Power Conditioning

[tonyf]

Have been running my pedal board for dozens and dozens of gigs without issues but a couple of recent shows, at the same venue, seem to have given me some issues with the digital items I'm using (my Sony digital wireless and the Future Impact). I know they've had a lot of work done in terms of electrics and due to the fact that the digital desk and other wireless gear seemed to be noisy and temperamental, I'm wondering if the quality of "juice" into the gear is to blame.

Any suggestions on how to maintain a solid 230v/240v into the digital kit we use (in particular the pedal board and mixer)? Would a power conditioner help? 

[cattytown]

Not sure what you mean by conditioner. A UPS would probably help, but not cheap and they are heavy.

[paul_5]

Check that your digital kit is getting enough current, strange things happen when you’re under feeding them.

 

[tonyf]

4 hours ago, paul_5 said:

Check that your digital kit is getting enough current, strange things happen when you’re under feeding them.

 

^^^^ this. 

Part of my concerns about the Future Impact and the Sony wireless the other night, hence the question. Did notice the display on the FI and the power light on the wireless occasionally flashing. Checking the wireless documentation, it seemed to point (when using a battery in the receiver) that power could be below optimal.

[tonyf]

11 hours ago, cattytown said:

Not sure what you mean by conditioner. A UPS would probably help, but not cheap and they are heavy.

I'm assuming that a power conditioner would give us a "clean" supply of 240v, thus not causing issues with the signal processing gear.

[BigRedX]

Just now, tonyf said:

I'm assuming that a power conditioner would give us a "clean" supply of 240v, thus not causing issues with the signal processing gear.

No it won't. It will filter out some of the "noise" elements in the supply and do its best to smooth out any fluctuations in voltage. However all the commonly sold power conditioners for musical equipment are designed to overcome problems in countries like the US where the overall standard of the mains supplies is rather poor compared with what we are are used to here in the UK.

In fact in the UK if you are having mains supply problems they are nearly always more serious than a standard power conditioner can cope with, and in these instances only a well specified UPS will do.

The UPS will completely isolate your equipment from the standard mains supply and uses batteries to compensate for fluctuations and blackouts in the supply. You specify them using the current draw of all your connected equipment and the length of time they need to provide power in the case of a complete mains supply failure. Because they contain both isolating transformers and batteries they are big and heavy.

I suspect that following the electrical work at the venue the "stage" power is inadvertently sharing it's supply with something that requires a large startup current and when this comes on it is causing fluctuations in voltage and current to the rest of the devices on the same circuit. It might be possible to find another set of sockets in the venue to power your equipment off that are not on the same circuit as whatever is causing the problems.