March 18, 2011
Managing power on audio/video equipment on motoryachts must begin in the planning stage of the design of the system.
Switching from shore power to ship’s power is a sensitive transition and creates a lot of stress on audio/video equipment. When equipment is constantly subjected to over/under voltage, it begins to diminish the lifespan of the equipment and creates failures in the operation of the equipment.
Monitoring the input voltage with a power management product that has some kind of AVM (automatic voltage monitoring) will protect equipment from damage and major component deterioration by disconnecting and reconnecting the power from the different power changes. This type of device will maintain a constant voltage.
When the transition of shore power to ship’s power occurs, it will take over and maintain the correct voltage level.
Have you ever seen the lights in a room dim and flicker when a power change occurs? This happens when something new comes on (i.e., a hair dryer) and pulls power from the flow already being used.
Simple things change the voltage and make visual differences so imagine what’s happening to sensitive audio/video equipment that you can’t see and the damage it’s causing.
Voltage regulation (or stabilization) is the best way to stabilize power, either with a battery back-up or a device that is made specifically for controlling voltage. Controlling this will keep your voltage at a constant level and keep your audio/video equipment operating at an optimum level and give it the lifespan it was intended to have.
Once you’ve switched from shore power to ship’s power the challenges really begin. Concerns with voltage drops and power surges need to be addressed.
Equipment on a motor yacht doesn’t face some of the things that land-based equipment faces, such as natural disasters, but it is subject to lightning and power surges just the same and need to be protected the same way. The question is always the same: protect or disconnect? Protecting equipment and devices during such electrical nightmares is a must with some sort of surge protection.
Using thermal fuses and high capacity metal surge protectors also known as MOVs (metal oxide varistors) or other power management protection products have a catastrophic protection circuit as a fundamental layer of defense to keep equipment protected. These devices are the last line of defense. Using these types of devices and technology will protect equipment from electrical events.
As more and more new gadgets flood the market, their digital components become more sophisticated. As these components evolve, their power supplies become more efficient as well. It’s important to use the recommended power supply for each piece of equipment and not mix and match these or use what is leftover in a drawer.
Power management devices such as a power line conditioner and surge protection filter out unwanted noise that is often contributed to severe electrical feedback and is common in audio/video equipment.
Most line conditioners use a generic circuit to filter the AC line noise. These basic internal components do their job, but they still leave behind unwanted harmonic noise, which is detrimental to your system’s performance and is unacceptable in a power management product. Most high performance home theater devices (Blu-ray disc players and digital projectors, for example) benefit greatly from noise filtration.
Using Lift (Linear Filtration Technology) in specific power management products will filter the unwanted noise evenly and ensure first-class noise filtration.
Changes in technology have also created smaller devices such as iPhones and MP3 players. These devices do not need 120volts out of the wall, so they come with a small black box -- known as a conversion transformer -- on the power cables for charging these devices. Using your ship’s laptop computer is one way to charge these devices as well as using surge protectors that have a built-in USB connection on the front of the panel.
Some gaming items such as Xbox and PlayStation 3 are powered by internal batteries and require transformers to be connected to the wall. The problem here is that some outlets are not always convenient to access, so using an extension or power strip is necessary.
Power management can be confusing at times, and it can be difficult to understand which technology is right for protecting equipment and maintaining performance. If it’s important, plug it into a quality surge protection device, not a $9 power strip bought at the nearest electronics store.
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