technical expert should be beneficial as they will be able to recommend a PS Audio product best suited to resolve the issue. Knowing the characteristics of the disturbance such as frequency of occurrence, duration, and voltage swings should be helpful. If the voltage swings our out of the acceptable operating region of a PS Audio Power Plant it is possible the unit will shutdown and may require a reboot. Again best of luck and hopefully your local electrical power provider will work with you as well.
My neighbors do experience same brownouts. Therefore, I doubt I’ll be able to address the root cause. I’ll try to measure how severe is the voltage drop to understand whether Power Plants could be a cure. If it drops below 200V then I’ll need to find a different solution.
Thanks for your valuable inputs @weedeewop !