Hello. I have a new home Kawai digital keyboard, 120 V input, 2x50 W speakers (but I use the headphone amp anyway, or computer VST), >$4000.
What should I put between my keyboard and the outlet to keep the keyboard well? (Hereafter 'power bar', though that might be misleading.)
Power: I don't really have reason to think the power coming to apartment/outlet will be unreliable, besides storms or rare outages, or that I have fancy protection. I'm not sure how to verify this. (See below: I might have had voltage out of 100v-135v magnitude at some point.) Townhouse, probably suburban.
I assume I should at least get a good enough surge protector--what would that mean?
Currently I am deciding which power conditioner to keep (allowing it to count as a surge protector.)
(Any reasons for/against power conditioners?)
If I had reason to be wary of my power, I might consider an Uninterrupted Power Supply instead, since there is a computer component of the keyboard (I have the keyboard off when not in use). I'm not afraid of power outages particularly, so maybe this would be to protect against brownouts etc. (also likely irrelevant).
One of my conditioners that I'm trying is a Panamax that is supposed to turn off power temporarily when it detects 100v to 135v (I think), and otherwise has 331v clamping with 1575 J protection. It has turned off twice now, presumably because of some split-moment of a voltage problem, maybe because it was mistaken. I assume this wasn't due to a surge, just something outside of 100v to 135v. I don't know.
I suspect that having the Panamax shut off power would be more dangerous to the keyboard than having even a few seconds worth of brownout, and that I therefore don't like this particular feature. However, without the Panamax, I can't detect any problems except surges and blackouts, so if something were going on, I wouldn't be doing much to stop it (except noise filtration.)
I also don't know how this feature alters the effectiveness of surge protection. 135v < 331v, after all. Does this affect J rating, either?
The other unit should have 181v clamping and probably more endurance than 1575 J, but no such anti-brownout/swell feature.
Which of these options might be better?
What should I do now?
And for future reference, when I replace the power bar, what should I consider getting? Some sort of surge protector, some UPS? How can I know what I need?
Thank you.
What should I put between my keyboard and the outlet to keep the keyboard well? (Hereafter 'power bar', though that might be misleading.)
Power: I don't really have reason to think the power coming to apartment/outlet will be unreliable, besides storms or rare outages, or that I have fancy protection. I'm not sure how to verify this. (See below: I might have had voltage out of 100v-135v magnitude at some point.) Townhouse, probably suburban.
I assume I should at least get a good enough surge protector--what would that mean?
Currently I am deciding which power conditioner to keep (allowing it to count as a surge protector.)
(Any reasons for/against power conditioners?)
If I had reason to be wary of my power, I might consider an Uninterrupted Power Supply instead, since there is a computer component of the keyboard (I have the keyboard off when not in use). I'm not afraid of power outages particularly, so maybe this would be to protect against brownouts etc. (also likely irrelevant).
One of my conditioners that I'm trying is a Panamax that is supposed to turn off power temporarily when it detects 100v to 135v (I think), and otherwise has 331v clamping with 1575 J protection. It has turned off twice now, presumably because of some split-moment of a voltage problem, maybe because it was mistaken. I assume this wasn't due to a surge, just something outside of 100v to 135v. I don't know.
I suspect that having the Panamax shut off power would be more dangerous to the keyboard than having even a few seconds worth of brownout, and that I therefore don't like this particular feature. However, without the Panamax, I can't detect any problems except surges and blackouts, so if something were going on, I wouldn't be doing much to stop it (except noise filtration.)
I also don't know how this feature alters the effectiveness of surge protection. 135v < 331v, after all. Does this affect J rating, either?
The other unit should have 181v clamping and probably more endurance than 1575 J, but no such anti-brownout/swell feature.
Which of these options might be better?
What should I do now?
And for future reference, when I replace the power bar, what should I consider getting? Some sort of surge protector, some UPS? How can I know what I need?
Thank you.
A brown out is not going to hurt the thing, it would most likely just reset itself or stop working until proper power is restored. What does your computer do if power is interrupted briefly? It resets itself and starts over.
It probably has protection built into it, but you could CALL Kawai and ask them.
I would be surprised if it didn't have an SMPS instead of a transformer supply, and those are remarkably flexible as to incoming power.
An uninterruptable supply sounds silly to me. It is used to keep supplying power for a little while after mains power goes away. COmputers use this so you have time to close and save your files. Your piano would simply shut off when power goes away. At an outage, I think the last thing on your mind would be whether you can continue to play for ten minutes.
REmember, 99.9% of people owning these pianos just plug them into the wall and enjoy them for years.
It probably has protection built into it, but you could CALL Kawai and ask them.
I would be surprised if it didn't have an SMPS instead of a transformer supply, and those are remarkably flexible as to incoming power.
