-snip-
If that's all you want to do then install a Uninterruptible Power Supply with an alarm. They seem to have cleaned it up now, but when I first put in my UPS it beeped several times a week for power fluctuations that didn't bother lights, or even the TV.
If brownouts are common I'd be more worried about my computers than my washing machine.
Jim
I vote with Smitty. Switch mode power supplies have a great tolerance for power fluctuations. Some are perfectly happy with any input from
100-250 volts without manual switching. Your basic PC supply still has a range of 100-150 or 200-250 depending on the switch setting. They also have a large tolerance to dips, and spikes.
Hi, By design they have built-in regulator that is why.
triplett used to have one
Jimmie
Try 94 to 240
-snip-
I suppose I could argue that I really don't care if the washer dies, but it would ruin my day if my computer did.
I stand corrected on that point. [near unanimity here is too unusual to go un-noticed]
But I'd still go with a UPS for my computer- for all the UPS benefits-- and an audible alarm if there is a brownout.
I almost disagreed-- then remembered that the last century isn't that far back. I'm in a suburban area that still had flakey power 10 yrs ago.
Jim
Hi, Yes and like 32Hz to 60Hz. So CE specs. win hands down over UL spec.
I've got a fairly nice (expanded scale) one here made by VIZ, but I've had it for decades, so I have no idea whether they even exist any more.
Nevada. Yes, last century -- we like it that way. :-)
Makes me remember where too high and too are.
Considering how low the R&D involved would be, sounds like a viable niche market here. A combo nightlight and analog voltage meter, with high and low markers like an old barometer.
I'd buy one. (as long as it wasn't over 20 bucks or so.)
-- aem sends...
You can get an el-cheapo multimeter almost anywhere these days. Plug it into an outlet and see if it reads between 115 and 125 Volts when power seems to be normal. Then just watch the meter whenever you want to turn on whatever it was that you mentioned in the OP.
If you have a modern UPS connected to your computer that talks to it through a serial port or USB connection, you ought to be able to set an alarm whenever your line voltage goes outside of parameters (of course, the UPS itself will probably beep when that happens and the UPS switches over to the inverter - unless you're one of those guys who has to have professional grade everything and you're using a "true online" UPS for your home PC...)
nate
I don't get that many brown outs but the switching transients are so bad I had to cut the wires to my UPS beepers because they were making the dog crazy. I set up my Dranitz power monitor here one day and went to work. When I got home it was out of paper.
ISTR some designs essentially pick one of two configurations depending on line input - i.e. if it's around 120 (US and presumably others) or around 240 (Europe). Such designs can still fry if the voltage isn't somewhere close to one of those two (i.e. giving it something like 180 for any length of time would be bad)
Yeah, they save a few cents on parts cost. Some really crap ones don't even have the switch.
Usually - or at least if something does happen it tends to kill parts that are easy to replace. Although not always - I've seen some where the entirety of the 'hot' side and half the LV side has been taken out by a fault...
cheers
Jules
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