I have a customer with a rack of gear that consists of a pioneet sc07 receiver, pioneer BDP01 ray, timewarner cable box, apple tv, elan g1, elan s86 zone controller and a fusion oms 1 music streamer. The surge protector was a monster hts1600.
At random intervals that surge protector would shut down the switched outlets. None of the equipment appears to be faulty. I took a panamax 4400 and stuck it in the system to and it developed the same probem with the switched outlets turning off

Could throw an MB unit in front of the 4400 to eliminate brown outs, or a strip on the always on to migrate away from the switched outlets. I'm pretty sure the switched outlets need turned back on physically after a loss.

To me, on the surface, this suggests that there is something odd about the power and the surge suppressor is doing its job.

Are you using a 12V trigger?

I am not familiar with either of those devices but i would check to see if there is a setting for how the outlet behaves after power outage. With middle atlantic you can choose to have the outlet be On or Off or whatever the last state was.

If it is set to have the outlet OFF then i would jump to the conclusion that your gear is functioning normally and that they are losing power as Buzz mentioned. If this is the case, do as Don suggested and put in a UPS to allow your equipment to stay on through brown outs.

How are you NOT one of us in getting inundated with off again, on again notifications from BlueBolt, OvrC, Bakpak, ihijii? Step it up and put your dev on DnD at night. Look at the 4315 from Panamax. If you have an OMS you certainly have LAN available at the rack.

Yeah my first question to the homeowner was if there was any power outages or not. He claims there's been none to his knowledge. I'm not knowledgeable enough in the electrical field to know if maybe a loose neutral or an insufficient ground could cause these problems. Since the rack resides in the unfinished part of the basement I'm going to suggest that he have an electrician set up a 20 amp dedicated breaker if that's not how it's already configured.

I recall some past job with a monster surge protextortion issue. If asking for a 20 amp circuit make sure he does not put in a 20 amp recepticle unless your surge is a true 20 amp model which I assume is not since it is currently plugged into a 25 amp circuit.

Could you explain this a bit?
A 20 amp surge protector will have a plug with the two main prongs at right angles to each other. A 20 amp socket is needed for that. It is not legal to put a 20 amp socket on a 15 amp circuit, but of course a crap electrician can do it. And who said anything was plugged into a 25 amp circuit; look at response #7 at [Link: boards.straightdope.com]. As far as I know there is no such thing as a 25 amp breaker for use on 120V, so what is that last bit about?

Am I trying to correct things here? Sure -- to something understandable that corresponds with reality. Correct me if I've got the details wrong!

Sorry Ernie. Just like protextortion. 25 should have been 15. I shall proof read next time I respond. This typically happens when I use my phone to respond.

I simply meant if OP is going to request a 20 amp circuit, make sure the electrician does not put in a 20amp receptacle. As we know most surge protectors are not 20 amp models and since model OPer is plugged in to a 15 amp circuit it is safe to assume it has a standard plug.

Now clear on all accounts. Phones sure are a combination of wonderful and frustrating when it comes to typing into them, aren't they?

Every 20 amp receptacle I've ever noticed is made so it will accept the lower current parallel-blde plug as well as the 20 amp plug with the blades at right angles. If that's indeed how they are ALL made, there would be no problem putting in a 20 amp socket.

There are other receptacle blade arrangements, but those are in receptacles meant for 250V operation.

I think you are correct about the 20 amp receptacle

Unless you have a UPS, Surge Suppressor, or Power bar/stripe that requires a 20A feed then you don't require a 20A circuit. Depending on the power ratings for all devices you may be exceeding what a single 15A circuit can handle and rather than the breaker tripping, the Surge Suppressor may be switching off receptacles to protect itself and the devices before the overdraw gets to the breaker.

Increasing the feed from 15A to 20A will not stop the Surge Suppressor from protecting itself as it is only rated for a 15A. Even if there is enough amperage to handle all the devices, you also need a 20A rated surge suppressor to work properly.

All manufactures manuals/devices have to list the power ratings. Add up your total amps and if you have exceeded 12A (a 15A circuit can only be loaded to 80%) then you need to do one of two things.

1. replace circuit to be 20A AND replace surge suppressor to be 20A rated
2. Add a second 15A circuit AND a second 15A rated surge suppressor and divide your power ensuring you put the amps on different feeds as I'm sure that is what will be causing most of the issues.

Yes.
We can't complete an installation at a local furniture store because they keep putting off installing a 20A circuit, even after they specced, and we supplied, a 20A UPS. The irony is that we're using power strips and a single 15A circuit and nothing has blown in the several months they've been delinquent.

A very important point here is that a 20A circuit is not a 20A breaker and a 20A socket. It's that, wired with 12 gauge wire so the amperage, when drawn, does not overheat the wire.


That's an interesting point! It would be valuable to know if UPSs etc behave this way. Does anyone know if these devices shut down individual outlets, or groups of outlets, instead of shutting down all outlets, when too much current is drawn? It might be obvious but I haven't looked.


That's exactly right.


And remember that "the circuit" includes using the proper wire gauge. If you're in a home that's wired with Romex, you're out of luck without opening walls.


Yes.

Canadian Electrical code (ESA and I am sure the NEC is the same) have re-evaluated all the wire gauges and you are now able to use 14AWG wire for 20A circuits (wire length dependent).


Again see my above comment in regards to wire gauge and circuit size.

This might prove to have been a bad idea.

Remodels often include adding outlets by extending circuits. This often means the wire path from the panel gets lengthened. What will happen with a 20A circuit that's already as long as is allowed?

On the one hand, a 20A circuit at its maximum allowable path length of 14AWG should not be extended; on the other hand, an electrician who sees the wire is 14AWG should assume it's a 15A circuit, so he wouldn't load it to 20A.

Maybe and should.

The maybe and should make this not seem like a good idea.

If all 20A circuits use 12AWG and all 15A circuits use 14AWG, the electrician knows the amperage of the circuit by looking. That's better, I think.