Power Supply Story

[RW James]

Every now and then there are questions here about the need for power conditioners and/or surge protectors.

Here is a story about the need for these things.

Here in Carson City we have a small restaurant that closes off the street every other Friday night through the summer and has an outdoor concert/dance. June 1 was the first night this year. A storm moved through town during the day, but began clearing in the evening - everything looked good to go. The band set up and started playing. But the storm was still going a few miles away. Anyway, somewhere else on the grid, lightning hit, and a surge went though the whole city. The surge went through whatever protection the band had and one guitar amp, the bass amp, and one of the PA amps all went up in sparks and smoke. Concert over.

This is an extreme example... and they did have moderate protection - which is probably more than most of us. But even small bumps in the power can damage your electronics. It just makes sense to protect your gear as well as you can. If you spent a few thousand for amps and effects, why not spend a hundred for protection?

[lex666]

Just curious, did the band have any type of protection?



I mean surge protection! I wonder how much a $15 surge protector would have helped... (cuz thats what I'm using)

[GuitarStv]

When I was a kid my dad got us a big television - no power bar. Less than a year later we had a lightning strike to our house that fried the TV. We've used surge protectors on ANY electrical equipment that we value from then on . . . it sure sucks to learn the hard way. . .

[RW James]

Just curious, did the band have any type of protection?



I mean surge protection! I wonder how much a $15 surge protector would have helped... (cuz thats what I'm using)

As I understand it, they did have a fairly sophisticated protection device (more than $15 power strip).

I use Furman's that run about $50, and I don't think they would protect me from a surge like that. But I was getting small bumps that were resetting some of my pedal effects - very frustrating in the middle of a song - and the Furman stops that kind of activity.

The more complicated your electronics, the more the need for this kind of protection.

I work in a building with the state's mainframe computer, and we have two huge rooms dedicated to the power supply - one is just a large machine that conditions the power, one room holds banks of wet cell batteries that can run the mainframe for 10 minutes, and outside we have a huge diesel generator. We're getting a backup to this system, because even all this can't protect us from everything.

So you have to decide how much protection you can reasonably afford - and how much you can afford to lose.

[lex666]

Well, I hope I never have a big surge like that...

Does anyone know if a power strip plugged into a surge suppressor would still work effectively enuff to stop a spike?

[Skarekrough]

This is an extreme example... and they did have moderate protection - which is probably more than most of us. But even small bumps in the power can damage your electronics. It just makes sense to protect your gear as well as you can. If you spent a few thousand for amps and effects, why not spend a hundred for protection?

The problem with trying to dictate things in gigging is that often times you don't get that luxury. You'll encounter situations where the only power source you have is a single three-prong outlet where the ground isn't hooked up to anything and the other outlet is being used for the neon "Coors Light" sign that has been deemed as "mandatory" by the bar manager.

I tend to just buy power strips with surge protectors built into it as well as guaranteeing a certain cash amount of insurance for replacement if damage does happen.

I know Belkin does this. If my home entertainment center gets hit and the Belkin fails I'll have ten grand to spend on some new hardware.

The ones I gig with has the date on them that the warranty expires and I toss them after that date and buy new ones.