posted
Good morning fellas. I just blew the power board on my CJ-500. The local Roland tech dude suggested that there was a power surge. I told him I had it on a UPS, but he says it protects if there's a power failure, but there's limits to the spike or surge. (The thing says right on the top "FULL TIME SURGE PROTECTION")
So, does this guy not know what he's talking about or is it true?
-------------------- Felix Marcano PuertoRicoSigns.Com Luquillo, PR
Work hard, party like a tourist! Posts: 2290 | From: Luquillo, Puerto Rico, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
I've been hit by lightening 2 times within the last year and a half. The first time I had no surge protectors but was flipping off all breakers at night. Fried everything.
The second time I had surge protectors on everything including the phone lines. Got hit again and it didn't even kick off the protectors. I got out the warranty info. that came with the protectors which boasted $500,000.00 worth of protection on the box. When reading the fine print it said I would have to box up all damaged items, pay to ship it to them, they would have their people check out the machines and if they decided it wasn't their fault is would cost $80 an hour for the time they spent and cost me to ship the damaged items back to myself. I know how that would have ended up.
Insurance did pay.....but it took 2 months to get going again both times.
Now I unplug everything when I leave..........period!
-------------------- Ace Graphics & Printing Camdenton, MO. USA
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A friend of mine has a CM 24 and it had the main board blow she never used a UPS or spike protector against my suggestion, well after that repair she went out and bought a seven dollar one and it was not even three months later that the main board blew again. Well now she bought a real power bar and it has been good for over a year and a half funny thing is now she just bought a CJ 500 and it is just plugged into the wall without any protection I wonder how long this one will last. hmmm Lets see protect a $2000 vinyl cutter and not protect a $26000 printer/cutter.
I have a friend who works for the power company and he knows just how bad the power is that comes into everyones house. Bottom lines buy yourself a good UPS or power bar I have been running with a ups for years without any problems.
-------------------- Steve Eisenreich Dezine Signs PO BOX 6052 Stn Forces Cold Lake, Alberta T9M 2C5 Posts: 774 | From: Cold Lake | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
Whether it be a ups or a surge protector, you need something. Just remember, surge protectors wear out. They need to be replaced every so often, should say on the box. I don't know a lot about ups.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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Nothing protects against a direct lightning strike.. nothing.. gotta think about it, if there's enough energy in it that it can jump through air between clouds and the ground, a little tiny box plugged into the wall isn't gonna do SQUAT!
Now it might just have been your normal run of the mill power surge straight from the power company, in which case a *GOOD* quality surge protector would have done the job - cheap ones don't cut it.
I wouldn't rely on UPS's for anything more than battery backup.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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APC is what we use, not by far the cheapest but has saved my butt before, actually we had a UPS battery backup take a hit and do its job saving the main systems. I have them on all my plotters and Edge. Battery backups which are surge suppressors as well.
-------------------- Bob Rochon Creative Signworks Millbury, MA 508-865-7330
"Life is Like an Echo, what you put out, comes back to you." Posts: 5149 | From: Millbury, Mass. U.S. | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
As I understand it, the minor surges and brown outs that can happen on a line, including the ones that don't even dim the lights can have an effect on the life of electrical components, thermal print heads etc. I just finally put my stuff on a battery backup system w/automatic voltage regulator. Maris was using a power mitre saw in front of studio yesterday, (plugged into a studio outlet) and boy that backup box was clicking and popping, but never flinched. I think it worked.
posted
A good UPS converts the AC to DC and charges a battery, The DC is then inverted to give you clean AC. When the grid power fails the battery provides the DC to the inverter.
If the thing is designed right no surges or AC line noise can get through the conversion to DC.
I use rack mount units to provide clean power to million dollar laser systems. The battery backup aspect was a free bonus.
ernie
-------------------- Ernie Balch Balch Signs 1045 Raymond Rd Malta, NY 518-885-9899 Posts: 405 | From: Malta, NY | Registered: Jan 2003
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