Is Stabilizer must for TV/DVD/BDP/HT/AV/STB ? Just marketing stunt ?

karthikcarthik

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Most electronics like TVs, DVD players, etc do not work at 230 V. These appliances have an internal device called SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply) which converts incoming 230 V to 12V or 24V (whichever is required by the appliance). Thus none of the electronic appliances need voltage stabilisers. I repeat, electronic appliances do not need voltage stabilisers. They are neither impacted by high voltage, nor by low voltage. So electronic devices do not need any protection. There are products available in market because people feel the need of protecting their appliances, but these devices do not need any protection. The power consumption of electronic products does not change with voltage fluctuations. Also, their output does not change.

https://www.bijlibachao.com/applian...-television-refrigerator-air-conditioner.html
 
Its like the belkin 10000 amp protection.......all snake oil..........never buy them......
 
Most of the electrical appliances have a range of voltage that they can handle i.e. 160-230V. In case if the voltage shoots down even more or if the voltage spike is very sudden, then more current is drawn and your appliance will be fried. A stabilizer with thermal overload protection is required to manage the high or steep voltage fluctuation
 
+1 krishnamurthy

Karthik
If that were the case manufacturers had no need to provide voltage rating for their products

Continuous over voltage will damage your power circuitry which costs more in repairing components inside TV/DVD than spending on local made voltage stabilizer. I do agree that even that external voltage stabilizer has limitations but its just an added layer if chosen right product.
 
Would not say that stabilizers are useless. They do provide a stable current (stable-izer!) and good stabilizers do a good job of ironing out voltage fluctuations. Also, they can protect your appliance from sudden surge of high voltages or spikes if they have the autocut feature. Most of them have it. So, I would suggest using them.

Regards,
Saket
 
This topic was earlier discussed thread-bare on this forum. Older threads are very informative.

Be as it may, I have a dozen spare electronic stabilizers lying around in the house apart from those installed, including double-booster and triple-booster ones. The installed ones include a 2 KV Krykard servo-stablizer for the audio system. I was fanatically buying voltage stabilizers and installing them for each and every electrical / electronic device when I shifted into a new house, as I found the voltage to be varying between 150V - 270V due to an old and faulty transformer in the area. Later I got the transformer changed by making few appeals to the Electricity Department. Now the low voltage is gone, and high voltage is occasional.

On a single occasion, high voltage (may be due to lightning) coming through the power lines destroyed a voltage stabilizer and a Belkin Gold power strip attached to that voltage stabilizer in my house. But my plasma TV was saved. Now I have totally done away with a voltage stabilizer, and connected the plasma TV through a Sollatek voltage cut-out device and a Belkin Gold power strip. This arrangement has been functional for the last two years without any problem despite few events of high voltage coming through power lines. As soon as the voltage raises beyond a limit, the voltage cut-out cuts off the power supply. The cut-out voltage is adjustable. After seeing its performance, I installed another Sollatek cut-out for the R.O. water purifier (whose motor used to burn out frequently during the nights due to high voltage), and one for the kitchen chimney (same problem here : SMPS inside would burn out due to high voltage).

In retrospect, I feel if the fluorescent tube lights in one's house are coming on in the evenings without any trouble, a simple voltage cut-out device like Sollatek would serve the purpose for most gadgets in the house. The real solution to high and low voltage events is to cut-off the power supply during such events, or to get the local transformer changed by the Electricity Department so that such events are minimized.

If you do have to run the device continuously through the high and low voltage episodes (like deep freezers, refrigerators, airconditioners etc.), or if such episodes are too common and long lasting, and your efforts with the Electricity Department to get the transformer changed are to no avail, only then you need a competent voltage stabilizer depending upon how high or how low the voltage goes. The Electricity Department is duty bound to provide you electricity with the correct voltage and rectify the voltage problems if any. In west, you can sue them if they don't.
 
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