Tripp Lite Line Conditioner Problem?

Redmed

Redmed

New Member
Question, Should all the lights from Very Low - Normal be on or should the Normal light be on by itself? On a Tripp Lite LC-1800a line conditioner?

Background of Question:
I have a Tripp Lite LC-1800a line conditioner that I have protecting my TV and audio stuff for years. The last few nights after turning everything off, just before going to bed, in the silence I have noticed sporadic chatter of a relay in the Tripp Lite Line Conditioner LC-1800. I have never noticed this before. I disconnected it last night concerned that it may be getting too old and may be failing. After I disconnected it, I plugged it into a different outlet and noticed the Very Low, Low, Normal and High lights where on. I let it sit for fifteen - twenty minutes without anything plugged into it (no load) and the there was no relay chatter. Not the best test but it was 2AM and I was tired.

The next morning I took the Tripp Lite LC-1800a line conditioner to my work bench and took off the cover and cleaned all the connections even though they all appeared good. I then plugged it in, and this time the Very Low, Low and Normal lights where on. Last night the lights where on to all the way to the High light. Today the lights only went up to the Normal light. I then tested the voltage at the input @123.8v and the output sockets at pretty much the same as the input voltage. I'm assuming last night at 2AM the voltage was slightly higher and that what was causing the relay to fluctuate between the Normal & High circuits.
 
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The Tripp Lite unit is not an active voltage regulator per se, it is a buck/boost voltage stabilizer. I don't recall the exact specs but within a certain percentage, maybe +/-5% or +/-10% of 120V it doesn't apply any voltage correction at all. Only once the input voltage falls outside the range does it apply any correction, otherwise it's just passing through whatever the mains voltage is. Then once outside the inital tolerance, there are two or three steps of correction for high or low voltage. As the correction kicks in you probably are hearing relays switching in or out the various correction taps.
 
The relays change the transformer circuit used to adjust the input voltage up or down to keep within a acceptable range. It is going into the high range at 124.64 volts. My question of someone else with a Tripp Lite LC-1800 Line conditioner is.

Should all the lights Very Low, Low, Normal & High be on at the same time or should only one light be on?

I've read the LC-1800 manual and it does not specify how the lights should display. It just states that the lights indicate the state of the input voltage. The conditioner could be faulty or operating correctly. This started happening as the electric company has been doing work in the area. I have never heard the relay chatter like this before. During the day the voltage stays at 123.8v and the conditioner shows normal. But at night after 11:30pm I'm reading voltages between 124,2v - 125.34v. At this point I'm not sure if the line conditioner is going bad or if the electric company has made changes and the line conditioner is protecting my equipment as it is designed to do.
 
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Followup Question. What voltage are you getting from your electric Co? Is it more or less than the 123.8v (daytime) and 125.34v (night) I'm getting from DTE? Does yours vary from Day and Night?
 
The Line voltage goes up as the load drops on the line. At night after everybody goes to bed, the line voltage goes up. The Line voltage drops in the morning as the load on the system is increased. See it every day at work when testing AC controllers. Line voltage drops around 9 AM
 
Instead of saying "Now I need to determine why my voltage is so high at night.". I should have said that I need to determine what has changed recently. Recently I have chatter from the relays in the Tripp Lite LC-1800a line conditioner. Either the relays where quieter before and I never noticed the transition above 124.6v that occurs at night when the voltage rises. Or the electric company changed something and now the voltage is rising higher then before. I'm also experiencing chatter from my wife. She is worried that the house is going to explode or burn down. I wish I would have checked the voltages day/night a few weeks ago before all this chatter.
 
I’d take it out of the system to be on the cautious path. Especially with an electrical unknown and if nothing more than not wanting to hear my wife say, “I told you so!” while dealing with the insurance adjusters.
It just isn’t worth it.
 
Redmed said:
Instead of saying "Now I need to determine why my voltage is so high at night.". I should have said that I need to determine what has changed recently. Recently I have chatter from the relays in the Tripp Lite LC-1800a line conditioner. Either the relays where quieter before and I never noticed the transition above 124.6v that occurs at night when the voltage rises. Or the electric company changed something and now the voltage is rising higher then before. I'm also experiencing chatter from my wife. She is worried that the house is going to explode or burn down. I wish I would have checked the voltages day/night a few weeks ago before all this chatter.
Click to expand...

