Connexelectronic
I have never tried those supplies, so I don't know if they are good or not. However the full regulated supply costs much less than an equivalent transformer, and the data provided looks good.
the line conditioner that i built is used at my desktop computer till this day...
when i listen to my audio system, i make sure that no other household appliances are being used like microwave ovens, washing machines, etc....
when i listen to my audio system, i make sure that no other household appliances are being used like microwave ovens, washing machines, etc....
For sure. Regulation comes almost for free, downsides are reliability and short-term current capability.
Some are around, very few I agree. There's an amp by (I think) Soulutioin that uses them. Reasons why few are around are mainly I reckon to do with noise and lack of design competence in high-end audio companies. From pics of a Soulution amp it looks to me as though they're using off the shelf bricks. Common-mode noise is the primary issue ISTM.
They are used extensively in mil/medical/aerospace where reliability is paramount, but like all things the quality can vary greatly.
Thanks a lot for the very interesting link and for the valuable info.
I was thinking to start with the values that i can see on the case of usual mains filter like this one ...
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Regards,
gino
Very interesting ... thanks a lot.
While i see a lot of low power equipment with SMPS (like dvd player or similar) i see much less power amps with SMPS.
I think i will try one ...
Thanks and regards,
gino
Thanks a lot. I searched and read impressive reviews of this Brand products.
Personally i remember Ice power modules that have a SMPS embedded.
Very intriguing technology indeed ... at least for space, weight and energy saving reasons.
Kind regards,
gino
Has anyone tried this filter model of an across the AC line with capacitors in an adjacent socket in the audio line?
I have built one as a prototype and unfortunately on the very same day I made it we had a power cut and until the supply is properly reinstalled I can't test it (we have too low voltage atm). However I did plug it in and tried an over the cable power consumption meter and saw that it strangely consumed according to this 125W ??
The circuit is just 3 x 2.2uF 1 x 6.8uF 1x100nF and 1x10nF all across live to neutral and all X rated.
The power consumption meter shows 45W for my DAC, 300W for my 211 power amp etc and SEEMS to be sensible?
obviously I have not listened to it yet, but just intrigued as to why it seems to waste/absorb power?
THanks!
I have built one as a prototype and unfortunately on the very same day I made it we had a power cut and until the supply is properly reinstalled I can't test it (we have too low voltage atm). However I did plug it in and tried an over the cable power consumption meter and saw that it strangely consumed according to this 125W ??
The circuit is just 3 x 2.2uF 1 x 6.8uF 1x100nF and 1x10nF all across live to neutral and all X rated.
The power consumption meter shows 45W for my DAC, 300W for my 211 power amp etc and SEEMS to be sensible?
obviously I have not listened to it yet, but just intrigued as to why it seems to waste/absorb power?
THanks!
Let me guess - it was a cheap and nasty 'power' meter that only measured current magnitude and took no account of its phase angle?
The real question I want to answer is how much energy does this thing use to do it's filtering job. I had assumed almost zero!
If you connect a cap across the mains it'll draw a current but there will be very little power taken, just the cap's series resistance will take power. So when you measured 125W you were just seeing the current draw - the device assumes that current was flowing into a pure resistor and so calculated the power accordingly. A real power meter would recognize that a cap returns current to the mains as often as it draws it, resulting in close to zero net power taken.
ahh makes a lot of sense, thanks so I am not going to get a huge bill if it's left on in the background!
I'd strongly recommend that no caps be connected either across the mains or to protective earth/ground. That type of modification should be assessed for compliance with a wide range of electrical standards and compliances, and even your house insurance policy. Certainly don't (imho) take the advice of Magnin in that link.
If you must throw some money and some risk at the issue then purchase a mains filter that is authorised and compliant with your electrical code for connection to the mains.
If you must throw some money and some risk at the issue then purchase a mains filter that is authorised and compliant with your electrical code for connection to the mains.
P3 P4400 Kill A Watt will give numbers for both watts and VA. I have seen large VA and low Watts on thing that were plausibly "mostly capacitor", though I do not trust either number much.
2uFd @ 60Hz is about 1,200 Ohms reactive. So 400r for three of them. At 120VAC this looks like under 40VA. You have been coy with your location- at 240V 50Hz it could be 175VA.
The usual US residential electric bill meter should read Real Watts Power. But other (large) customers pay for Watts plus a surcharge for large VA (you can't use the grid as your factory flywheel for free). And as we move away from totally resistive houses (nichrome stoves and tungsten lamps) to cheap switchers everywhere, the power companies will be looking to cover their losses.
Note that even if the caps draw "no power" their circulating current heats your feeder and you pay for your side of the meter. At my house the 40VA in caps implies maybe 3 Watts heat in the wires, so 2 cents a day.
2uFd @ 60Hz is about 1,200 Ohms reactive. So 400r for three of them. At 120VAC this looks like under 40VA. You have been coy with your location- at 240V 50Hz it could be 175VA.
The usual US residential electric bill meter should read Real Watts Power. But other (large) customers pay for Watts plus a surcharge for large VA (you can't use the grid as your factory flywheel for free). And as we move away from totally resistive houses (nichrome stoves and tungsten lamps) to cheap switchers everywhere, the power companies will be looking to cover their losses.
Note that even if the caps draw "no power" their circulating current heats your feeder and you pay for your side of the meter. At my house the 40VA in caps implies maybe 3 Watts heat in the wires, so 2 cents a day.
I will try the device and monitor the actual digital electricity meter in the property with it on and off over a period and see what is measured and report.
Thanks, my understanding is that X and Y rated caps are designed and manufactured and used for exactly this filtering purpose in these locations, and commercial products are made with these as a regulatory requirement?
Yes X and Y rated caps have compliance for specific applications. They are typically engineered into commercial products for EMI compliance, whereas you are using them for another somewhat ill-defined application.
Your post #28 indicates you have added 13.4uF (+/- whatever tolerance is on the parts) across the mains. Were those caps X2 rated? And as PRR points out, readers could simply assume that was across a 240Vac mains (and hence contemplate doing it themselves).
A presumption of this thread is that such a cap would alleviate a 'dirty' mains, and hence improve the audible experience from some audio equipment. That topic is very broad brush in nature and likely very subjective unless you have the technical equipment to make objective measurements and can then deduce if any change is related to a dirty mains, and if there are other ways to get the same or a better result (eg. if your amp was the equipment causing a local 'dirty' mains that was then causing noise coupling to your DAC equipment).
There is also the risk that adding a low impedance part to your local mains then acts like a local sink for other transients and noisy current sources (whether from inside your house or from neighbours) to make a bee-line to your audio equipment and interact with it more than they ever did before.
Your post #28 indicates you have added 13.4uF (+/- whatever tolerance is on the parts) across the mains. Were those caps X2 rated? And as PRR points out, readers could simply assume that was across a 240Vac mains (and hence contemplate doing it themselves).
A presumption of this thread is that such a cap would alleviate a 'dirty' mains, and hence improve the audible experience from some audio equipment. That topic is very broad brush in nature and likely very subjective unless you have the technical equipment to make objective measurements and can then deduce if any change is related to a dirty mains, and if there are other ways to get the same or a better result (eg. if your amp was the equipment causing a local 'dirty' mains that was then causing noise coupling to your DAC equipment).
There is also the risk that adding a low impedance part to your local mains then acts like a local sink for other transients and noisy current sources (whether from inside your house or from neighbours) to make a bee-line to your audio equipment and interact with it more than they ever did before.