Desperate - Need HELP !!! Issue with voltage fluctuation in Bangalore

[Thad E Ginathom]

A few hours later... i think this must be right. Somebody mentioned milliseconds, and a physical mechanism surely doesn't have millisecond response time.

 

[rdksrk2013]

Yes servo stabilizer does not react immediately for spikes(probably not even have time to react!) since the servo mechanism other than having mechanical delay to adjust the taps + servo feedback loop delay.

for normal variation it adjusts multiple times and finally settles(depending on the damping in the control loop) - reason we hear a rattling sound whenever there is a voltage fluctuation

 

[Raghav_K]

Then what about a surge protector for the mains?

I got a vertex servo for audio equipment, and did not opt for the obo betterman surge protector...

While installing, the engineer told that the surge arrestor can be fixed to the main power supply later, if i need it...

 

[john_k_antony]

Then what about a surge protector for the mains?

I got a vertex servo for audio equipment, and did not opt for the obo betterman surge protector...

While installing, the engineer told that the surge arrestor can be fixed to the main power supply later, if i need it...

I do have the OBO bettermean surge protector V 20-C 3 pole + NPE installed at mains by the Vertex team. They said, it is useful for very high surge, like during a thunder storm. It will pass the small voltage fluctuation.

http://catalog1.obo-bettermann.com/...howManyProducts&lang=de&OID=tbs_172339&catId=

Thanks,
John.

 

[Raghav_K]

^ aah so it didn't help you in this case...

 

[john_k_antony]

^ aah so it didn't help you in this case...

Nope. Its for very high surge, like during a lightning. Not for + or - 60V from normal range.

I am almost planning to spend my money on the Sollatek 3-Phase device. Still doing some research. Might go in for it mainly because of local service availability . I am planning to go with their 10KVA capacity / phase version. It might cost me around 17.5K with out installation. I think I should get this protection ASAP.

I talked to SuKam. They said even the 16A Power Guard cannot work with the kind of load I have. So SuKam is out.

Thanks,
John.

 

[Raghav_K]

Wow you need 10kva per phase? :O How much is your sanctioned load from electricity board?

 

[john_k_antony]

Wow you need 10kva per phase? :O How much is your sanctioned load from electricity board?

Sanctioned load is 6KVA. Actually I am little confused here. Good that you brought this up.

I assume that its 6KVA / Phase. So I just did some math and found that I might need a device that can withstand a maximum current of 6000/240 = 25A. I thought of giving some head room and thinking about going in for the 43A / phase device that will roughly workout to 10KVA / phase. Do you think that is an over kill? Should I go in for their base model that is rated at 23A current capacity / phase?

Please correct me if my thinking / calculation is wrong .

Thanks,
John.

 

[john_k_antony]

Today I opened up both the Emotiva UPA-500 and the V-Guard stabilizer to see what went wrong.

V-Guard Digi 200 Stabilizer

There seems to be nothing busted inside. The fuse, MOV everything looks intact. There is no sign of any burning / busted components. Though everything looks fine, I am NOT going to power it up. I will take it to a service center and ask them to do a checkup. The MOV seems to be fine as its not shorted.

Emotiva UPA-500

UPA-500 unfortunately fell prey for the high voltage and the MOV is busted pretty badly. The surprising thing is that both the fuses are intact. Here are some pics for your reference.













What do you guys think is the Yellow colored components on either side of the busted MOV. They seems like some Capacitors. I see a C1 and C2 label next to them. Do you think if that also got busted?

I have emailed Emotiva with the pictures and lets see how they will fix it.

Thanks,
John.

 

[gobble]

Those yellow caps would most likely be type Y2 power filter caps. They are likely for EMI/RF filtering on the power line, one per L and N. Part of an LC circuit looks like.

They should be in the .0047muF to .1muF range but capable of withstanding 2500V.
But thats just guess...

~G0bble

 

[gobble]

One question - is the fuse in the Emotiva of correct rating?

For an example see all the answers here: http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130522071342AA3rmC3
G0bble

 

[john_k_antony]

Finally ordered the following

AVS303-xx - Voltage Protection

They only have the 37A/phase unit in stock and I am getting that. The unit will be delivered by this Friday and I will install the same on Saturday with the help of my electrician.

Hoping this device can give me some peace of mind .

Final price including VAT : Rs. 15,000/- Installation charges extra.

I will be installing this unit outside, right next to the main meter box.

Thanks,
John.

 

[gobble]

So now the learning and takeaway from a this thread is that a single device will never suffice to protect ones home. An avs303 and an obo betterman spike protector along with the mains RCCB should be a standard recomended installation for all new (audiophile) homes.

