edward@engr.uky.edu (Edward C. Bennett) (11/22/87)
In article <942@woton.UUCP> riddle@woton.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle ) writes: >I live in an old house with a rather flaky power system. Even ordinary >household appliances, when used in certain combinations, have been >known to cause brownouts and occasionally throw a circuit breaker. Am >I asking for it if I try to use a UNIX PC in this power environment? >Does anybody know of any *cheap* power conditioning which might >significantly improve my 3B1's chances of survival? Thanks. Now that I've got a 3B1, I've been concerned about power problems also. What are the important things to look for? Spike/surge/transient protection? For a start, I pulled out the ol' Radio Shack catalog. They've got two units that seem reasonable. Under "AC Outlet Voltage Spike Protectors" there's a 6-outlet power strip with noise filter and circuit breaker for $29.95. Over in computer accessories there's a 2-outlet power protector with "full common and differential mode transient protection" (What is that? A fancy way of saying voltage spikes?), noise filtration and a MOV status lamp for $18.95. Comments? Horror stories? The idea of paying $70 for one of these things at a "computer emporium" seems outrageous! -- Edward C. Bennett DOMAIN: edward@engr.uky.edu UUCP: {cbosgd|uunet}!ukma!ukecc!edward "Goodnight M.A." BITNET: edward%ukecc.uucp@ukma "He's become a growling, snarling white-hot mass of canine terror"
david@ukma.UUCP (11/23/87)
In article <1805@ukecc.engr.uky.edu> edward@engr.uky.edu (Edward C. Bennett) writes: >In article <942@woton.UUCP> riddle@woton.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle ) writes: >>I live in an old house with a rather flaky power system. >For a start, I pulled out the ol' Radio Shack catalog. They've got two >units that seem reasonable. > > Under "AC Outlet Voltage Spike Protectors" there's a 6-outlet > power strip with noise filter and circuit breaker for $29.95. Well, I'll repeat my own horror story. I too live in an old house in a student ghetto. (And it was funny listening to the AT&T repairman tell me that the warranty includes on-site maintanence ... this old house being a "site" is real funny). Anyway ... the power outlets in the house aren't grounded. The outlets that were here when we moved in were all 2 prong outlets. When I started installing computers I got a 3 prong adapter and installed that between the computers and the wall. Unfortunately I forgot to connect the ground part up to the screw ... Back when I only had a TRS-80 Color Computer this didn't make any difference. But with the arrival of my Unix PC, things changed. By then I'd forgotten that I'd not grounded the adapter. Further I got a DAK Power controller and another spike supressor from R Shack. I felt I was safe with those two things. Well ... the computer burned up. Now, it was summertime when it burned up, and we of course don't have A/C in this place. (And the heating is free-standing gas heaters in each room ... but that's a different matter entirely). I don't know if it was heat that caused it to burn up or if it was lack of grounding. The AT&T repairman was nice to me and went ahead and replaced the machine because it was only a couple of weeks old and may have been a bad machine. He was under the opinion that the grounding caused the burnup for some reason. It may have been either, I dunno tho. Anyway, before installing the replacement I had to get ahold of the landlord and convince him that I needed grounding. (That was an interesting experience in itself). The grounding consists of a hefty wire running down the hall to the kitchen and attached securely to the cold water pipe. And he only grounded this one outlet in my room .. the 3 prong plugs in the kitchen STILL aren't grounded. Oh well. I can believe that grounding is important. I've also got a little fan blowing air over the top of the case above the P.S. And it's wintertime and the place is fairly cool all the time. This summer may be interesting again. I have a bunch of other stuff in the apartment. Stereo stuff, a refridgerator, microwave. And there was a space heater, but the landlord put a new gas heater in the bathroom and it's fine again. We've had two sorts of cases for power outages. One type is when power goes out in another apartment in the building, and they go to the power box and start flipping switches ... The other type is an overload and it's only happened once. That was when we had the space heater running, the microwave running, stereo and tv running, at least one of the computers on (the 3B1) and my roomate drying his hair with a blow dryer. Fine, the power went out. No problem otherwise. Note that I have my computers behind two spike supressers... I've seen 3b1's turned off, lose power from under them, and so forth. The disk head doesn't crash (thank goodness). You might lose files if the system was busy. Other than that, no problem. -- <---- David Herron -- Resident E-Mail Hack <david@ms.uky.edu> <---- or: {rutgers,uunet,cbosgd}!ukma!david, david@UKMA.BITNET <---- "The market doesn't drop hundreds of points on a normal day..." -- <---- Fidelity Investments Corporation
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (11/23/87)
