Fix for dimming flouresce

John:

JR> I have cheap utility flourescent lights in an area where I set up my PC and JR> laser printer. Whenever I use the printer the lights dim and flicker. I JR> assume the current draw drops the voltage to the lights which is what cause

JR> them to dim but is there a fix? Perhaps more expensive flourescents that JR> might be less sensitive to voltage drops?

Someone suggested plugging your laser printer into a UPS. Not sure if true still but a few years ago plugging a laser printer into a regular UPS would damage the UPS -- one needed a special UPS made especially for the heavy initial draw while the laser was powering up.

I would tend to agree with the person who suggested there is too much draw on the circuit. A UPS for the computer (and monitor) would be a good idea to protect from accidental boot when the power dips. From what I have read it is not necessary to have a printer on a UPS. (Surge protection would be a darn good idea, but that's a different thing.)

- ¯ barry.martinþATþthesafebbs.zeppole.com ®

Yo momma so fat people use her dandruff as quilts.

"barry martin" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@MoonDog.BBS...

We have encountered several instances in the past where people plugged 'heavy' printers into the same low power UPS that protects their PC against short term power failures. Typically such UPS (particularly the small home variety) have sufficient capacity to operate just the PC and its monitor for say 20 to 30 minutes. Also UPS happen to be a good way to protect against 'surges' and 'voltage spikes' which can occur on the commercial power supply. For a continued power outage software is available whereby a UPS can instruct a computer to go into a 'smart shutdown' mode if/when the outage continues for more than a certain period of time, to protect data. However I recall a case of where the machines of a local welding shop were causing variations in the commercial power and as a consequence the UPS of an adjacent PC of another business across the street was constantly kicking in during the working day; in which case a smart power down feature might be a mixed blessing? But the primary purpose of a UPS is to protect information by keeping the PC (and monitor) operating long enough to avoid loss of data after commercial power fails. Generally all goes well until a power failure/outage occurs. Then the high wattage requirement of the printer which often exceeds the power requirement of all the other gear involved, if plugged into the too small UPS, burns it out; or at very least causes it to 'trip out'; power shuts off to the PC thus defeating the data protection purpose for which the UPS was provided! Back up power systems including larger UPS capable of powering a whole installation for extended periods continue to be, expensive. These days when a basic PC can be had for around $1000 a fully adequate UPS or other back up capable of operating for say 4 to 12 hours or until a back up by a diesel generator can be trucked/towed in can easily cost twice that. In our domestic installation we have two UPS which operate our three computers. One very old, large and used, bought from a junk dealer for $75 it is powered by old truck batteries which 'now on their last legs' last about 20 minutes. Also a smaller modern APC with its own internal battery. Neither of them are capable of operating our printer/s which we power directly and only from the commercial supply. Our experience anyway.