~G0bble

 

[john_k_antony]

Friends,

Seems like we nailed the real issue with the voltage fluctuation in my new house. It looks like a loose neutral line from the transformer in my layout . I and the BESCOM lineman did some investigation yesterday and he figured out that the neutral line that is coming to my house was loose!. He fixed it today and seems like it is working fine now.

I wanted the lineman to do a thorough investigation because two days back there was another episode of high voltage and it damaged the Sollatek voltage cut off switch I installed recently. The good thing is that the Sollatek got burnt and it protected everything else in the house :clapping: And I was greatly impressed with Sollatek service that they came and replaced the damaged unit the next day free of cost :thumbsup:

I couldn't get the Sollatek 3 phase unit as I was originally looking for. It was out of stock and I had to settle for 3 single phase units of AVS-30.

Please look at the following pictures to see the horror I was going through

3 x AVS30 installed next to the meter box.



400+ V in a single phase





Damaged Sollateck (MOV is burnt) that was connected to the phase that got 400+ V !


Thanks,
John.

 

[rdksrk2013]

Great that you could locate the fault.

This was the point that was emphasised from starting. No matter whatever protection gadgets you install it does not do much if your basic grounding is not correct

 

[john_k_antony]

Great that you could locate the fault.

This was the point that was emphasised from starting. No matter whatever protection gadgets you install it does not do much if your basic grounding is not correct

I totally agree. However, the new gadget (Sollatek) did protect my other equipment in the home during the last incident.

-John.

 

[john_k_antony]

Found something interesting on "Floating Neutral" issue. I guess this is what happened at my place.

Electrical and Electronics FAQs | The road less box Blog

 

[john_k_antony]

Update on my "burnt" Emotiva UPA-500. Good news is that I got it working now :clapping:. I had gone through "agony" and "ecstasy" before I could get it to work.

I talked to the Emotiva support soon after the incident and send them the pictures of the broken power supply board. They were extremely helpful and send me a replacement power supply board FREE of cost . I was extremely happy with the quick response and their willingness to help international customers.

I got the replacement board last week and replaced the board in the amp yesterday. I switched on the amp. I was expecting another round of fireworks... but luckily nothing happened . The amp got powered on and all the status light lit up. I was so happy. Now to test the amp, I sent the test tones and here comes the "agony" part. None of my speakers connected to UPA-500 were producing any sound. I quickly turned off the amp and just did some quick tests to make sure that my Oppo-105's analog outs and the brand new Klipsch speakers were not burnt. I was so relieved to know that both the speakers and Oppo were intact. I thought that something else would have burnt in UPA-500 and worried that what else should I replace.

Now the "ecstasy" part. I did lot of googling to find a solution to the problem and got few hints about broken fuse. But I was not paying attention to the fuse because I was thinking that the fuses might be working fine as the amp is powering on and all the status lights are on. However I just thought of opening the amp again and take a look again. To my surprise I observed two important things

1. The status lights are fed directly from the power supply board and it doesn't go through the fuses. The fuses are kept just before the main transformer. That means, if the fuses are blown, the status lights will still be working fine. Do you guys think this is a stupid design?

2. I then took a close look again at the fuses. There are two fuses kept before the main transformer. I know that both the fuses are identically spec'd and should look alike. But I found that both the fuses are not looking the same in the replacement board! I quickly removed both of them and looked at the specs. To my surprise both the fuses were different and with wrong spec!!!. Both the fuses should be 4A/250V. But the ones that came with the replacement board were 6.3A/250V and 500mA/250V respectively. Then I did a quick check with DMM and found that the 500mA/250V fuse was already broken :O. DMM showed an impedance of 1M Ohm.

Luckily for me, both the fuses in the burnt power supply board were intact and both were 4A/250V rated. I did a quick check with DMM and found that both are fine. I put them in the replacement power supply board and VOILA the amp came back to life :clapping:. All the 5 channels are producing sound now. I just tried the test tone and verified that all channels are producing un-distorted sound. Then I immediately turned off the amp. Not because something went wrong, but I just wanted to get a confirmation from Emotiva tech support before I start using it again. I emailed Emotiva regarding this and waiting for their response.

Now I have mixed reaction to Emotiva support. I am extremely happy with the quick turn around their willingness to help the international customer. But NOT happy at all with the silly and trivial mistake they made in the replacement board by putting wrong fuses.

Any way I think the problem is solved and I can start enjoying the amp soon .

-John.

 

[Tanoj]

Great to see you back in Great Shape Again with everything back to working normal.. Congrats

Tanoj

 

[gilfredpaul]

Nice to hear, your gears are back to function...hope the root cause of the problem is solved from EB. Sue those EB guys for giving mental pressure..

My sub board,burnt due to high voltage...velodyne took sweet time to replace board free of cost

Currently using vguard and belkin surge to protect the hifi components