Topic: Detecting dirty power?

[Clark Kent]

Does anyone know how to test their electricity to see if it's dirty power?

[GE-Raven]

Get an UPS system?

You could buy a tool that lets you monitor voltage but to be honest they can be daunting (you like sticking electrodes in a wall socket?) to a beginner. 

If you have a friend with a UPS that allows a USB or Serial cable to send data to a machine, chances are (look on internet to make sure the model gives such info) you can DL software for free that will let you monitor the power via the UPS.

However if you have ANY concern of dirty power, I recommend you just buy a $70 personal UPS.  Well worth the investment if it saves you from even one power outage that would destroy data.

GE-Raven

[Tus-XC]

Does anyone know how to test their electricity to see if it's dirty power?

if you have speakers, just listen to those... every once and a while mine will start making wierd noises (this also happens to my alarm clock...)... best i can tell its from bad power going in... unless there is something else going on that i'm not aware of.

[Clark Kent]

Does anyone know how to test their electricity to see if it's dirty power?

if you have speakers, just listen to those... every once and a while mine will start making wierd noises (this also happens to my alarm clock...)... best i can tell its from bad power going in... unless there is something else going on that i'm not aware of.

My speakers will sometimes make some funny noises, but only in close proximity to my cell phone when it's on.  Let me ask you this: do you think that dirty power could cause multiple LCD screens on my laptop to go bad?

[Tus-XC]

how fast did the screens die?

[Clark Kent]

how fast did the screens die?

They didn't die, actually, over a few months parts of the screen gets dark on one side much more than the other side.  When I run at full brightness it goes away, but anything below full brightness and the problem shows more and more.

[Nemesis]

Get an UPS system?

I recommend that to everyone.  I found that my systems became noticeably more stable with the UPS and that took doing as they were more stable than the norm before adding the UPS. 

[Clark Kent]

so why are more expenive UPS versus a $30-40 one?

[Nemesis]

so why are more expenive UPS versus a $30-40 one?

Cheaper units protect versus large spikes and blackouts but don't condition the power against lesser deviations such as brownouts.  Your power sagging a few volts won't kick in the battery protection on cheaper units but will on quality ones. 

[Tus-XC]

how fast did the screens die?

They didn't die, actually, over a few months parts of the screen gets dark on one side much more than the other side.  When I run at full brightness it goes away, but anything below full brightness and the problem shows more and more.

interesting... bad ac should cause that, it would more likely fry componets with surges that the ps couldn't regulate well enough.  so how many displays have you gone through? they have a 3-4 life span, shorter if they get alot of use.

[Clark Kent]

how fast did the screens die?

They didn't die, actually, over a few months parts of the screen gets dark on one side much more than the other side.  When I run at full brightness it goes away, but anything below full brightness and the problem shows more and more.

interesting... bad ac should cause that, it would more likely fry componets with surges that the ps couldn't regulate well enough.  so how many displays have you gone through? they have a 3-4 life span, shorter if they get alot of use.

In three years I think the notebook LCD has had to have been replaced 5 times between 2 different notebooks

[Tus-XC]

i want to say that bad ac isn't your problem, i think there might be another underlying issue.  the only catch right now is what out side of bad ac can affect two different systems...    are the notebooks from the same mancufacture... if so do they share the same display model? 

[Clark Kent]

i want to say that bad ac isn't your problem, i think there might be another underlying issue.  the only catch right now is what out side of bad ac can affect two different systems...    are the notebooks from the same mancufacture... if so do they share the same display model? 

They were both apple iBook G4's.  To be honest, I'm not allowed to open the LCD to check my the model or manufacturer without voiding my warranty.  I have had a very difficult time finding anyone with a similar issue with these notebooks.

[Nemesis]

They didn't die, actually, over a few months parts of the screen gets dark on one side much more than the other side.  When I run at full brightness it goes away, but anything below full brightness and the problem shows more and more.

I'm not really very experienced with LCD screens but that sounds more like an issue with the backlight rather than power itself.  I wonder if this is a case of faulty design rather than power.

[Clark Kent]

It would be worth noting that any hardware tests that have been run by myself (techtool pro) by the apple store and by the apple repair store (don't know what those two use) have come up as negative.  It's a problem that's visually detectable when you look at the screen but any test that I've been told about doesn't seem to find what the problem is.