power protection help

[killabyte]

last year i found a solid state protective device, it was a whole small block consisting in ac input and protected ac output. it seemed like a big solid state relay but it happened another things inside.

protection of ac supply, but now i dont know where to find it. actually im makin a protection rack to connect my amplifiers and other equipment.

does anyone know what am i talking about?

best regards
killa

 

[ScottyUK]

What are you protecting against?

Electrical noise?
Lightning?
Overcurrent?
Short circuit?
Power surge / dip?
Power outage?

Give us a bit more information about what you are protecting your equipment from. Also, what is the load? you mention amplifiers, but is this a test equipment rack, or a PA system, or something else?




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If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!

 

[killabyte]

ok, im looking for a device capable of protect PA, and processors, i want to avoid overcurrent, short circuits and surge-dips even lightning.

when tourin it is somehow usual to have short circuits and noisy equipment such as phase controlled ones. bad beahviour light would lead to audio malfunction and even a crash.

is a rack to connect dedicated equipment.

regards

killa

 

[ScottyUK]

You can keep out RF using filters from the likes of Arcotronics, Corcom, Schaffner. These may the blocks you saw. They are stocked by a lot of suppliers.

Lightning and switching surges are usually dealt with using a surge arrestor, or in smaller sizes a metal oxide varistor or MOV. MOV's are often used in conjuction with the filters described above and are normally connected on the supply side of the filter. Bowthorpe are probably the biggest supplier of surge control products in Europe.

Overcurrent and short-circuits require fuses or circuit breakers. For the sake of convenience, and to avoid people replacing blown fuses with M5 screws or 1/4" studding - I've seen both! - I think circuit breakers would be more appropriate. You must take great care sizing the circuit breakers or fuses to ensure discrimination and to ensure that circuits are adequately protected in order to meet your country's technical regulations.

For small dips, you might get away with a constant voltage transformer. If you have truly awful power quality, such as from a marginally-rated generator shared with the lighting system, a small UPS may be worth considering for the preamps, FX units, mixer, etc. Power amps are usually a bit more forgiving of power disturbances.

If most of what is written above seems to be in a foreign language, please get some help with designing this system, especially regarding breaker sizes and cabling. Have a search on Google for some of the products and companies I've mentioned.


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If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!