Power supply issues

[Gordon1985]

I have recently adapted my live electronic rig into a studio with the addition of a computer and some other bits and pieces. Everything runs well until i turn on my synth rack, doing so causes my computer to switch off. I built the computer myself and i have it running off a 600w power supply, I have checked it over and everything seems fine so I am assuming it is turning off due to a power surge of some sort.

I have 2 power outlets in the room and each one has a 10 way surge protection tower, 16 of these sockets are taken up with various pieces of hardware. I have tried running an extension from other power outlets in the house and only one socket, in a different room, enables everything to work. The wiring in the house is a ring circuit, i don't really know what that means but it might be of some use. I will run my computer from a different outlet if it's my only option but I would rather have everything running from the same room.

Does anyone have an idea as to why this is happening or as to what I can do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[witzendoz]

I would get an electrician to check out the wiring, and maybe put in more power outlets.

Alan.

 

[Doctor Varney]

I'll second that. Definitely a job for a qualified electrician.

 

[dgatwood]

I have recently adapted my live electronic rig into a studio with the addition of a computer and some other bits and pieces. Everything runs well until i turn on my synth rack, doing so causes my computer to switch off. I built the computer myself and i have it running off a 600w power supply, I have checked it over and everything seems fine so I am assuming it is turning off due to a power surge of some sort.

Is it tripping a breaker, or is the computer just turning itself off? Do you see a huge power sag (lights dimming) when you turn on the rack? If you turn the computer on after the rack, does everything work?

If the computer works as long as you turn it on last, what you have is an inrush problem. The rack is drawing too much power momentarily—not enough to trip a breaker or blow a fuse, but just long enough to cause the computer's power supply to give up. If that's the case, I'd be inclined to fix it by either switching to a different power supply (with bigger filter capacitors) or adding a UPS.

It is also remotely possible to have an inrush problem caused by a USB or FireWire device drawing too much power from a port. In most modern computers, that results in the port getting shut down, but in some cases, it can cause the computer itself to shut down. If a UPS doesn't help, try unplugging any USB or FireWire cables from the rack to your computer and see if the problem goes away. If it does, either one of your devices or your computer's power supply is probably malfunctioning (and my money would be on the latter).

If you're blowing breakers or if the computer doesn't work while the rack is on, then either the rack is shorting some USB or FireWiire power pin to ground (bad hardware) or you have a major brownout condition. You can rule out the first one by unplugging all the cables between the computer and the rack; if the problem goes away, there's probably bad USB or FireWire hardware involved. If it keeps happening, contact an electrician.

 

[Gordon1985]

Is it tripping a breaker, or is the computer just turning itself off? Do you see a huge power sag (lights dimming) when you turn on the rack? If you turn the computer on after the rack, does everything work?

If the computer works as long as you turn it on last, what you have is an inrush problem. The rack is drawing too much power momentarily—not enough to trip a breaker or blow a fuse, but just long enough to cause the computer's power supply to give up. If that's the case, I'd be inclined to fix it by either switching to a different power supply (with bigger filter capacitors) or adding a UPS.

It is also remotely possible to have an inrush problem caused by a USB or FireWire device drawing too much power from a port. In most modern computers, that results in the port getting shut down, but in some cases, it can cause the computer itself to shut down. If a UPS doesn't help, try unplugging any USB or FireWire cables from the rack to your computer and see if the problem goes away. If it does, either one of your devices or your computer's power supply is probably malfunctioning (and my money would be on the latter).

If you're blowing breakers or if the computer doesn't work while the rack is on, then either the rack is shorting some USB or FireWiire power pin to ground (bad hardware) or you have a major brownout condition. You can rule out the first one by unplugging all the cables between the computer and the rack; if the problem goes away, there's probably bad USB or FireWire hardware involved. If it keeps happening, contact an electrician.

Thanks very much for the help!

I proceeded to run down the list of possible issues that you thought might be the problem and I couldn't quite see anything that was wrong, until i remembered the USB issue. I didn't have any cables running from my rack to my PC but I do have a small powered USB hub. I turned it off, pulled out the plug and hey presto! Everything is working perfectly!

It was one of those ultra cheap hubs from eBay so I'm not missing out on much by not having it, especially as my desktop has 6 USB 3.0 ports and 4 USB 2.0 ports.

I am so over the moon with this! The thought of having to fork out a large sum of money to get an electrician out was getting to me!

Again, I cant thank you all for the advice.

Cheers!