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Low voltage causing this?

bagmanbagman Posts: 14
edited May 2008 in PA General Discussion
Just got back from the worst event in my life. This was a hall I had never worked in before and not sure if the place may have caused this with a voltage issue or my DRPA is simply defective. Several times during the evening my DRPA suddenly went into reboot mode...which as you all know caused a major POP over the system as well as a near heart attack to me and essentially destroyed the dance. The DRPA is less than a year old and has NEVER failed me for a second (worked perfect last weekend) until tonight. We did check all connections and no issues there at all. I am running a Furman PL PLUS (with the voltage meter display) and noticed that the voltage was well under 120 all night. Near the end of the evening I watched the voltage drop under 110 and right after that another reboot/reset of the DRPA occured. The DRPA didnt go black...the screen just went blank and scrolled the data like it does at start up. NONE of my other equipment in the rack ever blinked a bit all night. Im running 3 QSCs and my Yamaha mixer off the PL PLUS as well.

Is the DRPA very voltage sensitive?? Would this low voltage cause it to reboot like this occasionally or does it seem like the unit itself may be defective in some way? I will be setting my system up in my garage tomorrow to see if the voltage issue in that building was perhaps the culprit. Bottom line...I can ill afford to be blowing out speakers and/or ruining events like this. Any thoughts or insight would be appreciated.

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    GadgetGadget Posts: 4,915
    Yes the Driverack... being a digital piece is susceptible to brownouts... you haven't gotten a UPS yet? You need to have one for the DRPA...PERIOD... It will prevent the shutdown, and the pop. If the Driverack is in the amp rack...that is where the greatest draw, and the greatest potential FOR a voltage drop shutdown. Make sure that the DR has a good outlet, and if you have 3 QSC amps you need a suitable feeder with enough current capability to run the amps and the system. This isn't gonna happen on a 16 gage cable running 50 feet! Especially if you have lights! Lights should be on a separate circuit!!!!! Take the amperage rating of each amp and add them together and you'll soon see that a 240 volt 50 amp circuit would be best! I run on a double 50 amp with 4 feet of 1 gage direct to the 50 amp range plug...that is for a house system of some 12,000 watts (not including lights...). Power is most likely your problem...the amps are not so susceptible to the voltage drop ... but BEWARE.. a brown out could fry your speakers if the amps starve for power... One other possibility... is the amp rack right next to speakers... I mean is it being subjected to a lot of vibration? This can also cause problems...usually only with the display however but I have had comments that if placed on or right next to subs screamin that... well it can cause problems...

    gadget
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    bagmanbagman Posts: 14
    Thanks for the feedback. First let me say there were NO lights being run at this event. I am always careful to run lights on a seperate circuit when I use them. I dont use 16ga power cords for anything...never would. My primary power cords are 12ga and never a run of more than 25ft if I can help it. I dont think it was a vibration issue either as the final reset/reboot of the DRPA occured when the music was NOT being played and shortly after I saw the voltage drop under 110 on the meter. I will certainly look into a UPS unit. Is there a certain make/model you suggest?? Thanks again.
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    DraDra Posts: 3,777
    The manual states 100 voltz as the minimum, but you said it only got just below 110, is that right. Any UPS that is computer quality will do. Office Max or the like have them for $25-$30. The rack mountable ones are nice but very expensive.
    Some older buildings have electrical problems. The plugs are worn out, causing arc jumps that cause voltage spikes and drops.

    DRA
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    bagmanbagman Posts: 14
    The voltage got just below 110 at just one point in the evening. Most of the time it was between 110-120 so I was wondering just how voltage sensitive the unit was. My Furman has a meter with a red/yellow/green LED scale as well as the voltage number. It was generally just on the edge of caution level all night but only fell into the caution level (under 110) the one time. The DRPA dropped out on me SEVERAL times. Hopefully the UPS unit will prevent this from happening again. Whats the lifespan of these battery backups? Are they rechargeable?
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    GadgetGadget Posts: 4,915
    First off I bet the voltage sensing circuit isn't fast enough to catch transient peaks... in either direction.

    As for the UPS, yes it will constantly monitor it's own charge and keep itself up to snuff and ready. The smaller ones won't run the Driverack for long, 5-10 minutes, but all it takes is a few seconds usually. In a power outage situation the UPS only needs to maintain the power amps till amps are shut down. When the voltage falls below a certain point the UPS will take over (and a tone will sound). Shut down the amps if the power is out and then the DRPA. Then the UPS ...

    I have had one running for about 4 years now...still works fine...

    Gadget
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    Fanman20Fanman20 Posts: 223
    \"and keep itself up to snuff and ready\"

    ??? What the heck ???

    Mark :lol: :? :shock:
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    GadgetGadget Posts: 4,915
    Hello mate!

