I am BUMMING OUT .... Power Line Surge wipeout ...

[Trajan]

I have two Behringer TRUTH B2031 powered monitors ..... I awoke this morning to one of them humming loud .... So I shut that one off .... after a few minutes, the other one suddenly started humming like the first one .... So I shut that down too ... (They have auto power features : they should have been OFF)

While I sat down and tried to wake up, I turned on the TV ... It did not turn on .... I could use room lights, but I could tell they were reduced power, and turning two on at once made them both dimmer ...

I called the power company .... Turns out: I somehow lost the neutral line between the house and the street sometime last night or early morning .... OK ... fine ...

PGE replaced the neutral and restored power ... but now: The TV and Monitors still do NOT work ...

The TV is a SONY WEGA Trinitron, and after it begins its power up, it instead shuts off again, and the little red LED blinks 5 times, like an error code .... I am hoping I can find a reset ... I presume it may have lost a LVPS of one type or another ....

On the other hand: The two monitors are STILL funked up; They go to massive HUM when I power up, and I can see the bass driver move to full inward travel and stick there (cept for the 60 cycle, I am guessing) .. so a DC bias is present, along with the hum ....

I guess I am seeking knowledge from a residential electrician (I am an electronics technician):

1) Can the loss of the neutral path cause a voltage spike ? .. a current surge ?

2) Can a Sony WEGA be reset after logic upset ? ....

3) Can I place a claim with PGE for the loss of these items due to defective electrical infrastructure OUTSIDE of the house ?

The TV cost $400 used .... The Behringer monitors cost $300 each, and so both are $600 ... I cannot afford to replace any of them ...

The Idiot Box I can do without .. On the other hand: The Behringer B2031's are my primary sound amplification for my home studio .... I am MUTE without them ....

I suppose I can pop them open and look for an open input fuse, or a blown component ... Im pretty sure these things need balanced power in, and losing one side sent the PS into a rail .... Since it happened to both at the same time, fixing one will fix the other ... but I am REALLY bummed: I had been very careful and babied those suckers since I bought them .... and now a silly wire on the street WHACKED them .... and fucked up my disposition ....

ANY information would be helpful .... I am guessing I will be filing a claim .... Who knows how long that is going to take to bear fruit .... Oh well ... I guess I am just venting here ...

FUCK ! .... This sucks .....

[bkkyosemite]

1. Call PG&E and find out if they are responsible for the line that caused the problem

if they are then put in a claim. Our power went out in Sonora, CA for 32 hours and I lost all my food including a freezer full of expensive meat. They paid for the amount I said I paid for the food.

Find out if they are responsible then ask how to file a claim. It's worth a try.

[wtmusic]

2. Since neutral is grounded at the box

losing it to the street wouldn't cause a voltage spike, although both could be symptomatic of a power transformer blowing.

The first thing I would do is confirm that the wiring was properly fixed. Are other appliances/circuits in your house working?

[Trajan]

4. Yes ... They are working ....

But they worked improperly before he fixed the neutral line ...

For instance: The microwave turned on and went through the cycle, but it didnt heat ...

When the Fridge came on: The lights dimmed ...

I could hear the bathroom fan slow when the light was turned on ...

I measured the outlet with a DMM ... It measured anywhere from 90 VAC to 150 VAC, when lightly loaded.

It dropped as far as 60 VAC when I started turning things on ...

After he fixed the line: Everything measured 122 VAC loaded and unloaded ... So yeah ... something we DEFINITELY wrong, and they definitely repaired it ... But I wasnt awake for the causal event ... I just woke up to everything malfunctioning after the fact ....

I am slightly bummed about the TV .... I am EXTREMELY bummed about the studio monitors ....

It is obvious a transient event occurred .... and it whacked the fuck out of my stuff ....

The computer survived though ..... Ehem ....

[Billy Burnett]

5. You should plug your studio gear into a power conditioner. Speakers too.

I have separate Furman conditioners in each my racks. Makes it easy to flip on the power to each rack from the front.

This one...





Including the powered speakers and/or amps. All my rack units, keyboards, Midi/SMPTE boxes, and Macs (with UPS) run on these.


Sorry to hear about your loss, but those Behringers are only about $360 a pair (a deal for good quality near-neutral sound). Personally I gave up on the powered Truth speakers. Had the capacitors fry on a couple of sets - they run too hot. For my mobile recording system I use their passive Truth speakers and a high slew rate Adcom class A amp. I feel that system sounds better than their amplified Truths.

Regards.

[Tesha]

6. You're wrong.

The impedance of the safety ground may not be sufficient to
carry the neutral current without a lot of voltage drop so
losing the neutral absolutely has the "potential" to cause large surges
in your home.

Essentially, depending on what loads are "on" at the moment
the neutral disconnects, the entire 240 volt power supply
to the house can be dropped across one of the 120 VAC legs.
Imagine a voltage divider: On one end of the divider, you might
have (say) the relatively low impedance of a large 120 VAC motor
(such as your heating blower or refrigerator). On the other end
of the divider, you might have the relatively high impedance of
the keep-alive power supplies of your monitors and TV set.
Normally, the center of the voltage divider is well-grounded by
the neutral and safety ground connections so each leg of the
divider sees the normal 120 VAC, no matter what the relative
impedances are. But open up the neutral and expect, as is so
often the case, that the safety ground isn't all that hot and
suddenly the voltage divider is dropping most of the 240 VAC
across the high impedances of those keep-alive power supplies.

PPPZZZZZZtttt!

And yes, if the problem was the external wiring, the power
company will gladly eat your reasonable costs; it's not that
uncommon so they know how to handle this.

Tesha

[Mika]

3. delete