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Author Topic: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector  (Read 11099 times)

Samuel Rees

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128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« on: November 17, 2013, 05:50:23 PM »

128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector at a venue in working at right now. It goes back and forth between "all lights lit" which seems to be 128V, and all lights flashing, which seemingly means above 128V. The "extreme voltage" light has not yet lit. I'm unaccustomed to high voltage - I've really only seen sagging mains voltage from current, or weird low vales. Not sure if there is anything I can do - is this something I can suggest the venue call and electrician or the power company about?
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2013, 06:16:27 PM »

Could be a loose neutral at the panel so when one side of the same phase gets loaded down, the other side rides up.

JR
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Mike Sokol

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Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2013, 06:31:55 PM »

Could be a loose neutral at the panel so when one side of the same phase gets loaded down, the other side rides up.

JR
I agree. Does the voltage on your Furman "bounce up" when a bunch of stage lights are turned on? I've seen a loose or undersized neutral allow the voltage on the opposite side of the 120/240 split-phase panel jump up by as much as 10 volts when all the stage lights are up. And while undersized neutrals were less common on single-phase 120/240-volt panels, undersized neutrals were often done on industrial 3-phase 120/208 volt panels to save money since it was assumed that most loads would be things like 3-phase motors or leg-to-leg 208-volt heaters which don't produce any neutral currents at all. Take a look on the incoming service panel to see if it says 3-phase, or if there's any 3-pole circuit breakers that's a good hint it's a 3-phase 120/208-volt panel. If it is a 3-phase panel, and you're going to be doing more work in that building, I would ask that an electrician inspect the panel to check the neutral size, and ask him to torque down the lugs on all the incoming phases and neutral/ground wires. These things are almost NEVER checked until something goes wrong and the wires burn up.

RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS

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Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2013, 10:13:59 PM »

128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector at a venue in working at right now.

So what did it measure with you VOM?  I find very little consistency from one furman to another and they rarely match up with my VOMs which always match each other.
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Samuel Rees

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Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2013, 11:00:21 PM »

I didn't measure it. I was midway through show and I didn't have a meter on me. It was just a walk up. I think this is a sign I need to carry one on walk-ups. It eventually stopped flashing, then went down to about 123-125 by end of show. I've noticed it sits around there before.  I didn't notice any bouncing, but all the gear was up when I observed this. This a 300 cap club, new install (9 weeks) old building. No idea about the panel or anything, I've never looked. Small club vibes so no tie ins or anything. I'll look into it and report it to mgmt. thanks for the insight.
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Jamin Lynch

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Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2013, 02:57:18 PM »

I agree. Does the voltage on your Furman "bounce up" when a bunch of stage lights are turned on? I've seen a loose or undersized neutral allow the voltage on the opposite side of the 120/240 split-phase panel jump up by as much as 10 volts when all the stage lights are up. And while undersized neutrals were less common on single-phase 120/240-volt panels, undersized neutrals were often done on industrial 3-phase 120/208 volt panels to save money since it was assumed that most loads would be things like 3-phase motors or leg-to-leg 208-volt heaters which don't produce any neutral currents at all. Take a look on the incoming service panel to see if it says 3-phase, or if there's any 3-pole circuit breakers that's a good hint it's a 3-phase 120/208-volt panel. If it is a 3-phase panel, and you're going to be doing more work in that building, I would ask that an electrician inspect the panel to check the neutral size, and ask him to torque down the lugs on all the incoming phases and neutral/ground wires. These things are almost NEVER checked until something goes wrong and the wires burn up.

How would you fix that when in the middle of a show?
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2013, 04:59:12 PM »

How would you fix that when in the middle of a show?

If your gear is at risk, shut it down.

Call the electrician or whomever is responsible for the power.

Not a user serviceable part.

JR
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Samuel Rees

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Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2013, 06:09:02 PM »

None of it was my gear. The stuff directly plugged into that strip had universal PSUs. Big show for club, I couldn't very well suggest we shut down the show based on 1 Furman. Clearly checking other circuits and etc with my own meter would have helped this issue. From what I understand it's stayed at 120-125 since. Will meter everything on my next show. Any dangers from overvoltage below 240v that I should be aware of, besides damaging gear?
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Brian Bolly

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Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2013, 06:12:16 PM »

128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector at a venue in working at right now. It goes back and forth between "all lights lit" which seems to be 128V, and all lights flashing, which seemingly means above 128V. The "extreme voltage" light has not yet lit. I'm unaccustomed to high voltage - I've really only seen sagging mains voltage from current, or weird low vales. Not sure if there is anything I can do - is this something I can suggest the venue call and electrician or the power company about?

Furmans (and many other of the power strip + rack voltage meter devices) have an adjustable pot under the hood to "calibrate" the meter.  That said, I've had more than one Furman or similar device have the meter become "de-calibrated" over time due to failing components in the meter circuit.

In your case, since the install is only a few weeks old I'd check it with an external meter first just to see what's up.
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Samuel Rees

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Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2013, 06:18:21 PM »

Will do. Even if calibrated badly, there was a 5-10+ voltage swing. Weird. I'll post back!
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: 128+ Volts registering on a Furman Surge Protector
« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2013, 06:18:21 PM »


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