An uninterruptable supply sounds silly to me. It is used to keep supplying power for a little while after mains power goes away. COmputers use this so you have time to close and save your files. Your piano would simply shut off when power goes away. At an outage, I think the last thing on your mind would be whether you can continue to play for ten minutes.
REmember, 99.9% of people owning these pianos just plug them into the wall and enjoy them for years.
Well, I agree with Enzo that you don't NEED anything, but having lost a big screen TV to a lightning strike, I say go for it if it's important to you. If it were me wanting one (no I don't have any), I would just buy a used Furman or Monster 7000, I see them all the time on local online classifieds.
How about, "How much money the companies selling superfluous protection are making off of those unfortunate 0.1% of owners", for a psychological trick?
Cheers
Cheers
In my opinion the only thing that makes sense is strictly disconnecting from mains if not used. This will prolong life expectance of the internal supplies significantly. Forget power conditioners and VDR surge arresters - not worth the effort.😉
Where do you live? Lightning is a serious hazard here. In Kansas another hot spot a lightning strike exploded the anti-pop capacitor across the power switch and carbon tracked the power switch to permanent "on" in my PAS2. Here in Indiana a blue bolt of plasma jumped a foot out the controls door of my RCA TV, then the computer board went bad the next year. Have been to Germany. Gentle spring rains was what I saw. Not the electrical storms we have in the US midwest as the divide between warm moist and cold dry air moves over us 40 times a year.
So, yes, MOS supressor parts between hot & safety ground and neutral and safety ground are useful here.
The radio shack surge protector device I bought had one MOS protector about 7 mm diameter. Nothing from neutral to safety ground. Piece of **** like everything else they sold. The 7 mm diameter MOS protector I bought from Newark an epcos 50K150 had a clamp rating of 240 V @ 1200 amps.
The industrial VFD drives I salvaged from the factory have 3 MOS protectors .750" diameter from each of 3 phases to safety ground. Those VFDs motor on right through a lightning storm, including the bolt that took out the main transformer on the pad sitting outside the plant by the power pole. I don't know how many kilo amps those big surge protectors will take, Newark doesn't sell them. VFD drives from Allen-Bradley, TB Woods, Yakasaka were pro grade.
Your joule rating doesn't compare to a kiloamp rating of the part I bought.
I put the .750" diameter MOS protectors I salvaged in all amps I rework the power supply on. I would not take the cover off a Kawai keyboard however. Reworking the power strip to upgrade the components to heftier protection would be my plan. Make sure any MOS protector is after the circuit breaker or fuse, as when they fail they short out.
These .750" diameter MOS protectors are also used in $150000 Ishida packaging machines. Voltage rating is 350 since packaging machines run on 220 vac supplies.
If you want something else that I know works, a SOLA brownout protection transformer also protected the microprocessor driven printers our factory used at each packaging station. UPS were the replacements, when the packaging floor was reequipped, but lightning usually took out 2 or 3 of those every spring storm season. The sola transformers never had to be replaced.
I've taken apart a Samsung flat screen TV. They have small MOS protectors on a little board before the rectifier & filter capacitors. After the fuse. Obviously not big enough for your location, although a Vizio or Element or store brand TV may be more cheaply built than a Samsung.
So, yes, MOS supressor parts between hot & safety ground and neutral and safety ground are useful here.
The radio shack surge protector device I bought had one MOS protector about 7 mm diameter. Nothing from neutral to safety ground. Piece of **** like everything else they sold. The 7 mm diameter MOS protector I bought from Newark an epcos 50K150 had a clamp rating of 240 V @ 1200 amps.
The industrial VFD drives I salvaged from the factory have 3 MOS protectors .750" diameter from each of 3 phases to safety ground. Those VFDs motor on right through a lightning storm, including the bolt that took out the main transformer on the pad sitting outside the plant by the power pole. I don't know how many kilo amps those big surge protectors will take, Newark doesn't sell them. VFD drives from Allen-Bradley, TB Woods, Yakasaka were pro grade.
Your joule rating doesn't compare to a kiloamp rating of the part I bought.
I put the .750" diameter MOS protectors I salvaged in all amps I rework the power supply on. I would not take the cover off a Kawai keyboard however. Reworking the power strip to upgrade the components to heftier protection would be my plan. Make sure any MOS protector is after the circuit breaker or fuse, as when they fail they short out.
These .750" diameter MOS protectors are also used in $150000 Ishida packaging machines. Voltage rating is 350 since packaging machines run on 220 vac supplies.
If you want something else that I know works, a SOLA brownout protection transformer also protected the microprocessor driven printers our factory used at each packaging station. UPS were the replacements, when the packaging floor was reequipped, but lightning usually took out 2 or 3 of those every spring storm season. The sola transformers never had to be replaced.
I've taken apart a Samsung flat screen TV. They have small MOS protectors on a little board before the rectifier & filter capacitors. After the fuse. Obviously not big enough for your location, although a Vizio or Element or store brand TV may be more cheaply built than a Samsung.
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