Can I use a V Guard Mini Crystal for this?

[tryclops]

I apologize in advance if this is the wrong sub-forum to post this.

I have an electronic equipment that has the following input properties:
110V - 240V, 50-60 Hz, 700 mA

My house has lots of voltage fluctuations so I don't want to use the equipment without a stabilizer. I went shopping for a stabilizer but the shopkeeper wasn't able to guide me in this regard - he said all he had were stabilizers for LCD TVs, refrigerators and ACs. There was no such thing as a generic voltage stabilizer.

I checked the LCD TV stabilizer (V Guard Mini Crystal) and it's features said:
110V - 240V, 50-60 Hz and upto 1.3 A capacity.

Since the first 2 settings are the same and my machine says 700 mA (0.7 A), would it be ok and safe to use this stabilizer with my machine? Or there other things to consider beside these points?

Any guidance will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[ravikumar615]

I apologize in advance if this is the wrong sub-forum to post this.

I have an electronic equipment that has the following input properties:
110V - 240V, 50-60 Hz, 700 mA

My house has lots of voltage fluctuations so I don't want to use the equipment without a stabilizer. I went shopping for a stabilizer but the shopkeeper wasn't able to guide me in this regard - he said all he had were stabilizers for LCD TVs, refrigerators and ACs. There was no such thing as a generic voltage stabilizer.

I checked the LCD TV stabilizer (V Guard Mini Crystal) and it's features said:
110V - 240V, 50-60 Hz and upto 1.3 A capacity.

Since the first 2 settings are the same and my machine says 700 mA (0.7 A), would it be ok and safe to use this stabilizer with my machine? Or there other things to consider beside these points?

Any guidance will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

your existing electronics need 110v, which means the stabilizer has to output 110v. But all stabilizers I know will output 230v, however the input to stabilizer can be as low as 120v (low voltage) and as high as 280v-290v (high voltage). The stabilizer will stabilize the output of 230v for low to high voltage rage it supports.
To be precise you have to check the output power/rating of the stabilizer. To be more precise you need step down transformer (or voltage converter) to step down 230v to 110v.

Again, there might be better choices if you introspect. For example, I have a netgear wireless router which needs say 5v 750mA (I dont remember exactly) to operate, however the power adapter I had was for 110v. I just changed the power adapter accordingly (230v input 5v 750mA ouput) and hence did not need additional step down transformer.

 

[baijuxavior]

tryclopse, what device is that? It seems of a very low wattage one and probably is based on smps that can work from 110 to 240V. It is a universal voltage device and so will work here without step down transformer. So you don't need any stabilizer. If you really need one, then get the vguard model.

 

[tryclops]

Thanks to both of you for your replies.

ravikumar615, I don't think the equipment needs 110V because it accepts 110V to 240V according to its input properties. It does come with a power adapter so I guess that steps down the voltage to whatever it finally uses.

baijuxaviour, Its a medical equipment. It has a power adapter but I was thinking that will merely step down the voltage but might not be able to protect against the continuous ups and downs in the voltages in my area, plus the voltage sometimes goes very high (I don't exactly know how much but the fans simply go on steroids sometimes and then lull down after sometime). I was expecting that this could pose problems to the equipment as it might not be able to handle high voltages like 270V. And being an imported equipment I won't be able to get it serviced anywhere here in India.

So I was thinking I'll connect the stabilizer to the mains, then connect the power adapter to the stabilizer.

Am I correct in my understanding about what I've said above? Will the Mini Crystal model do ok with this?

Thanks again!

 

[ravikumar615]

Yes. you are correct in understanding. But they are helpful when the fluctuations are low to high range for few seconds/minutes. If there is power flicker - where there is no power for 5-10 seconds and again there is power for 5-10 seconds, some electronics can have problem. If the electronics is sensitive then I would recommend a online UPS so that you can safely stop/shutdown the device.
A year back my ADSL modem stop functioning after 3-4 power flickers within 30-40 seconds. I now use a stabilizer and yet to upgrade to UPS soon

 

[baijuxavior]

The mini crystal is enough for your use. But you should seriously consider line interactive ups. These have built in voltage regulation usually from 140V-270V and it also protects your products from sudden power loss. LI ups with internal battery is available for around 2K.

POWERSAFE 600VA UPS Line interactive BILL + 2YR WAR | eBay

line interactive ups | eBay

 

[tryclops]

Thanks to both of you again!

Are these UPS's you are talking about the same as the ones we use for desktop computers?

If yes, then I'll probably go with the Mini Crystal for temporary use and then simultaneously plan to get the UPS soon. However, my place suffers from more fluctuations than closely-spaced-few-minute-powercuts.

 

[baijuxavior]

The usual desktop upss are offline mode. That is, they change to battery mode whenever there is voltage fluctuation. This will drain your battery quick. A line interactive ups has inbuilt stabilizer just like the vguard stab, so it will change to battery mode only when the voltage goes below or above the working voltage (140V-270V usually). In both these type of upss, the output is not real sinewave. Offline upss usually have square wave out while LI models use quasi sine wave. An online ups always works on battery and will give a pure sinewave at constant output voltage, but these are very very expensive >10K for a basic model. IMHO, for your use an LI UPS is best.

 

[tryclops]

baijuxaviour - thanks! I learnt something new which I wasn't expecting to!

1) When you say both the offline as well as LI UPS don't give a real sinewave, will that affect the electronics connected through them in anyway?

2) Also, what does a voltage stabilizer like mini-crystal give? Also, if I understand it right, the difference between a mini-crystal and a LI UPS is that LI UPS will stabilize (just like mini-crystal) the voltage as well as continue to give an uninterrupted current when there is a power cut. So if there are no power cuts, then both are more or less the same? *

For confirmation, with the LI UPS too, I'll have to connect it to the mains and then connect my equipment's power adapter to it right?

* I am asking this because I have already got a spare mini-crystal at home and I have to use the equipment only for 10 minutes a day. While we do have lots of power cuts, they are usually 1-2 hours continuously, so I am wondering if I can use the mini-crystal at least temporarily IF it is not a risk .

 

[baijuxavior]

1. It won't affect the device if it is based on smps circuitry. Since your device is marked to be working from 110-240V, it is based on smps.
2. A stabilizer gives sine wave out, because it just bucks or boosts the input line voltage and it does not change the wave form. So does a ups when it is working on mains. Only when the ups is switched to battery mode due to power loss or very low voltage, it gives square wave out.
3. You can safely use the crystal stab for your device. Since you already have it, there is no need to buy another stab or ups.

 

[tryclops]

Baijuxavior,

Thanks for those answers! You have been very helpful!