Power Problem

[panteragstk]

I have a strange power problem. I think I know what the problem is, but have no clue as to how to fix it. My TV is a 42" Panasonic plasma that can consume up to 550w of power when a very white picture is displayed. My sagetv box only consumes about 200w so no issues with it. The problem comes when I try to play games on my TV with my gaming pc. It has a 650w psu and two 8800gt's with a core 2 running at about 2.8ghz and 4gig of memory. It shouldn't be consuming more than 450w at high load, but for some reason it is too much for my tv. My tv has a feature built in that won't let it turn on unless there is adequate power. If my gaming pc is on in the same room no dice. The tv refuses to power up. I purchased UPS's to see if that would help, but they didn't.

Any thoughts?

[stanger89]

Well first, do those UPSs have voltage regulation?

Second, sounds like you've got power problems on that circuit, or way, way to much stuff on it, if the voltage is dropping enough to cause your TV to shut off. You should look into putting the TV or the PC (or both) on a separate circuit. Do you know what else is on that circuit?

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Well first, do those UPSs have voltage regulation?

Second, sounds like you've got power problems on that circuit, or way, way to much stuff on it, if the voltage is dropping enough to cause your TV to shut off. You should look into putting the TV or the PC (or both) on a separate circuit. Do you know what else is on that circuit?

I've only lived in this house a month. The room I am in is on the second floor of the house and to my knowledge nothing other than what is described is on the circuit. I found that my TV shuts off because the ups I had it plugged into wasn't able to supply enough wattage to it. That seems odd, but that's what the APC site says. They do provide voltage regulation and I get a message about once a day saying that the ups had to intervene because of "Electrical noise." I need to get an electrician over here to see whats up. I checked all of the outlets in the house with my voltmeter when I moved in because I am picky about this stuff. I had the same setup in my old house and never had this problem.

I'm going to purchace a Furman balanced power unit that takes a 20 amp breaker and a voltage regulator and furman ups that is 1500va, but that is later down the road after I get the rest of my room set up.

What do you think the problem could be?

[phocker]

There is no way that those two items would be causing problem even on a 15 amp circuit. Get an electrician over there to check the line. Or get a voltometer and do it yourself.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I've only lived in this house a month. The room I am in is on the second floor of the house and to my knowledge nothing other than what is described is on the circuit. I found that my TV shuts off because the ups I had it plugged into wasn't able to supply enough wattage to it. That seems odd, but that's what the APC site says. They do provide voltage regulation and I get a message about once a day saying that the ups had to intervene because of "Electrical noise." I need to get an electrician over here to see whats up. I checked all of the outlets in the house with my voltmeter when I moved in because I am picky about this stuff. I had the same setup in my old house and never had this problem.

Try pulling the UPS, or plugging the TV into the non battery side of it.

I'm going to purchace a Furman balanced power unit that takes a 20 amp breaker and a voltage regulator and furman ups that is 1500va, but that is later down the road after I get the rest of my room set up.

That is way overkill, 90% of that power "conditioning" stuff is a crock IMO.

What do you think the problem could be?

Check the voltage while you've got the TV and PC on. it sounds like the voltage is dropping when you do that causing the UPS to kick in/shut down. That shouldn't be a problem on a properly-functioning circuit. If the voltage is dropping when you do that, then you definitely want an electrician over, something's wrong with the wiring on that circuit.

[Menehune]

I would test the voltage at the wall outlet with nothing on and then with the TV only, Sage PC only, then with both PCs on. The voltage should not be below 100Vac (110vac-10%). Personally, I want to see less than 5% voltage drop.

If the line voltage is below 100vac there is a problem with the circuit. It could be an undersized wire, bad wall outlet, loose screw in the breaker box or wall outlet. Have the electrician check the outlets as well-some electricians use the crappy "press in" terminals in the back of the outlet instead of the screw terminals. The spring contacts loosen over time and can cause overheating and a possible fire if the outlet is heavily loaded.

There are testers available to tell the electrician if the conductors are undersized and what the voltage drop of the fully loaded circuit will be.

[panteragstk]

Well, takning my ups off of my tv has solved the turning off problem, but the problem with the tv refusing to turn on because it isn't receiving adequate wattage is still there. This sitiuation presented itself in both of my houses not just my new one. Every outlet in the room checks out fine with my voltmeter. I guess my tv just requires a crapload of power to turn on. It only consumes about 250W while it is on, but i guess it requires more to turn on initially. Very odd. I'm going to contact panasonic to see if they can tell me anything.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Well, takning my ups off of my tv has solved the turning off problem, but the problem with the tv refusing to turn on because it isn't receiving adequate wattage is still there. This sitiuation presented itself in both of my houses not just my new one.

I suspect your TV is broken then.

Every outlet in the room checks out fine with my voltmeter.

Is that while/when the TV is (failing to) turning on?

I guess my tv just requires a crapload of power to turn on. It only consumes about 250W while it is on, but i guess it requires more to turn on initially. Very odd.

Unless it requires 2KW to start up, then it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm going to contact panasonic to see if they can tell me anything.

Something sounds very wrong with your TV.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I suspect your TV is broken then.



Is that while/when the TV is (failing to) turning on?



Unless it requires 2KW to start up, then it shouldn't be a problem.



Something sounds very wrong with your TV.

I would be inclined to agree, but the problem never presents itself unless my gaming pc is on in the room. Other than that there are no issues whatsoever with my tv. Also, this problem occured on other panasonic tv's when I was selling them and we had WAY to many tv's on one breaker (circuitcity doesn't have the best electrical system). If we shut off a few tv's then the panasonics would turn on. No other brand does this, and if we turned the panasonics on first we had no issues. I read in my manual that if the power light blinks a certian patter then it means the tv doesn't like the power and won't turn on to protect itself. My tv isn't defective, it just has a feature that makes it very picky. I just don't understand how I don't have enough power for it. I suspect it may be a bug in the tv that rarly presents itself. It is still frustrating.

Anybody know where I can find a meter that will measure power draw?

Thanks for the insight btw.

[stanger89]

http://www.p3international.com/produ.../P4400-CE.html

Only real limitation is it's got about a 1/2 to 1 second refresh time, so it won't catch really fast transients, but you'd need really expensive equipment to do that.

[panteragstk]

Thanks. I'm sure I will add this to my equipment list. I need to contact my old panny rep to see if he can offer some insight into this problem.