You folks here might find this interesting. I just went to do a service call at a local client's place who has an 8 year old Runco 852 CRT projector that just died. I pulled it out, and as I was leaving, the client also asked if I wanted to repair a surge protector that 'died some time ago'. I said sure, so he gave me a Panamax single rack space 1000+ surge protector/line conditioner shown below. I'd like to dissect it here for you non PC board people to show how some claims are unfounded. First, I link you to these stellar reviews here (OK, one isn't so stellar): Now, I give to you the pictures below. Too bad they don't just show up, but I'm too lazy to Photoshop tonight.

The first picture is one that many of you have probably seen, there are a whole lot of these out here. THey have a nice LED display that shows the incoming voltage, there's a dimmer circuit for the LEDs, and a couple of the outlets are delayed by 10 seconds or so to prevent power amp turnon thump, a nice feature. These retailed for somewhere around $400 new from what audioreview says. This unit is maybe 8 years old or so. THe second picture shows the main PC board. THe small PC board in the back left corner is for the dimmer control. THe main board has a bunch of chips on the left side that are for the turnon delay relays and voltage comparators for the LED panel on the front.

Note that unlike most other circuits, there are no low voltage transformers that provide low levels of power to drive the chips. Instead Panamax decided to use a voltage dropping resistor, a cheap way of doing it. Genuine crusader marine engine parts. One of those resistors has gotten so hot that the color bands are flaking off of it.

It's to the left of the orange/brownish colored capacitor in the middle of the board, the PC board under the resistor is also discolored. Then we have a number of 10 or 15 amp open relays that turn on the back power outlets. These are open contact relays, the cheapest that you can find. I would have expected to at least see completely enclosed relays.

Now, for the power conditioning/surge protection. There's 5 MOVs which protect against incoming overvoltage. Most, if not all current electronic devices already have these installed in their power supplies. Second we have a TINY toroid coil that in my opinion will do NOTHING to the AC power going from the input cord to the receptacles. The second picture shows additional circuitry for the LED display.

Why Power Management? It's more than just lightning. Every AC outlet in your home and business sees dozens daily electrical surges, spikes and fluctuations;. (1) Panamax Max 1000+ Surge Protector / Line Conditioner / Power (1) S1-SPP Signal Processing Package: This package, which allows for manual setup. My Panamax max 1000 + surge protector is blinking.

Now, I realize this unit isn't indicative of regenerative supplies, etc. I'm just dissecting a typical mass marketed $400 'conditioner' that is nothing more than a fancy power bar with minimal surge protection built into it.

THhe claims written into the reviews area are nothing short of bogus. In my opinion. Oh and the PS of course: This was the first unit in the customer's system to fail. A number of the cheap electrolytic caps used to filter the DC in the unit dried up and died. Originally Posted by coldmachine Never once have I ever considered a power conditioner, nor would I.

Neither would anyone else i know. Doesn't everything use some form of PSU anyway? It always amazes me reading people make outlandish claims regarding sound stage, tightening bass, PQ or whatever. Navya serial song na jaane free download.

What is it they say about fools and their money? Monster cables and power conditioners. They bring to mind the myriad of additives and devices that are supposed to increase the mpg in my car by 30%. They've all been tested and they're all BS. Originally Posted by FrantzM Curt I read your post and indeed there does not seem to have much in this 'Power Conditionner', but do not you think that the subsequent posts generalization are a tad extreme?

You have dissected just ONE and from this ONE people can infer they are all the same? My thoughts were in no way based on the OPs disection, just experience and common sense. I in no way infer they are all the same. I am sure many have all sorts of power conditioning circuitry inside.

Its the necessity I question,and the validity of the outlandish claims made regarding performance increases. In order for a coil to have a substantial amount of a filtering effect, it must have some inductance value. Two turns of wire around a small core is like putting a proverbvial finger in a dike.

That would also be why other power conditioners have substantial coils and capacitors in them. Here's one example of a conditioner that _could_ have some effect on incoming AC with lots of noise on it: I've met Brian Inouye, and while he and I fundamentally don't agree on lots of things, he does seem to have some grounded basis (pun intended) on what he builds. The conditioner was at the top of a wall unit that is open to the unheated garage in the back, so I'd say that this system was actually in a cooler location than most. It's a cheap capacitor that gave way, located next to a resistor that was underrated that gave off a lot of heat.