Since this article deals with construction of an effective, but low cost surge protector, I have cross-posted to some other newsgroups. I have always felt that surge protectors are sold at an artificially high price and represent a consumer ripoff; here is a way to fight back... In article <1805@ukecc.engr.uky.edu>, edward@engr.uky.edu (Edward C. Bennett) writes: > >Does anybody know of any *cheap* power conditioning which might > >significantly improve my 3B1's chances of survival? Thanks. > > Now that I've got a 3B1, I've been concerned about power problems also. > What are the important things to look for? Spike/surge/transient protection? > For a start, I pulled out the ol' Radio Shack catalog. They've got two > units that seem reasonable. > > Under "AC Outlet Voltage Spike Protectors" there's a 6-outlet > power strip with noise filter and circuit breaker for $29.95. > > Over in computer accessories there's a 2-outlet power protector > with "full common and differential mode transient protection" > (What is that? A fancy way of saying voltage spikes?), noise > filtration and a MOV status lamp for $18.95. > > Comments? Horror stories? The idea of paying $70 for one of these things > at a "computer emporium" seems outrageous! Your're right; the prices of surge protectors are outrageous - especially when you find out how much the actual surge protector components really cost! Don't get ripped of - build your own surge protector. It's really simple, and the cost savings will astound you. The following is a description of how to build a surge protector which offers dual protection: (1) using MOV's (metal oxide varistor) and (2) using a gas discharge tube. You will need the following components, all manufactured by Siemens: 1 ea 3-electrode gas discharge surge protector, P/N T61-C350 $ 3.30 3 ea Metal oxide varistor, P/N S20K130 @ $ 0.82 $ 2.46 As you can see, your total cost for the protector elements is $ 5.76. Many major electronic distributors carry Siemens. Two examples are Hamilton-Avnet and Allied Electronics. Allied Electronics will sell the above mail order; they do have a minimum order of $ 25.00, but will fill an order less than $ 25.00 for a $ 5.00 handling charge - still not a bad deal if you can't figure out anything else to order. Allied has a national toll-free number of 800/433-5700. _______________ AC LINE HOT_______| 15 AMP FUSE |_____________________________OUTLETS HOT (black) |_____________| | | | (black) | | | MOV ___|___ | | | GAS | | EARTH GROUND_______________________|_________|PROT.| MOV (green) | | |_____| | |__OUTLETS GROUND | | | (green) MOV | | | | | AC LINE NEUTRAL____________________|____________|__________|__OUTLETS NEUTRAL (white) (white) The following design and construction notes apply: 1. "AC line hot" = black wire = duplex outlet narrow slot "AC line neutral" = white wire = duplex outlet wide slot "AC line ground" = green wire = duplex outlet round opening 2. Build the protector circuitry in a 2x4 electrical "handy box". Mount a fuseholder in the box for a 3AG 15 amp fuse, along with a terminal strip to facilitate mounting the circuit elements and making necessary connections. Cover the box with a blank cover plate. 3. Feed the box with a three-wire AC line cord of at least 16 AWG; use of 14 AWG is preferred. Connect a second cord to the box; this cord (which should be kept reasonably short) can feed a multiple-outlet plug strip. 4. As an alternative to a second cord, use one or more electrical pipe nipples and feed additional electrical boxes which contain duplex outlets (much less money than a plug strip, but not as "pretty" in appearance). If you use this method, run a wire to each outlet ground terminal instead of relying upon the the metal electrical box for the ground connection. 5. Use a common point attached to the first electrical box to connect all ground wires; a 10-32 machine screw through the box is good. This common point should terminate: the power cord ground (green), one end of two MOV's, the center electrode of the gas tube, and the outlet ground (green). 6. Insulate all leads of the MOV's and gas protector tube using plastic insulating sleeving. Use 14 AWG wire for any internal connections. If possible, use insulated crimp terminals for connections. Make certain that the MOV's and gas protector tube do not touch the metal box. 7. To assure maximim effectiveness of the protector circuitry, run a wire from a cold water pipe or ground rod and connect it to the case of the electrical box containing the MOV's and gas protector tube. Use at least 12 AWG for this wire; a smaller gauge wire will defeat the purpose. While running a separate ground is not essential, surge protector ciruitry is more effective with a lower impedance to earth ground. An auxiliary ground wire assures such a low ground impedance. 8. This box contains no "idiot lights", which are really unnecessary and are just a sales gimmick anyhow. Can you really imagine SEEING a < 10 ms energy pulse on a so-called "surge indicator" lamp? :-) I make no guarantee that the above circuit will protect your computer or other electronic equipment from anything. However, I can assure you that the above design (if properly constructed) represents a surge protector which is equal or superior to anything sold by Radio Shack or any other retail store. And the do-it-yourself price is MUCH LESS than any alternative. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York <> UUCP: {allegra|ames|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> VOICE: 716/688-1231 {hplabs|ihnp4|mtune|utzoo|uunet}!/ <> FAX: 716/741-9635 {G1,G2,G3 modes} "Have you hugged your cat today?"