Voltage regulators?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Erock
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what an awesome unit. I think it found a problem in my house wiring that I'm going to look at. While watching its front panel, and using a brown box, I could see my wall voltage swing, while the BB stayed a constant 118V(one increment down). I saw my wall swing between 115V and 123V, but my BB stayed a constant 117-118V. I realized someone was using the microwave in the kitchen when I saw 115V, which affected my wall voltage on a different breaker. That isn't good, I think I have an issue at my panel, like a loose neutral or something, so I'm calling an electrician.
Wonder if you have shared neutrals at your house like I do mine… mine was built in the late 50s and many of my circuits use a common neutral, which caused all sorts of fun when running big draw stuff (or getting whacked when you swap outlets even if the breaker is “shut off”.

At some point I will have my walls cut up and have it all replaced. Apparently it was ok to do that back in the day.
 
Wonder if you have shared neutrals at your house like I do mine… mine was built in the late 50s and many of my circuits use a common neutral, which caused all sorts of fun when running big draw stuff (or getting whacked when you swap outlets even if the breaker is “shut off”.

At some point I will have my walls cut up and have it all replaced. Apparently it was ok to do that back in the day.
I have the same exact situation in my house. Not looking forward rewiring mine. We learned all sorts of neat and interesting things when we had to wire a sub panel just to install our central A/C.

Gonna be a nightmare. I use a Tripplite on everything critical, and the go to regulation and conditioning right after. Keep everything isolated, seems to work well enough for me.

But I don't record, Or use a daw, that would probably drive me insane, with the noise.
 
I have the same exact situation in my house. Not looking forward rewiring mine. We learned all sorts of neat and interesting things when we had to wire a sub panel just to install our central A/C.

Gonna be a nightmare. I use a Tripplite on everything critical, and the go to regulation and conditioning right after. Keep everything isolated, seems to work well enough for me.

But I don't record, Or use a daw, that would probably drive me insane, with the noise.
My noise isn't terrible, but I'm also not doing a bunch of crazy things in the house most of the time as it's just myself and my girlfriend. But before I got newer AC units that use an inverter, lights across the house would dim every time the compressors kicked on, even in other parts of the house. But yeah when I redo my music room, I probably should get a UPS/real regulator for my audio interface and Mac. I was always told buying a home would be fun... LOL
 
My noise isn't terrible, but I'm also not doing a bunch of crazy things in the house most of the time as it's just myself and my girlfriend. But before I got newer AC units that use an inverter, lights across the house would dim every time the compressors kicked on, even in other parts of the house. But yeah when I redo my music room, I probably should get a UPS/real regulator for my audio interface and Mac. I was always told buying a home would be fun... LOL
Same. Parents used a massive window shaker that probably should have caused an electrical fire.

Luckily we were able to help her upgrade.

Its a family farm that has been handed down over the generations, all built by family...so only my relatives to blame.

Electrician said something to the effect that the split main breakers were dangerous in some capacity, but we don't use this the unintended way...so I assured him I wouldn't do anything silly.

He did say our panel was actually good, and well maintained, so that was refreshing. I remember paying an insane amount for a NOS double breaker, like over $100.

I am not looking forward to spending more on this damn house. We have entertained the thought of demolition, and start over, but damn....who wants to do that?🤮
 
Same. Parents used a massive window shaker that probably should have caused an electrical fire.

Luckily we were able to help her upgrade.

Its a family farm that has been handed down over the generations, all built by family...so only my relatives to blame.

Electrician said something to the effect that the split main breakers were dangerous in some capacity, but we don't use this the unintended way...so I assured him I wouldn't do anything silly.

He did say our panel was actually good, and well maintained, so that was refreshing. I remember paying an insane amount for a NOS double breaker, like over $100.

I am not looking forward to spending more on this damn house. We have entertained the thought of demolition, and start over, but damn....who wants to do that?🤮
Yeah, the problem these days is all the new builds are garbage... so you pay a ridiculous amount for a house built with shit materials and shit craftsmanship... unless you plan on building it all yourself.
 
Yeah, the problem these days is all the new builds are garbage... so you pay a ridiculous amount for a house built with shit materials and shit craftsmanship... unless you plan on building it all yourself.
That's what I am saying.

