Surge protector/extension cord question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nola
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Nola

Nola

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Do surge protectors/extension cords drain power from our equipment?

Like say there's a PC, preamp, etc all in the same surge protector. Does this cause problems?
 
Only very long power cords can give a problem, over maybe 90 feet, but that loss is dependent on the load, so no worries there. I would not expect that a surge protector will cause any trouble. Why the question do you have issues?

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
Only very long power cords can give a problem, over maybe 90 feet, but that loss is dependent on the load, so no worries there. I would not expect that a surge protector will cause any trouble. Why the question do you have issues?

Alan.
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I have like 5 different things plugged into a surge protector, and I was reading about guitar amps today and came across something that mentioned and amp might not get the full power if it's plugged in with a lot of other gear. I was just wondering b/c of that really.

Thanks Alan
 
Nola said:
I have like 5 different things plugged into a surge protector, and I was reading about guitar amps today and came across something that mentioned and amp might not get the full power if it's plugged in with a lot of other gear. I was just wondering b/c of that really.

Thanks Alan
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Maybe if it was in a live gig situation there may be a power loss if the light show, PA and guitar amp were plugged into 1 outlet, but in the studio? No I don't think you will have any issues. If you are concerned bypass the surge protector with the guitar amp, it would have to be one hell of a surge to blow up a guitar amp.

For the record my band did a house concert last Saturday, we had 4 x 300watt par cans, a 200watt a side PA, a bass amp and a guitar amp and we had 1 power outlet. Now it was a quiet gig but there was no power loss and no hot power leads LOL. Note for the tech types, this was 240 volts as I am in OZ (actually in west OZ it's usually about 254 Volts :facepalm:), so the amps is different from the 120 volt US stuff, but it's all relevant.

Remember when the load is shown on the back of gear it relates to the load at full power, so if the guitar amp is running half volume the load is less.

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
Maybe if it was in a live gig situation there may be a power loss if the light show, PA and guitar amp were plugged into 1 outlet, but in the studio? No I don't think you will have any issues. If you are concerned bypass the surge protector with the guitar amp, it would have to be one hell of a surge to blow up a guitar amp.

For the record my band did a house concert last Saturday, we had 4 x 300watt par cans, a 200watt a side PA, a bass amp and a guitar amp and we had 1 power outlet. Now it was a quiet gig but there was no power loss and no hot power leads LOL. Note for the tech types, this was 240 volts as I am in OZ (actually in west OZ it's usually about 254 Volts :facepalm:), so the amps is different from the 120 volt US stuff, but it's all relevant.

Remember when the load is shown on the back of gear it relates to the load at full power, so if the guitar amp is running half volume the load is less.

Alan.
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Thanks Alan. That's a relief.

I also read that in the US at different times of day you'll have different current, so it might not always be 120v. Say you're recording at a busy time of day and an amp is only getting 110v, will that affect the tone?

Sorry of that's a dumb question.
 
Rarely exactly 120. I've got a device that regulates the power and has a display that shows the actual power coming out of the wall. Anywhere from 108 to 132 is normal (here at least) Just checked and it was 124. Most decently designed equipment will operate down to 100 or a little less. Over 130 should be clamped down, below 100 should be assisted. Look into a line conditioner if you would like "clean" current. Regardless of load (as long as you don't exceed the rating) a conditioner will give you stable 120 without spikes or dips.
 
I only have a UPS/power filter on the recorders and computers, amps just get plugged into the wall, to be honest there would have to be a lot wrong to upset a guitar amp.

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
I only have a UPS/power filter on the recorders and computers, amps just get plugged into the wall, to be honest there would have to be a lot wrong to upset a guitar amp.

Alan.
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Yes. Especially most tube amps...built like tanks. Attenuators actually take advantage of this. The tubes are designed to take huge fluctuations in power, so not a big problem with spikes either, unless it gets hit by a close lightning strike.
And yes, a UPS is a form of line conditioner. It's just that they allow a wider range of voltage through.
 
For the record (and just to be pedantic), voltage and current are two different things. Current is measured in amperes (amps) which is why the label on the back of your gear will likely say something like "3 amps at 120 volts".

As Broken_H said, the actual voltage is rarely dead on 120 (or 240 here in Australia) but modern gear can work with no problems (and no change in sound quality) over a fairly wide voltage range.

To be boring, electrical power is measured in watts and the formula for watts is volts x amps. So, if you have a 120 volt, 15 amp circuit, that means it can provide 1800 watts. Your 3 amp/120 volt piece of gear (the one I made up) needs 360 watts. If the voltage falls, to 110, the gear will use a fraction of an amp more and still get it's 360 watts.
 
Bobbsy said:
For the record (and just to be pedantic), voltage and current are two different things. Current is measured in amperes (amps) which is why the label on the back of your gear will likely say something like "3 amps at 120 volts".
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Why I mentioned amps (load) is that as the amps is increased the voltage loss over the cable increases, so if you had a 30 feet extension lead with 1 amp of load the voltage loss would be less than the same cable with 15amps of load.

Here is a calculator I found, by using it you will see that the voltage loss in what has been talked about is almost 0.

Alan.
 
Yes, I said clean current instead of clean power because two 'C's sounded catchier...:)
Most UPS are rated at XXX vA (volt amps) giving you a measure of how much they will supply when the power goes down. When hooking one up to save your computer information in case of a sustained blackout, don't forget to hook up a monitor. Common thing is to just protect the main unit as that will get you more time without failure. BUT, when the power stays off and the system fails, you couldn't see the screen to save your stuff. If you can afford to, buy a UPS (they're much cheaper) that will handle your computer and one monitor. Then buy a conditioner (will probably cost $4-500 for a decent one) and hook up all your out of the box gear and your powered studio monitors. You can hook it all up to the UPS (to save money), but the usefulness of the actual battery backup will be compromised.
 
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