Can a good PSU absorb surges and low voltages ?

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HIKMA2015

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Jan 27, 2015
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In my area and due to seasonal storms we have frequent brownouts. I lost many cheap generic PSU’s because of power fluctuations. Now not only do I have a high end PSU but also matching components which I cannot risk leaving without some sort of protection by a regulator.
My question is: Can my SeaSonic X Series X-850 M3 protect itself and consequently my other components i.e. can it do the job of a regulator and defends my PC and itself as the first line of defence, against surges and brownouts and such hazards?

 
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Can my SeaSonic X Series X-850 M3 protect itself and consequently my other components i.e. can it do the job of a regulator and defends my PC and itself as the first line of defence, against surges and brownouts and such hazards?

As good as any PSU can. They can only take so much though.

Sounds like you need a good UPS.
 
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nope, at the best it can only protect the other component, but sacrificing it self...
(usually it will also take some other parts with it)

A good UPS is must, I recommend APC ones..

personal preference/experience since i also live at place with unstable power lines..
already cost me few mobo, vga, memory, lots of hdd...
before a go all out and buy good UPS... (expensive but worth it)

 
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A PSU can hold disturbances but not much.
It does not matter how good the PSU is.
You need an UPS system with excellent surge protection, if you have bad disturbances.
Or, just a normal UPS but you then must buy surge protection devices to protect both the UPS and the PC.
Be careful, lightning surges during storm come not only via power cable but also via your internet cable, telephone cable, etc. You can find products for those too.
Up to certain disturbance level, products you can find freely on the market can handle things but....
if you have serious surge issues, finding local experts is highly recommended.
You might even need to renew your lightning rod system, etc.

 
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Thank you very much rdc85
I don’t know how to put it in technical terms, but what happens frequently is this: After a moderate storm, we find the ceiling fans going very slow. My PC shuts down and restarts without booting. The florescent lamps flicker emitting low light and then peak to normal for two seconds. The refrigerator does not work. I don’t know if that is what is known as a brownout but surges are rare and we take precautions when we expect them.
My question is: if this is the case, do I still need a surge protector? Can this fluctuation damage my PSU? Can an APC regulator do something about it?

 
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Doesn't sound like a surge. ASounds like the street violtage is dropping. Does this happen with the neighbours too?

Are you in a storm prone area?

In the US you are already running at near the bottom of the PSU input range (100-250v). Below this the PSU should just cut out.

PSUs are killed by spikes eg lighting strikes on power lines. In this case you need a surge protector. Else you will damage your PSU.
 
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Thanks i7Baby!
My main concern is protecting my hardware. I don’t do any urgent work with
my PC I use it as a pastime I won’t touch it when I expect danger but these low voltages are not predictable . So please i7Baby I want to be reassured that this
Voltage dropping won’t harm my PSU? Can you positively confirm that?

 
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Thanks again i7Baby!
I am reassured, but my friend who lives near a welding workshop complains of something similar to voltage droppings. His PC restarts every time the welder is in action. He lost many PSU’s that way. Is my case different? Or is SeaSonic X Series X-850 M3 better than his generic PSU’s in this respect?
As I stated earlier I lost many PSU’s attributing that to power fluctuations. Now I know the quality of the cheap generic PSU’s is to blame because I noticed that they all explode after 3 months of heavy use. I don’t think the SeaSonic will behave similarly after all the reviews I read and the money I paid for it.
 
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Low voltage is not harmful to electronics. Low voltage is potentially harmful to motorized appliances. So the utility either maintains voltage or disconnects service - to protect refrigerators, air conditioners, etc.

You are asking about a UPS to cure symptoms. That is wrong. Those symptoms, in rare cases, can be reporting a serious human safety issue. Get the wiring fixed. Either the AC utility has a serious defect. Or even worse, your household wiring is a potential house fire.

Your best diagnostic tool is an incandescent bulb. It should never change intensity - especially when major appliances power cycle. Use that bulb to confirm all branch circuits are operating properly - to identify which or if all are showing a defect. That bulb must remain at constant intensity or power off when the utility cannot maintain voltage.

PSUs are not damaged by low voltage. To get useful replies, take the dead body to someone informed - who can identify the failed part inside those PSUs. Best evidence comes from that dead body. If AC electricity is causing PSU damage, then something far more serious than a low voltage exists.

And again - never cure symptoms. Fix the defect.

