Blown fuse

I believe the XPS is notorious for blowing fuses. It happened twice while I was listening to one at my dealers a few months ago.

Nigel,

Glad to hear the fuse did its job. Were you careful to install the replacement in the same direction as the original?

Funny how these internal fuses decide to go. I have a >15 year old microwave that once blew its internal fuse when the refrigerator (same circuit) kicked on at the same time I pressed "Start". Never a problem since. A two-bit fuse really earns its keep protecting valuable gear. Never appreciated until it does its job.

We've got the electricity distribution people coming round later to check the supply. They are going to put a gizmo on the meter to see what's going on. The UPS's incessant beeping whenever there is a voltage judder is becoming a bit irritating! Interestingly, my neighbours don't seem to have problems, but the houses are on a number of different phases, it seems. 

My XPS2 ate fuses. The only other box to blow one is the 500PS. We keep spares.

The man has checked the supply and it seems ok - he said something about shared earth and negative and that some reading should be 0.35 or less, and we had 0.05, which indicates a good supply. Anyway, he's coming back on Monday with a reader to stick across the wires. Fingers crossed! I'm going to get down to Audio T for a few fuses, just in case...

You're lucky, I think I've gone through 5-10 of these over 2 years on my XPS.

Hungryhalibut posted:

The man has checked the supply and it seems ok - he said something about shared earth and negative and that some reading should be 0.35 or less, and we had 0.05, which indicates a good supply. Anyway, he's coming back on Monday with a reader to stick across the wires. Fingers crossed! I'm going to get down to Audio T for a few fuses, just in case...

I would not be impressed if I were you ...... what about the flickering lights & beeping UPS ??  a sure indicator that its a problem on L or N or both,  earth & negative 0.35v is all about the PME bonding.    Why no recorder installed today.   Hope you have a flash lamp & candles handy.

They only have a limited number of recorders. He'll have one available for Monday, and will leave it attached for four days. 

We've now had the results of a week's recording. Over a few days there were several 60amp spikes, which coincided with the voltage dropping below limits. On on night, at 2.30, there was a 90amp spike, which explains why the XPS had another blown fuse in the morning. We do run the tumble dryer and dishwasher at night, but the most they can use is 26amps. The electric people have now moved the reader to the substation to see if there is a fault at that end, and are muttering about digging up the road.... Still, at least the recording equipment showed that there are real issues. A 90amp spike sounds like a lot to me. 

Your house fuse is unlikely to be rated higher than 100A, and those spikes aren't far off.  I'm surprised your consumer unit didn't trip. 

Yes, the main fuse at the meter is 100amp. I too am surprised that the main consumer unit didn't trip. The stereo has its own unit, with a 60amp fuse. The electric people seem quite concerned, which is good, and they seem keen to sort it out for us. 

Sounds like men in trucks will be making holes  ...........  hope it gets fixed PDQ.  

Hungryhalibut posted:

We've now had the results of a week's recording. Over a few days there were several 60amp spikes, which coincided with the voltage dropping below limits. On on night, at 2.30, there was a 90amp spike, which explains why the XPS had another blown fuse in the morning. We do run the tumble dryer and dishwasher at night, but the most they can use is 26amps. The electric people have now moved the reader to the substation to see if there is a fault at that end, and are muttering about digging up the road.... Still, at least the recording equipment showed that there are real issues. A 90amp spike sounds like a lot to me. 

If they're going to dig up the road, ask if you can have a dedicated feed direct from the substation.  The quality should be brilliant!

Seems like I have power problems too,  we have power OK but it sems others haven't.   Men in big truck arrive at 8am & dig a hole,  another truck & another hole follows,  more trucks arrive & men get in groups rubbing chins & scratching heads.  Now we've just had a knock at the door to be told we are loosing power for about 1 hour any time soon.   OK nice to have a warning, so I've powered down the Naim & other stuff,  the UPS will power the phone & router for up to 2 hours.    Just hope its back on before dark.    

The plot thickens.  We now have two holes & they are now joining them up with a trench .  Just had another door knock to be told they are replacing a section of cable & we are about to go off for 3 to 4 hours ...........  oh well,  might take us out for lunch.  

Fingers crossed they will fix it. We've had no beeping from the ups for a few days now, but clearly something is amiss somewhere. After checking the substation they are going to check the first house in our road to try to isolate the fault. Apparently they only have three of the monitoring boxes to cover the whole area, so they can only check one thing at a time. 

While the UPS has been silent since the men came and put the recording device on the meter, the lights have still been a bit flicky. To my surprise they turned up again today and decided to move our supply onto a different phase. They dug the hole but got called away to fix a power outage elsewhere, and promised that someone would return tomorrow. Let's hope they do...

The hole has now been filled in and touch wood there has been no more beeping. The system doesn't seem to sound any different, which is not really surprising I suppose. 

I was told to see if the beeping starts when we get a lot of rain!