# Voltage stabilizer or........



## Rodny Alvarez (Apr 25, 2006)

I'm using a existing AC line in my room to power up my equipment and when the bass hits it dim the lights, my power-center has a display for the voltage and some times the voltage will drop to 116volts, this is when the air condition, heater or any large appliance is on, do I need to run another line just for my equipment or buy a monster voltage stabilizer??:scratch: 
I have a Reference HTS 5100 MKII PowerCenter.









Do you guys think this is worth the money???(@ dealer cost:bigsmile: )
monster voltage stabilizer


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

116 volts isn’t all that low. That said, it will probably be a lot cheaper to hire an electrician to drop you a dedicated line compared to what that Monster will cost...

Regards,
Wayne


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## Rodny Alvarez (Apr 25, 2006)

In car stereo when the voltage drops the current draw increases, is this the same on AC??


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> In car stereo when the voltage drops the current draw increases


If I lower the 12volt supply to a car stereo, the current to the stereo will also drop. Why would it increase?



> is this the same on AC??


Depends on the load. An AC motor with a fixed load will draw more current if the supply voltage is dropped. Most other devices will draw less current when the voltage across them is decreased. I=E/R

brucek


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

> If I lower the 12volt supply to a car stereo, the current to the stereo will also drop. Why would it increase?


The current draw doesn't come from the stereo though, it comes from the alternator. I'm thinking that it would increase the current draw to recharge the supply (battery). So, if the voltage to the stereo drops (which is supplied by the battery), then the current draw from the alternator increases... doesn't it?


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> I'm thinking that it would increase the current draw to recharge the supply (battery)


Ohh, so the context was that the car stereo consumes so much power (competition systems), that it sags the 12volt battery rail and the alternator produces more current to keep the battery charged? I misunderstood.

brucek


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I think that's what he meant.

I guess the same thing could happen with AC, couldn't it? Amplifiers have supply rails that store juice, when they are being drained they draw more current from the supply source. 

The big Monster stabilizer kind of acts like a battery would in a car... it store more than the amp (or any other equipment) can store so that what is being fed is more consistent.


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## Rodny Alvarez (Apr 25, 2006)

If you have a amp on your car stereo the draws 100 amps of current at 13.5 volts, when the voltage is 11 volts the amp will draw more current, because is working a lot harder to keep up with the output(watts) so the lower the voltage the more current will draw if you trying to keep the same output(watts)!!


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Up until the point where the alternator runs out of steam, at least...

Back to the question:


> In car stereo when the voltage drops the current draw increases, is this the same on AC??


Electricity is electricity in this regard, so the theoretical answer is yes, although practically there are some caveats.

Basically, it takes either high voltage or high amperage to do electrical “heavy lifting.” With cars, the voltage is low, so things like amplifiers and starter motors need a lot of current to operate. In the home, you’re starting with a high voltage, so comparatively little amperage is needed for something like an amplifier.

So yes, a drop in voltage means an amplifier (or a motor) will demand more amperage. However, the situation is more critical with a car than it is at home. For instance, the example you gave of a car’s voltage dropping from 13.5 to 11 volts – that’s a significant loss, on the order of 18-19%. However, at home a drop from say, 125 volts to 116 is only about a 7% loss. Quite a difference. Naturally, if your baseline voltage wasn’t even 125 to begin with, the loss is even less. Either way, it’s barely significant, if at all.

From what I can see, that Monster stabilizer will cost at least $1000. For that money you could fly an electrician from the East Coast to put in a dedicated line for you, and probably still be money ahead. More realistically, you could probably have a local guy drop a dedicated line for a couple hundred bucks or less. Maybe even get an isolated transformer for a few hundred more, if you’re really worried about it. And still be dollars ahead of that that Monster will run you.

Regards,
Wayne


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> if you trying to keep the same output(watts)!!


Absolutely. You didn't make that stipulation in your original post, so I misunderstood the question. My bad......

brucek


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## Rodny Alvarez (Apr 25, 2006)

Thanks for the answers!!!:T :hail:
I need to tell Sonnie that you guys need to get payed more!!!:spend: :spend: :bigsmile:


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