A/C interrupts music

[rickca]

Every time my A/C compressor turns on, my music gets interrupted.  I live in south Florida ... that's why I'm using A/C in the middle of winter.  I'm in a rental condo, so I can't do anything with the wiring.  Any suggestions?  I've only recently started having this problem on my test audio system.  The only change I've made to it was to remove a local surge suppressor which was doing weird things to my ground.  With the old surge suppressor (a piece of APC junk), a ground shunted Mean Well would not work with my LPS-1 so I got rid of the APC.

 

I actually would like to reintroduce a local surge suppressor if I can find one that doesn't mess with my ground.  Are the Brickwall surge protectors any better than the garden variety ones?  I have to figure this out soon, because south Florida is pretty much the lightning capital of the world in summer.

[One and a half]

NEC rules cover lightning protection for buildings, although some of the newer regulations with separate ground rods for PV arrays are very odd. So the lightning protection is a different issue. 

 

If you tracked the problem to the aircon's compressor switching in, the switch responsible is wearing out or faulty, one day it won't work at all. In this case you need to talk to your landlord to have this fixed, as it's affecting the test system, most likely an RF spike or worse an AC spike. 

[esldude]

I've read elsewhere that Zero Surge, SurgeX, and Brickwall use basically the same type of protective circuitry.  It goes back to a patent held by Zero Surge. 

 

I don't know this will fix your problem, but you need one in Florida. 

 

I've run into weird things where inductive kickback could upset DAC clocks and make them skip.  Traced to a faulty Low pressure sodium light.  So odd things can happen. 

 

EDIT:  the faulty noisy switch One and a Half mentions is a good possibility for what is going on.  

 

As a temporary work around plugging into a different electrical circuit in your house if possible might fix the issue.  

[sandyk]

Try connecting a Varistor between Active and Neutral of a double adaptor , and plugging the A/C into that.

[rickca]

It's actually a heat pump system with an inside unit and an outside unit.  It's only a few months old and was installed by a licensed contractor and inspected by the state.  The building itself is 20 years old and may have dodgy wiring.

 

When the A/C comes on, I actually see my desktop speakers turn off and then back on, as you would see from a very short temporary power loss.  Does that tell you anything more?

 

My main audio system has no problems.  It's in another room and everything is plugged into a Richard Gray 1200C.

[Speedskater]

The A/C switching on/off is acting like a spark gap radio transmitter from over a century ago. So a surge suppressor  won't do much. A large correctly chosen and placed might help (see the Jim Brown page. Best is attacking it at the source with a RC scrubber network. But the requires an electrician.  I'll look for a part number.

[Speedskater]

Found one:

Mallory QUENCHARC ARC SUPPRESSOR / SNUBBER NETWORKS

504M02QA100

or

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Cornell-Dubilier-CDE/504M02QA100?qs=%2fha2pyFadugornnP0ldPUtdJwzMLCOog%2byANxfmEw4dREuZybkfskQ%3d%3d

[rickca]

@JohnSwenson I was using an ISO REGEN with GI enabled powered by an LPS-1 energized by a ground shunted Mean Well.

 

When I removed the ISO REGEN/LPS-1 from the configuration, there's no problem when the A/C turns on or off.  So what is so sensitive here ... is it the LPS-1 or the ISO REGEN?  With the ISO REGEN/LPS-1 in the chain, my powered speakers actually go into/out of standby for a second when the A/C turns on or off.  Everything is plugged into the same Wiremold power strip which has no filtering.

[Allan F]

On 2/11/2018 at 5:06 PM, rickca said:

@JohnSwenson I was using an ISO REGEN with GI enabled powered by an LPS-1 energized by a ground shunted Mean Well.

 

When I removed the ISO REGEN/LPS-1 from the configuration, there's no problem when the A/C turns on or off.  So what is so sensitive here ... is it the LPS-1 or the ISO REGEN?  With the ISO REGEN/LPS-1 in the chain, my powered speakers actually go into/out of standby for a second when the A/C turns on or off.  Everything is plugged into the same Wiremold power strip which has no filtering.

 

I would suggest that you contact Alex Crespi directly at UpTone Audio by sending a message via their website describing the above problem.UpTone Audio

[marce]

Try the ISO REGEN with another power supply, that will determine whether the PSU or the REGEN is the problem. If your speakers actually turn off I would suspect a brown out (a voltage sag when the ac unit switches on). This can be common in car systems when you turn the engine on (crank dip) and is a pain. The problem though does seam to be with the AC unit, it should not have that effect.