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Voltage Regulator Question

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:26 am
by JMPMAN
Curious if anyone has used a voltage regulator on their amps? The voltage at my house is not steady and can range from 113- 121 volts. I just bought a Furman ar 117 Voltage Regulator and have read good/bad about using them. Any advise would be helpful. Thanks.

Re: Voltage Regulator Question

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 11:13 am
by Structo
Yes if you have bad fluctuations a good conditioner/regulator is a good thing.
They are expensive for the good ones.

Not sure of the range they operate in but it should make the amp work more consistently.

Especially in the over voltage situations.

The power tranny on an amp simply takes what it gets and puts it to the secondary so a 10% rise in the wall voltage can translate to a higher than desireable voltage on the heaters or B+.

Re: Voltage Regulator Question

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:00 pm
by novosibir
Structo wrote:... so a 10% rise in the wall voltage can translate to a higher than desireable voltage on the heaters or B+.
... and changes the bias based output tube dissipation!

Adjust your output tubes to 70% of max. plate dissipation at a wall voltage of 113V

check it again at a wall voltage rise to 121V

and you'd have someting about 75...78% of max. plate dissipation :?

Means, that you have to take 'this' into account, when you bias at low wall voltage periods!

Larry

Re: Voltage Regulator Question

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:46 pm
by Structo
Good point Larry.

Re: Voltage Regulator Question

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:40 pm
by The Tank
If you gig a lot (especially if you ever gig in foreign countries), it's invaluable. I had a complete meltdown at a gig a while back between my amp and rack due to bad power -- I went from normal volumes to a whisper in the middle of songs, and I couldn't get my racks to change channels -- so I bought a Furman P-1800 AR and haven't had an issue since. 8)