Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango
SO...
I have iffy power at my house. Somewhat rural, above ground wires, etc. Bad wiring from the previous owners remodel.
I'll be having some rewiring done soon to smooth things out but here's my question:
I just purchased a plasma, gets delivered Wednesday. I passed on by any sort of power conditioning for the time being. Are the Monster and similar boxes for $200-300 worth it? I appreciate the difference between conditioning versus simple protection but...
I won't be buying a true power plant ala PS, too much cash.
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The people on this forum mostly disdain UPS (uninterruptable power supplies), but you may want to consider one under your circumstances. When we lived in the Mohave Desert the power would go off and on rapidly when there was a storm. I can not think of anything more harmful to electronic equipment, except possibly going swimming with it.
A UPS will cut in fast enough to keep your equipment powered up for awhile. They can also do a basic job "smoothing" out both the power power spikes. They are not power conditioners and will not show you a perfect waveform, but at this they are no really worse than what your power company probably gives you anyway!
A UPS can also allow you to keep recording a show on your DVD recorder when the power drops out for a short period of time, very valuable in our household.
Anyway, consider both alternatives. If you get a UPS make sure it can handle the current drain from your equipment. Add up the watts from your tv, cable or satellite box, and DVD player/recorder and increase the total by at least 50%. Meaning if your equipment draws a total of 600 watts, then make sure your UPS can provide 900 watts. Usually the UPS have deceptively high sounding ratings, so look in the manual for the real capacity.
Mine was on sale for under 3 bills and can actually do 1200 watts for 20 minutes, not bad!
Ed, a desert dweller moved north to Sacramento!