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Having a problem when HVAC system turns on and cuts my system off!

Ok here’s the deal smart Agoners. I have been in this new house with pretty much the same rig with no issues for a year or so. I play music pretty much all day now in our living room space that opens up to the kitchen. Several times throughout the day, not every time, when the HVAC system turns on it will cause my computer server usb connection to the dac to fail. Usually a few seconds after the HVAC turns on the USB signal is lost.....cuts out?

My system is on a dedicated 20 amp line with two levels of conditioning before the dac and computer server. A BPT balanced conditioner feeding two Core Power Technology balanced conditioner/cords to my system. See my virtual system for a better understanding.

I have have to turn off the dac and turn it back on to re-initiate and play music again. My dac is built into my amp just as an FYI. What the heck is going on and what is the fix?

Must be some kind of electrical surge or such that is somehow impacting my direct AC line and system. Strange. Happening more often of late.

128x128grannyring
grannyring's avatar
grannyring OP
4,637 posts
 
Thanks all. I did two things that may have cured the issue. 

- the iFi Micro USB 3 has a grounding switch.  Manual says to defeat it and cut the ground. Well, instead I decided to engage the ground switch 

- I plugged one of my LPS units in a different BPT conditioner outlet

It has not happened since.  Hope this is it!
grannyring's avatar
grannyring OP
4,637 posts
 
Well it started up again at 6pm. I will remove the IFi next to see if it stops. 
rotaryphone
159 posts
 
Stick a voltage meter and see how much it sag. Might want to clean out computer power supply as well. 
grey9hound
599 posts
 
Hey Bill. I hope all is well . Do you have a meter that you can put on the outlet that the Golden Gate is plugged into . I would be willing to bet that you are getting a voltage drop when the A/C kicks on.I would bet that the Line Conditioner is the one that causes the drop out .I am guessing that the Lampi is plugged into the conditioner .. right ?
Have you tried plugging the Lampi and or PC directly into the outlet ? Are you running the conditioner off of the dedicated outlet .I would try to bypass the line conditioner. I would bet that it is the culprit...... ????
Good Luck
evelyn1
16 posts
 
Hi grannyring,
  I remember an episode of "This Old House" on PBS where they did a feature of a startup business. The business was about a system that kept track of what was happening with all the breakers in electrical panel in a home. Each conductor on each breaker had a current transformer (CT) on it. The CT's sent current draw info to a computer which had a program that recorded what was happening and kept a log that could be reviewed many months later. You could see when a motor was energized and how much the surge current was along with how long it lasted. By having a history of every breaker you could tell when things were running normally and when things started malfunctioning. They said that when things start having problems it may be long time afterwards before it becomes noticeable. That could be anything such as a hot water heating element or washing machine malfunctioning. That being said my guess would be your problem could very well be your hvac unit. If it turns on and there's much not much going on electrically in the household then it may not be enough to trip out you equipment. It could also be that something else is malfunctioning and the hvac coming on is enough to trip the conditioner. That would explain the intermittent problem. You mentioned that everything worked fine for a year so something has changed. I think we all could use one of those monitoring systems. Hope this helps.
       Frank
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