Mains conditioning, what of a UPS?

[fayeanddavid]

Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) offer conditioned mains as part of their technology, i,e the battery back up power pack to the UPS is then inverted from DC to AC seamlessly on mains failure. Mains throughput normally is raw mains converted to dc then to the ac inverter which provides a "perfect sinusoidal" wave form of width and peak (therefore perfect rms). A 3kVA UPS (say nominal 2.5kW) would allow sufficient headroom for high current demands, most AV amps are rated at nominally 750 watts as a maximum (nameplate), mine is rated 500 watts, and there is the benefit of under mains fail either carry on listening or a graceful shut down of equipment

I would make an assumption that this is what all mains conditioning units strive to do, would a UPS do the trick?

 

[Frank Harvey]

I use one on my projector, but I've never done any A/B comparison, so can't comment on quality, but as they supply a more constant mains to an item, I'd guess it should be better as there'll be no spikes.

One thing I will say though - they're a little noisy! Mine buzzes, which isn't too much of an issue during a movie, but if you're not watching a film or didn't have the TV or any music on, you'll hear it. And mines only a 1.5....

 

[fayeanddavid]

And you've done that specifically for mains conditioning with the benefit of ride through for mains fail?

Yes, I used a 2.5kVA years ago when I had a 36" Tosh CRT and some stuff, and they can hum a bit no not as in cow dung hum!!