I have cheap utility flourescent lights in an area where I set up my PC and laser printer. Whenever I use the printer the lights dim and flicker. I assume the current draw drops the voltage to the lights which is what causes them to dim but is there a fix? Perhaps more expensive flourescents that might be less sensitive to voltage drops?
Thanks John
A different model laser printer with a slower warm up period. I complained to HP years ago about it. They said that was the only fix.
I suggest a new power line for the printer. Those power fluctuations are not doing you computer any good either. A better fixture will not fix the problem, better power will. You also may want to check to make sure all the connections and wires are up to par and that you don't have any other heavy uses coming from that circuit.
That's the first problem. What did you expect from cheap utility lights?
Absolutely.
No, the solution is to stop overloading your circuit. There is no fixture sold designed for acceptable operation on overloaded circuits.
Might plugging the printer into a cheap UPS solve the problem?
At best it will hide the problem.
Most popular size UPS's warn you that they are unsuitable for laser printers.
fluctuations
Well, I wasn't able to find much info on using a dedicated UPS to provide the burst of power that a laser printer needs to warm up.
The normal recommendation is NOT to plug the laser into the UPS, but this is under the assumption that the UPS is being used to power the computer in case of a power outage, in which case the printer would run down the UPS quickly. But this is irrelevant.
Most sources just mumble some vague justifcation, e.g. "plugging a laser printer into a UPS is inadvisable for various technical reasons."
The one real reason sometimes stated is that UPS aren't designed to supply the current that a laser printer can draw, and can damage the UPS.
It's too bad. It seems silly to install more electrical wiring just to satisfy a device that peaks for a few seconds a few times per day. It might be cheaper just to buy a better behaved printer.
timeOday wrote: ...
That may be true, but it sounds a lot like that circuit it is on is marginal even without the printer.
I don't know what a new line would cost John, situations are different and I have always run my own and doing that would be cheaper then buying a new printer.
I keep my computer on it's own circuit and my printers are on the pre existing circuit.
Thanks to all who replied. The printer is an inexpensive Brother laser printer which might be part of the problem. I do have the PC and printer on the same circuit because when I ran the circuits, I ran each circuit to a different area. I will try using an extension (short and heavy guage) to put the PC on another circuit and leave the printer as the only device on the circuit with the flourescents and see what happens. The circuits are 15 Amp short runs of 14 GA copper from a 200 Amp entry which should be adequate, so if the printer still dims the lights, then I'll know that the problem lies with the design of the printer and I will have to find a way to isolate it to a circuit with no flourescents.
John
That should work.
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