    What is it you seem to be confused about here? I think the statement is pretty self explanatory, but I'll have another go at it... :lol:

    I did make an error...A 300 volt amp (read that cheap, under $40) UPS will run the DRPA for up to 3 hours...Even if you had a DR 260 and a laptop it would run for about an hour... a tower with a 300 watt PS would run for less than an hour...

    What I was referring to is the batteries inside the un-interruptible power supply are charged, and maintained internally...There is also voltage sensing and dc to ac inverters(turns DC voltage to AC voltage). When the UPS is called into action as in a power failure, it switches the input power from the Edison outlet to that of the battery/inverter circuit. The load on the UPS is directly proportional to the battery drain and as such, a device like the DRPA that has a 25 watt draw will run for a good long time. (as delineated above... but again your mileage may vary...) HOWEVER... hook up the amps... (DON\"T) and it will barely even turn on before it is exhausted... in short it's NOT designed to do that kind of duty, so don't even entertain the idea...and units that COULD are far too expensive to comprehend...(and you'd need a truck to HOUSE, and transport them) :twisted:

    So while the DRPA continues on... well in excess of 10 years of service... with the same platform and the same limitations... I think the UPS solution has been viable for the shortcomings of this unit in that area...
    G
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    Fanman20Fanman20 Posts: 223
    The UPS concept is perfect!
    A great solution to the problem!

    Your first and second explanation is exact and beyond reproach.
    Well explained, clear and precise

    BUT again, what is this bit about?
    \"and keep itself up to snuff and ready\"

    Is this a strange American saying??
    What is snuff all about??
    Maybe this could translate to
    choc a block, chockers

    Anyway, I am shore that it you use a UPS
    \"she'll be apples\"

    Mark (From down under)
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    GadgetGadget Posts: 4,915
    :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

    Ok, Now I get it...DOH... :idea: here is the hot poop on that phrase...

    The snuff here is tobacco: nothing to do with the verb meaning to extinguish. Several colloquial phrases are recorded that used the word snuff, most of which date from the early part of the nineteenth century in Britain, when snuff-taking was still common, but less fashionable than it had been fifty years before.

    The first meaning of up to snuff was somebody who was sharp, not easily fooled. This may have come from the idea of snuff being itself a sharp preparation, but perhaps because it was mainly taken by men of adult years and some affluence (it was expensive) who would be able to appreciate the quality of snuff and distinguish between examples of different value. The evidence isn’t there to be sure about its exact origin, though an early form of the phrase was up to snuff and a pinch above it, which at least confirms it did indeed relate to tobacco.

    Whatever its origin, the meaning of the phrase shifted slightly after a while to imply somebody who was efficient and capable; later still it often meant that something was up to standard, or of the required quality. It was in this sense very similar to another expression of the time, up to scratch. This comes from prize-fighting, in which the scratch was the line across the floor that a contestant had to touch with his toe to indicate he was ready to fight.

    I guess you can see that the last paragraph would hold true here...Now you might ask yourself ...\"self...how exactly did gadget figure that out\"? Well it was \"as easy as falling off a log\" I mean you wouldn't want the DRPA to \"go haywire\" and \"wreak havoc\" on your system so you ended up with \"diddly squat\" :lol::lol: ....Ok Ok here is a great place to learn what some of the \"common catch phrases\" came from:
    http://www.brownielocks.com/wordorigins.html
    Ain't the internet grand!

    So here's hopin everything is \"right as rain\" \"down under\" :wink: Things have JUST started to warm up a bit here...fish are starting to bite, I'll have to mow the lawn.. and all that fun stuff...Oh well.. thats life :!:

    G
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    Fanman20Fanman20 Posts: 223
    Thankyou for your educated and knowledgeable reply.
    It is good to be educated by you folks over there, in the finer points in tobacco indulging. (don’t see it over here)

    It is starting to cool down here. 16 deg Celsius :lol::lol:

    Mark
    PS Thought Dra might of offered some commented on the subject :lol:
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    DraDra Posts: 3,777
    In the south, snuff, at least in my experience, was a nasty habit that grandmother types had. Imagine powdered cocoa about the color of a damp cardboard box. Quite a nasty habit. It gets all in your teeth and usually some leakage at the corners of your mouth. Most carried a spit cup, some just spat wherever. All however, wanted to give you a kiss.

    DRA
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    GadgetGadget Posts: 4,915
    Ok... now just one darn minute here :lol: thats snus, or dip,and can be misslabled snuff...but are really all ORAL tobacco(chewing) :? but the snuff of discussion here is inhaled as in sniffed like cocaine :shock: And was very addicting without much actual pleasure (from what I am told)

    Ah....CHOO!

    Spot
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    Fanman20Fanman20 Posts: 223
    I think I will just stick to my coffee addiction.

    Well, I'm not really addicted to coffee

    BUT

    if I don't have it regularly, I get this really bad headache.

    :lol::lol::lol::lol:

    Mark
    (PS I prefer to call it denial.)
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