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anonymous 7 January 2004

I know nothing about what one would need in the way of power amps, voltage regulators, batch pays, etc. I really don't even know what each of those do and how they should be used and when one would need them.

I have a Mac based set up and as the number of my components grow I'm guessing I need to start thinking of such things.

So do power amps take the voltage from the wall and then build it up to provide more power to your gear? Is a voltage regulator something different or is there an all in one solution for power, voltage regulation, and surge protection for a studio with a computer, monitors, and a couple pieces of outboard gear?

Any brand recommendations?

Thanks!

Comments

anonymous Wed, 01/07/2004 - 14:22

IMO, you're creating problems in advance by worrying over possibilities.

For your sensitive gear, the best power you can give it is an uninterruptable power supply (UPS), commonly found on computer systems. If you're total anal, look for an "online" system vs a "standby" type. Wall power goes into the battery pack, the battery pack powers an inverter which powers your computer. Online is 100% pure and has no switching latency.

IMO, being anal is overkill in this instance.

I'm in my 31st year in the computer industry now, and regular ol' APC Back-UPS, etc are just fine. If you want to worry, spend more time worrying about ESD (static discharge) and proper grounding.

You can calculate the average power draw of your equipment and compare it to your wall circuit. If insufficient, add another wall circuit.

anonymous Thu, 01/08/2004 - 09:16

A UPS provides power to the device when the wall power fails. It is a battery unit that stays charged while the wall power is active. The UPS will last X minutes before the batteries discharge. This is a function of the load, and the capacity of the UPS. More = more $$$

A UPS provides a side benefit of filtering the power received by your device. In the computer environment, you can read the log screens and see how much the power dips and spikes during a day. Clean power will keep your expensive DAW toys safer and away from power transients.

An online UPS is one where the power comes from the wall, into the battery, out of the battery to an inverter, then to your device. The wall powers the battery, the battery powers you. Since it is always on, it is called an "online" UPS.

The standby UPS is one that monitors the wall power, then very quickly switches over to battery power when the wall power fails. Switching is very fast, and perfectly acceptable to computer equipment, and also for your DAW stuff. Standby UPS are less expensive, and do the job just fine.

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