How To Power My Studio System Correctly?

[Zackdh89]

Hi guys,


i was wondering how one would go about supplying proper power to a studio? At the moment i have all my gear coming from one socket which my electrician said was ok, but when all the gear is on my power conditioner LED lights are down in the red? They should be in the green and are if i just have the mac and interfaces on. Do i need to get a voltage regulator or am i just connecting too much to one supply?
does anybody have a solution? i dont want to damage my new hd3 system or my sc48..

Thanks.

[Creager]

I'm running in a similar situation. As a solution I picked up 4 battery backup units. Not only do they keep my system running in case of a blackout, but they regulate the output and keep it steady. Something I really needed in this old building.

Each piece of outboard rack gear is drawing power off an American DJ power strip which provides a separate switch for each wall wart. I only turn on what I need to. In situations where I choose to show off all the LEDs of the studio, there is no visible drain on any power source.

That was my solution. Hope it helps.

[albee1952]

I would measure the voltage at the outlet with all the stuff turned on(pull the plug out just enough to get the meter probes in). What voltage do you have? If its below 110, I think that's NOT a good outlet(or maybe the entire service is not up to snuff). A voltage regulator SHOULD help, but I would want to know if the voltage is poor at the this outlet, or in the whole building(it the outlet is not right, then it needs to be diagnosed and fixed). I also give a hearty thumbs up for using a UPS backup. I run an APC800va and have all my studio gear EXCEPT the speakers on it. It has saved more than 1 session when I had a complete outage during a bounce to disk(which could have corrupted the entire session).

[TCM]

Originally Posted by albee1952

I would measure the voltage at the outlet with all the stuff turned on(pull the plug out just enough to get the meter probes in). What voltage do you have? If its below 110, I think that's NOT a good outlet(or maybe the entire service is not up to snuff). A voltage regulator SHOULD help, but I would want to know if the voltage is poor at the this outlet, or in the whole building(it the outlet is not right, then it needs to be diagnosed and fixed). I also give a hearty thumbs up for using a UPS backup. I run an APC800va and have all my studio gear EXCEPT the speakers on it. It has saved more than 1 session when I had a complete outage during a bounce to disk(which could have corrupted the entire session).

+1 what Albee said and I use a Furman PS-Pro to protect my gear.

[guitardom]

also another thought. if you are running in say your home or apt. it is actually safer and minimizes the risk for ground loops to keep all your gear running off the same breaker. does not have to be the same outlet, that typically should not matter. if you dont know what all is on that breaker, shut it off and check lights and outlets. also its nice but not always possible to find one that has no halogen lights and fans running on it to help reduce possible noise as well.