Deciphering electrical specs

[dlminehart]

We have some electronics that seem to be bothered by electrical noise or sagging voltage or something. (A film processor that goes offline when our massive press dims all the lights in the county in starting up. . . well, almost.) So, I'm looking into getting a line conditioner. And can't figure out what the jargon means. Here's what I see:

Output Power Capacity: 500 Watts / 750 VA
Max Configurable Power: 500 Watts / 750 VA
Nominal Output Voltage: 120V
Output Voltage Distortion: Less than 5% at full load
Output Frequency (sync to mains): 47 - 53 Hz for 50 Hz nominal, 57 - 63 Hz for 60 Hz nominal
Crest Factor: up to 5 : 1
Waveform Type: Sine wave

Input voltage range for main operations: 82 - 144V
Input voltage adjustable range for mains operation: 75 - 154V

The line about 5% output voltage distortion, combined with the lines about input voltage range, suggests to me that this device should give me something like 114V-126V (i.e., +/- 5% of 120V) when inputs range from 82V-144V (or is it 75V-154V?).

Am I reading it correctly?

[LCHIEN]

We have some electronics that seem to be bothered by electrical noise or sagging voltage or something. (A film processor that goes offline when our massive press dims all the lights in the county in starting up. . . well, almost.) So, I'm looking into getting a line conditioner. And can't figure out what the jargon means. Here's what I see:

Output Power Capacity: 500 Watts / 750 VA
Max Configurable Power: 500 Watts / 750 VA
Nominal Output Voltage: 120V
Output Voltage Distortion: Less than 5% at full load
Output Frequency (sync to mains): 47 - 53 Hz for 50 Hz nominal, 57 - 63 Hz for 60 Hz nominal
Crest Factor: up to 5 : 1
Waveform Type: Sine wave

Input voltage range for main operations: 82 - 144V
Input voltage adjustable range for mains operation: 75 - 154V

The line about 5% output voltage distortion, combined with the lines about input voltage range, suggests to me that this device should give me something like 114V-126V (i.e., +/- 5% of 120V) when inputs range from 82V-144V (or is it 75V-154V?).

Am I reading it correctly?

No, distortion is not the 120V output variation from a nominal 120V.
Distortion refers to the waveshape variation from the perfect sine wave (0% distortion). 5% is probably OK for a line output.
What it would actually look like depends upon whether its 3rd harmonic distortion or 5th harmonic or some of both. But it should be OK for a
computer-type device.

Output will likely be between 110-and 120V (it doesn't really say) and fairly stable despite input variations of 82-144V (because that's what line stabilizers are supposed to do.)
THe extended "adjustable" range can probably be set with voltage taps to run on a consistently lower (probably 75-134) or a consistently higher (probably 94 to 154) input if that's present.

Have you considered a UPS? A good UPS will not only handle line variations on the input and give you relatively clean output but will also keep you from crashing when you have a power outage.

[dlminehart]

A small 500VA UPS with voltage regulation costs about $300, while the line conditioner alone is about $50. And the film processor has two parts, only one of which (the film source and logic section) uses little electricity. The chemical processing and drying parts each use a sizeable amount for heating, and would drain a $300 UPS in short order. Nonetheless, I do have a spare UPS w/o voltage regulation that I may be able to swap with a user who has it but doesn't really need it as much. After all, just the motherboard on this film processor costs about $10,000! Cheaper than the $250,000 one on our press!

[LCHIEN]

A small 500VA UPS with voltage regulation costs about $300, while the line conditioner alone is about $50. And the film processor has two parts, only one of which (the film source and logic section) uses little electricity. The chemical processing and drying parts each use a sizeable amount for heating, and would drain a $300 UPS in short order. Nonetheless, I do have a spare UPS w/o voltage regulation that I may be able to swap with a user who has it but doesn't really need it as much. After all, just the motherboard on this film processor costs about $10,000! Cheaper than the $250,000 one on our press!

If you can, run the electronics/computer part on a UPS, and the heating/process power from the mains. They'll have to have separate power supplies for this, but it will protect the part that needs protection and allow the heaters and brute-force dumb stuff to be abused at will.
If won't keep you process running in the event of a power outage but will protect the electronics and keep the whole thing running when there's interference and powerline events going on.