Electronics and electrical fixtures failing during lockdown

[ssf]

Hello guys,

During the lockdown period, I have had the following fail in my house.

1 Marantz 7010 This has now gone into protection mode even with all connections removed and a factory reset
2 Line Interactive UPS Numeric 2000 plus. All my equipment was connected to this. This gave an error and is now down. Disconnected and placed in corner
3 My 2 ton AC. I think a capacitor blew. Thankfully got a AC Mechanic to fix the problem.
4 Installed my Topping TP60 amp to replace the Marantz. Now that has gone to protection mode. I think either the step down transformer or the amp is blown.

Now, my gaming pc, my Sony x900e 65" and my xbox 1 s is directly connected to the mains via the SF Barracuda Universal Power Distribution Centre.

My neighbor staying in a flat 2 floors below mine had both his AC's blown. My uncle staying in a different part of town had his AC blown. My BIL had his TV blown.

I got the AC Mechanic to check my points and my voltage. He said its fine.

How do I make sure that everything is ok with my power ? My equipments will go for repair once the lockdown is lifted. I don't want my amps blowing after repair due to faulty power. Any other steps I can take to safeguard against this.

Thanks for your time.

 

[haisaikat]

If power fluctuations or high voltage due to consumption pattern change is the problem then electrician coming in and measuring at a certain moment will never be able to uncover the problem. If you have a multimeter at home check the voltage several times a day and once during night, you will see the extent of variation. Our AC also started malfunctioning yesterday. Tough times but wait somehow another 3 days as from 20th April electrician, plumbing, etc are allowed to operate.

 

[ssf]

Anything I can do to protect my devices from power fluctuations?

 

[haisaikat]

Anything I can do to protect my devices from power fluctuations?

I think your requirement is not just limited to HT but other Home Appliances too. For costlier devices better to use good quality stabilizers. UPS, etc. In general, do not keep your devices on standby when not in use, switch them off completely, albeit unplug them if possible when not used. If you are using too many spike busters ensure there is no sparks from lose contacts even from other devices which are in stand by, If you have multiphase connection then devices that consume larger current all of a sudden should be in separate phases.

 

[MaSh]

Hello guys,

During the lockdown period, I have had the following fail in my house.

1 Marantz 7010 This has now gone into protection mode even with all connections removed and a factory reset
2 Line Interactive UPS Numeric 2000 plus. All my equipment was connected to this. This gave an error and is now down. Disconnected and placed in corner
3 My 2 ton AC. I think a capacitor blew. Thankfully got a AC Mechanic to fix the problem.
4 Installed my Topping TP60 amp to replace the Marantz. Now that has gone to protection mode. I think either the step down transformer or the amp is blown.

Now, my gaming pc, my Sony x900e 65" and my xbox 1 s is directly connected to the mains via the SF Barracuda Universal Power Distribution Centre.

My neighbor staying in a flat 2 floors below mine had both his AC's blown. My uncle staying in a different part of town had his AC blown. My BIL had his TV blown.

I got the AC Mechanic to check my points and my voltage. He said its fine.

How do I make sure that everything is ok with my power ? My equipments will go for repair once the lockdown is lifted. I don't want my amps blowing after repair due to faulty power. Any other steps I can take to safeguard against this.

Thanks for your time.

Oh my god, that's a lot of stuff that has failed. It looks like some major spikes in your power supply.

MaSh

 

[ssf]

I know, Mash. The troubling thing is that all this happened over a period of many days during lockdown and not an isolated incident. Marantz failed even when it was connected to the LI UPS through the SF Barracuda Universal Power Distribution Centre. I was suspecting a speaker cable short but even when everything was unplugged and after a factory reset, it still goes to protection mode.

 

[Jayant_S]

Hello guys,

During the lockdown period, I have had the following fail in my house.

1 Marantz 7010 This has now gone into protection mode even with all connections removed and a factory reset
2 Line Interactive UPS Numeric 2000 plus. All my equipment was connected to this. This gave an error and is now down. Disconnected and placed in corner
3 My 2 ton AC. I think a capacitor blew. Thankfully got a AC Mechanic to fix the problem.
4 Installed my Topping TP60 amp to replace the Marantz. Now that has gone to protection mode. I think either the step down transformer or the amp is blown.

Now, my gaming pc, my Sony x900e 65" and my xbox 1 s is directly connected to the mains via the SF Barracuda Universal Power Distribution Centre.

My neighbor staying in a flat 2 floors below mine had both his AC's blown. My uncle staying in a different part of town had his AC blown. My BIL had his TV blown.

I got the AC Mechanic to check my points and my voltage. He said its fine.

How do I make sure that everything is ok with my power ? My equipments will go for repair once the lockdown is lifted. I don't want my amps blowing after repair due to faulty power. Any other steps I can take to safeguard against this.

Thanks for your time.

Gosh that's a lot of damage at the worst possible time
Not a lot you can do during the lock down except keeping devices unplugged when not in use.
I've had similar power fluctuations/outages at home about 4 years ago and this is what I did:

1. The earthing was not good - ie the voltage reading between the live and earth line was more than 5V off the live to neutral reading and there was close to 2v between neutral and earth. I got the earthing redone with a fresh pit and the works.

2. Wiring in the house was redone with individual circuits hooked up to MCBs with very low switching time (less than 50msec). I have three independent loops, one 5amp loop only for my den and equipment connected via a 1kva servo stabilizer, a second 5amp loop for all the light points with its own 3kva central servo stabilizer and the third loop is the 15amp line for AC, fridge, washing machine...Each heavy device with its own stabilizer.

3. I don't use a UPS for my den - the power from a ups is not clean enough and I figured out that the constant switching was not doing my gear any good. UPS is connected only to the lighting 5amp loop.

Not had any gadgets failing on me since then (touch wood) - the MCBs have tripped innumerable times and I kiss them (figuratively!) every single time they do so

 

[ssf]

My circuits must be something similar as, if something in the living room trips, my dining and bedroom lights will be on as will my ac and fridge etc. I however do not have independent stabilizers for the different zones which I think is a great idea as my 500 va inverter used to trip when the current went off because the fridge was connected to the same line.

 

[Jayant_S]

my 500 va inverter used to trip when the current went off because the fridge was connected to the same line.

Also look at removing the 15amp loop from the UPS. Will always overload and trip the ups leading to switching transients and potential damage to your gear.

 

[ssf]

Put a mail to SE(Ele) MESCOM explaining my situation. In 5 minutes, MESCOM Jeep is in my Apartment. They checked. Said that the voltage as a bit high. Lowered it a bit at our transformer. They said that we should not have much of a problem as we have our own transformer and electricity is not coming to the apartment directly from the lines.

Appreciated the quick response of mescom.