In some situations utility companies change taps in anticipation of changes in loading. If you are concerned there is a problem with your supplied power then call the utility company. FWIW, nominal line voltage spec supplied to your house is typically 120V +/- 5%, but under situations can be a little more or little less and still be considered "to spec".
 
FWIW, I have been using those Tripp Lite AVR. surge/spike, conditioners , from the LC 600, 1800, 2400 watt versions since ~1993, installed in various locations in my house`s rooms protecting AV equipment, 2 repair benches test equip, without any concerns or problems..

They continue to do their job, even with being assaulted from decades worth of bad ass local lightning storms(very nearby, and one direct strike), & man made surges/spikes(power company load switching, my drop transformer blowing up one cold morning)

And when the line voltage drops on really hot days here in NE. FL. as it always does, they switch in the next higher tap to keep my connected electronics happy, which also happens when my house is running on it`s backup 25kw generator with high AC consumption loading(water heater, clothes dryer), and my 3.5 ton HVAC kicks on !

Yes, sometimes it can be annoying hearing the voltage tap adjusting relays noise as the Tripp Lite AVR`s cycle back and forth, but that`s ok with me, because their doing their job.

My living room`s A/V rack was the first use of a Tripp Lite AVR (RM 2400), because one very, very hot summer evening, I wished to watch the series Cops on the Big Dish, via my HT`s Barco projector, and my early nineties expensive Lexicon surround sound processor refused to power up, and I thought it had failed !
Turned out to be the line voltage was like ~109 volts at that moment, that I checked with my line monitor with the whole neighborhood heavily sucking down the local grid in that Sunday early evening !

I ordered the RM 2400, installed it & no more starved AC line equipment issues, and it remained powered up and in use 24/7/365 until I replaced it with a quiet voltage switching and much more expensive, & heavier in weight, Furman 20 amp AVR in 2010..

The desire of the quiet voltage switching was the only reason for the change over to the Furman in the critical listening environment of my living room..
That first purchased Tripp Lite RM 2400 AVR, is still in use elsewhere and soldiering on for over 27 yrs. even after being subjected to a lightning strike to my house ~20ft from the power drop entre in the summer of 97 !

The next Tripp Lite AVR I purchased was a LC 2400 non rack mount version, to power/protect my sunroom`s Mc. MC 2205 power amp, first a Mc. C 26(now a C 33 preamp), & (2) Velodyne 400watt servo powered sub woofers in the early 2000`s, and that music system has remained powered up 24/7/365 and daily used since.

Tripp Lite power protection/management equipment is very highly rated in my opinion, and yrs of experience, especially since I have had no failures with any of their equipment, or electronics that are plugged into them.. :beerchug:, :bowdown:

Ciao
 
@Bill Ferris

A key question of the OP seems to be whether there should be only one LED of the Tripp Lite on at any given time or if multiple LEDs are on at any given time. To me it would seem logical only one LED at a time, indicating the status of the unit... no correction or what level of buck/boost is being applied. But, not having one, I don't know if that's right or wrong.

Since you have those exact type of units, can you clarify how the LEDs work for indicating the unit status?
 
whoaru99 said:
@Bill Ferris

A key question of the OP seems to be whether there should be only one LED of the Tripp Lite on at any given time or if multiple LEDs are on at any given time. To me it would seem logical only one LED at a time, indicating the status of the unit... no correction or what level of buck/boost is being applied. But, not having one, I don't know if that's right or wrong.

Since you have those exact type of units, can you clarify how the LEDs work for indicating the unit status?
Click to expand...

I have never seen any of my multiple Tripp Lite AVR`s display any more than 1 in coming AC status LED`s during the decades of use, whoaru99.
One power LED, and one in coming AC status LED, and that`s it.

I wonder if he`s seeing the possible nearby light leakage of one status LED into the one above, or below in a darkened room ?

If he has a variac, or access to one, he could adjust the AC feeding it to confirm it`s auto adjusting output & the LED status light`s for correct indicating function ! Yes/No ?
 
If the OP has a Variac, yes, I'd think using that to supply the unit would confirm operation of the boost/buck functions and respective LED indicators.
 
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