CraigSca
09-05-2005, 07:04 AM
Ok, so I bought a new TV a couple of weeks ago (my first new one in over 10 years, I figured I'd held out long enough). When I purchased the TV, the salesman (suckered?) had me buy a power conditioning unit saying that the extra protection will reduce snow and audio "noise". For troubleshooting purposes it's a Monster Power HTS 1600. So here's the problem...
Yesterday was my late day to wake up (my wife and I alternate getting up early with the kids) but within 5 mins of my wife getting up early (and me going back to bed) I get the call that the TV isn't working. :eek: Ok...I head downstairs to take a look at the thing and I notice that the Monster Power thingy is displaying a voltage of 130-132 (it's constantly updating its display) and the "abnormal voltage" light is on. Not being an electrician my only understanding is "too high voltage = bad" but I'm not sure how bad. I head online to look up the manual for the unit (as the original manual is long gone) and can't even find that model on the flippin' Monster website. I look up "like" models and only see that it says when the abnormal voltage light is on, turn off all the equipment hooked up to it. Meanwhile, the conditioning unit has voluntarily shut down EVERYTHING that it's powering (DirecTV, the TV, DVD player, etc) - and won't let me turn anything on. After about half an hour of me considering just disconnecting everything from this box all of a sudden the voltage is "ok" and all the normal lights like "Protection on, conditioning on" turn back on. Everything's back to normal, but I still have no idea what caused this to happen in the first place.
Flash forward to today...it's my early day to wake up - and the voltage is again up over 130 and nothing will work. Now, I've lived here for over 2 years, and had my old TV hooked into a regular surge protector (along with every other piece of equipment) and I never noticed anything wrong - the TV has lasted over 10 years and I'm sure I've had abnormal voltage at other times.
Questions - is 130-132 volts really that bad? Is this conditioning unit being tempermental, or is it really working as advertised and I'm just too much of a home theater noob to realize it? Should I have my electrical system checked because the power is inconsistent? When the hell can I turn on my damn TV :D ?
Thanks!
Yesterday was my late day to wake up (my wife and I alternate getting up early with the kids) but within 5 mins of my wife getting up early (and me going back to bed) I get the call that the TV isn't working. :eek: Ok...I head downstairs to take a look at the thing and I notice that the Monster Power thingy is displaying a voltage of 130-132 (it's constantly updating its display) and the "abnormal voltage" light is on. Not being an electrician my only understanding is "too high voltage = bad" but I'm not sure how bad. I head online to look up the manual for the unit (as the original manual is long gone) and can't even find that model on the flippin' Monster website. I look up "like" models and only see that it says when the abnormal voltage light is on, turn off all the equipment hooked up to it. Meanwhile, the conditioning unit has voluntarily shut down EVERYTHING that it's powering (DirecTV, the TV, DVD player, etc) - and won't let me turn anything on. After about half an hour of me considering just disconnecting everything from this box all of a sudden the voltage is "ok" and all the normal lights like "Protection on, conditioning on" turn back on. Everything's back to normal, but I still have no idea what caused this to happen in the first place.
Flash forward to today...it's my early day to wake up - and the voltage is again up over 130 and nothing will work. Now, I've lived here for over 2 years, and had my old TV hooked into a regular surge protector (along with every other piece of equipment) and I never noticed anything wrong - the TV has lasted over 10 years and I'm sure I've had abnormal voltage at other times.
Questions - is 130-132 volts really that bad? Is this conditioning unit being tempermental, or is it really working as advertised and I'm just too much of a home theater noob to realize it? Should I have my electrical system checked because the power is inconsistent? When the hell can I turn on my damn TV :D ?
Thanks!