 
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about welder, small hand welder can drain thousand of watt when turned on (surge), not mention industrial one
(we here at office also use both welder u can see the voltage dropping even we have industrial class power) ..

normally low voltage won't harm electronic especially if your psu have active pfc (100-240v)..
but in real life the drop in voltage also come with unsteady power, if u have stabilizer u can see it will go up and down haha,..
surge sometime also happen..

nothing we can do about it, maybe we call power company/electrician to check our house power installation,
since bad wiring can also contribute...

UPS can help to some extend..

as westom said it's not a cure, it just help relief the symptom and adding protection..
since some UPS is indeed designed to protect and handling bad power input...
(your ups fail or sacrificed before effect other component)


 
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Assumed is that all anomalies are addressed by a UPS. Most UPSes only cut off AC mains; provide power from a battery when AC voltage remains too low for too long. That battery power is some of the 'dirtiest' seen in a building.

A typical UPS does nothing for harmonics. reversed polarity, normal voltage variations that cause incandescent bulbs to significantly vary intensity, frequency variations, open neutral, spikes, floating ground, and many other anomalies. Other solutions address them.

A 120 volt pure sine wave UPS in battery backup mode outputs 200 volt square waves with a spike of up to 270 volts. Perfectly good power for electronics due to superior protection provided by PSUs.

Anything that sacrifices itself provides no protection. Often a surge, too tiny to overwhelm that superior protection inside appliances, will also destroy a near zero protector. That 'sacrifice' gets naive consumers to recommend that near zero device. If the device does protection, then it does not fail.

Which anomaly does a UPS protect from? Blackout. All low voltages are not destructive to electronic appliances. A UPS provides temporary and 'dirty' power so that unsaved data can be saved.

UPS may need protection so as to not sacrifice itself on a transient too tiny to damage other electronic appliances. That protection involves a completely different solution that typically costs about $1 per protected appliance.
 
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That's correct, The reason I recommend APC UPS, because i have tried 3-4 brands (local respectable, some Chinese/unknown) and varied VA/capacity.. the local one sometimes will work as it should sometimes it don't....
wasted lots of money before I go all out and buy APC ones (3x price of local, even smaller capacity)..
It's kinda same with PSU, don't go cheap on this...

It's protect me from brownout, low voltage, sudden on off (yup it happen, damn the power company), and blackout..
don't know/sure about surge or lightning, I haven't check it out..

For our office the UPS helps when heavy machinery turn on, welders included, where sudden voltage drop for a moment, also when we using generator for blackout (very dirty power), well nothing is broken so far,

btw, all ups is normal non on-line, non-pure sine wave one.. those still out of our reach..
(extremely high price haha)
 
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A UPS switching to battery does not mean low voltage exists. Does an incandescent bulb dim at anytime during the day? It must dim noticeably before a UPS switches to battery. However UPSes are typically made a cheap as possible. Noise (ie from a welder) can trigger battery backup mode even though voltage is just fine - ie light bulb does not dim.

You will never know if a power supply protects from surges. Since protection means nobody knows a surge (ie lighting) exists. A damaged power supply could be a manufacturing defect. Or a surge was so large as to overwhelm standard PSU protection. Better informed consumers earth a 'whole house' protector to avert such damage.
.
 
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well the low voltage indeed happening, we use combination of UPS and voltage regulator (stavol/stabilizer)..
we know when low voltage happening and how unstable power here... 😀

that's why same as PSU, don't go cheap with UPS, some low cost UPS don't have protection benefit at all...

edit: all ups have build in voltage regulator..
(it kinda redundant to use external voltage regulator, if u think of it..)...
 
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Read its specification numbers. A plug-in UPS claims protection ... that is near zero. Protection in a typical PSU is more robust. In fact, a near zero surge that can overwhelm protection inside a UPS is often converted by the PSU into rock soild low voltage DC to power its semiconductors. What is often hyped as a surge is also converted by a PSU into well regulated DC voltages.

UPS is temporary and 'dirty' power. Due to superior regulation already inside power supplies, that 'dirty' power is perfectly good.

If power is varying that much (and laws say it must not), then be concerned for protecting 'at risk' appliances such as refrigerators, fans, air conditioner, and furnace.

If utility voltage is fine but dimming only occurs inside, that is a wiring defect that in rare cases is also reporting a serious human safety defect. In one venue, they ignored the dimming. Fortunately nobody was home when it exploded.

 
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