Especially considering that the original house was framed with wood that the family milled themselves. The wood in this place cannot be matched these days ...so yeah. Gonna be a fun mid 50s when I can actually afford to do anything about it. 🤣
 
I've heard about "stepped AC" and how some of these products generate it, and how it could be bad for equipment over the long term. Is there any truth to that, and do any of these regulators talked about here deliver that to gear?
 
You could just regulate it yourself. From the wall outlet I use a furman power factor pro going into a variac with a digital voltage display to the amp. Check the display once in a while to make sure it's running 117v. Bias your amps @117 and you're good to go.
 
You could just regulate it yourself. From the wall outlet I use a furman power factor pro going into a variac with a digital voltage display to the amp. Check the display once in a while to make sure it's running 117v. Bias your amps @117 and you're good to go.

I think the issue is that they don't want to have to check. They just want the unit to do the work so they don't have to think about it.

At least that's how I'd feel about it if I went to the trouble of setting up any kind of power regulation system.
 
You should get the one bonamassa is always talking about, kikusui is the brand i think, and the one he uses is only $20,000!
 
Wonder if you have shared neutrals at your house like I do mine… mine was built in the late 50s and many of my circuits use a common neutral, which caused all sorts of fun when running big draw stuff (or getting whacked when you swap outlets even if the breaker is “shut off”.

At some point I will have my walls cut up and have it all replaced. Apparently it was ok to do that back in the day.
yeah bud, I'm over in coldbrook, so it's the same 50's post war construction. My house has a combination of the 2 and 3 conductor with neutral. I bet I'm running into the same common neutral you have.

Noise is excellent with this unit though. It has outs for high amperage, analog, and digital, which have specific filtering and sequencing. The rig is dead quiet with everything separated using this unit. You need to come check it out some time man.
 
I've heard about "stepped AC" and how some of these products generate it, and how it could be bad for equipment over the long term. Is there any truth to that, and do any of these regulators talked about here deliver that to gear?
I think you run into that more with DC to AC inverters used with UPS, as a lot of people use those as a regulators too. I believe some are advertised as Pure waveform as well. None of them I saw could regulate under +/- 5V, so didn't work for my application.

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I think you run into that more with DC to AC inverters used with UPS, as a lot of people use those as a regulators too. I believe some are advertised as Pure waveform as well. None of them I saw could regulate under +/- 5V, so didn't work for my application.

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Ok thanks, this is exactly what I was wanting to know, that this mostly happens with UPS devices that convert battery power back to AC and not standard voltage regulators.
 
I managed to find a 10% off coupon + no taxes on a Black Lion Audio PG-2R through Perfect Circuit.

It was backordered for like a month but got it for $1079 total.
So are your amps running quieter using this? I got the furman power factor pro and my amps are as loud as ever. The power at my house is atrocious.
 
So are your amps running quieter using this? I got the furman power factor pro and my amps are as loud as ever. The power at my house is atrocious.
Amps close to the furman p-2400AR I have tend to hum a bit more. The closer the amp is to the power source the more noise there is for me
 
So are your amps running quieter using this? I got the furman power factor pro and my amps are as loud as ever. The power at my house is atrocious.
So my issue isn't noise levels but actually inconsistent voltage.

The circuit all my gear is on is pretty crowded and averages only like 110v with swings down to 105v.

So the regulator helps keep it at 120v that amps are designed for.
 
Tripp Lite on Amazon
I got this for $165. It keeps the voltage at 120V. I can hear it click on when it's correcting the voltage, like when I turn on a high-wattage amp or computer.
A lot of people have posted this unit, but it's not going to work for a lot of people. It passes through anything 114V to 127V, so it won't even start regulating for most people unless the power is WAY off. Not dissin though, appreciate the suggestion man.

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So are your amps running quieter using this? I got the furman power factor pro and my amps are as loud as ever. The power at my house is atrocious.
I know you weren't asking me, but once I separated everything out to their specific outputs using this unit, my rig got dead quiet. Very impressed with its noise filtering. I was using the WAudio conditioner before, and it's noticeably quieter.
 
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