How best to deal with regular power outages?
Printed From: Graham Slee Hifi System Components
Category: Headphone Audio
Forum Name: Graham Slee Headphone Amps
Forum Description: Questions, answers and product information zone for Graham Slee Headphone Amplifiers
URL: https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4847
Printed Date: 27 Mar 2026 at 2:12am
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Topic: How best to deal with regular power outages?
Posted By: capetownwatches
Subject: How best to deal with regular power outages?
Date Posted: 05 Jan 2020 at 11:41am
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So...some of you may have heard that our state-run power entity here in South Africa (ESKOM) is having some issues...massive understement. We lucky folk have been living with scheduled power cuts for years now, quaintly known as load shedding. Bottom line is that I haven't yet invested in sufficient inverter hardware to run my desktop headphone rig when the lights go out (soon, this stuff ain't cheap, and things like lights, internet and TV take priority in my household, unfortunately...)  . This means that my beloved Ultra Linear might lose power twice a day in extreme cases. Not great when it's a device that requires some decent warming up time and should remain powered on indefinitely. I can clearly hear when the amp is not in optimum operating range. My question is, what would be the most prudent way to deal with these incessant outages? My PSU1 is plugged into a decent quality power bar which also provides surge protection. Other components are powered via a Furman power conditioner. At the moment I am simply flipping the OFF switch on the power bar just prior to load shedding, and switching it on again once juice is restored. However, sometimes it catches me by surprise and this morning I forgot power was going out at 10h00, leaving everything powered up with headies connected...wonder what the UL sounds like on power down through 25 Ohm Fostex TH-X00..?) I suppose the real question is, could frequent (as in four or five times a week) powering up and down be detrimental to my precious? At the moment I am contemplating only using it when there is a guarantee of stable supply for a reasonable period of time. ------------- Solo UL=Kingrex HQ1=NFB11.32=LD Mkll=SRM353X=DAC1 USB=RL Concero LCD2F=HD6XX=SR-L500=DT990 600Ω=TH-X00=K612Pro=K240S=Y50 KRK Rokit 6=Mogami/Sommer->Neutrik/Amphenol |
Replies:
Posted By: tg [RIP]
Date Posted: 05 Jan 2020 at 2:27pm
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In your situation I think I might try a relatively inexpensive battery UPS intended for computer backup. The Solo should draw much less power than a PC and even a relatively small unit might prove more than sufficient to maintain power to it during the periods of outage. ------------- Tony G |
Posted By: peterb
Date Posted: 05 Jan 2020 at 2:37pm
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I was about to suggest the very same thing, investigate a UPS. If you can shuffle your mains wiring around you would be able to power all your 'sensitive' kit and for low drain devices possible keep them on all the time. I had this website bookmarked as I had been checking them out myself. http://www.powerinspired.com/store/index.php?osCsid=420ac45a9f84ce52b466af58776be5ec - http://www.powerinspired.com/store/index.php?osCsid=420ac45a9f84ce52b466af58776be5ec
------------- Peter --------------------------------------- Dual 505-1, Cyrus CD T, DIY 80W MosFet amp and PreAmp, 2xKEF 103.2 |