Hello, > I also have a brand new digital multimeter which shows voltages varying > between 150 V and 250 V. nice. ;)
> The SMPS in the PC is not able to provide the power that these higher > capacity disk's stepper motors demand. The last stepper motor got lost with my 40MB disk, everything in the GB range has VC-Actuators and 3-Phase spindle motors. However, the Problem remains. > It never occurred to me so far that disk failures were a natural > consequence of my little "power games" if one can call it that. > > Anyway I also hear my water pump getting slowed and speeded due to the > same power fluctuation. > > But we all know that hard disks are pretty unforgiving. The spindle > inside it needs precision of few microns and the "lost interrupt error" > above surely points to a clear power problem. Maybe, could still be something else. > So the proposal I was given was to buy an online UPS for 35000 rupees > which works out to nearly 925 USD. Not something within my budget right > now. I was told that it is from the reputed General Electric company and > that it was made specifically for Asia. > > Moreover I need to ensure that whatever money I spend now is really > worth it. > > I am also doubtful whether a high capacity UPS in addition to the 1.5 > KVA UPS that I already have can arrest or "isolate" the power games in > the main power supply. Your whole email is a bit to long, but however. You wouldn't need a bigger UPS but a smaller and better UPS. A real online, eg. "double-conversion" will make sure you got clean power. The voltage fluktuations are not a problem, any "decent" SMPS can handle 150-250V. The Problem will be more likely short spikes you don't see on DMM. 1. Get a good power-supply which keep your PC running, after you pull the plug for about 1 Second, you can have a friend with some electrical skill put additional capacitors in there and try running the PC without UPS. 2. Every cable going from your PC somewhere else, eg. phone,network,power should run through a filter, with good common ground, there are these power-extensions which offer protection against lightning, where you can plug in everything. Some of them are good some bad, but they are not expensive and one can give it a try. -- Something like this you will have to do whatever else you do. -- 3. Online / Double Conversion UPS, doesn't need to be big, but has to be of this type, look at wikipedia about the topic. Good luck. -sm
