I do have SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCE with developing countries’ power grids.

The worst problem that I have seen is that the neutral wire is usually poorly bonded to ground, and as such it can float several volts above ground even during normal operation. During power transients or lightning it is almost an open circuit causing the common mode transient to rise hundreds of volts above ground. And no, the regular suppressors intended for developed country installations cannot stop it, as they require a low impedance to ground to operate correctly.

Boy, can I tell you horror stories!! Many of these countries have lax or non existent electrical codes, or are seldom enforced.
Somewhere I have a photo of a thin neutral wire simply wrapped around a dirty steel pipe. No clamps of any type.
Additionally, many installations DO NOT have a dedicated safety ground wire. If a type-B receptacle is installed, the ground terminal is attached to the neutral. Since they use any wire color they have lying around, sometimes the ground terminal is bounded to the live wire. Again, I have personally seen it.

Anyway, the solution is, in addition to all that has been suggested, an isolation transformer and a “personal” grounding rod used only for your devices.

Thank you for your time, so ups with sine wave isn't the solution ? I would have a very difficult time finding a certified electrician to install said transformer or anything else.. and I have as I've said a wire going to the earthquake beam inside my home.. from grounding prong to a scratched portion of the beam. Yes I'm using a cut extension wire but it is a lot thicker than the wire inside the cable from power brick to the extruding prong so if a lightning strike occurs i will have a lot more serious issues than a broken laptop... Which is why my petite refrigerator isn't always plugged in... Well it is called "ref" around here.. i even looked at the AC unit connect action and the ground prong has no contact with anything.. and yes about 25-30 m away the landlord did drive a copper rod into the soil but he assures me that all earthquake beams are connected to something going 1.5m into the ground... so i followed his advice and did that, no unsightly cables running 25-30 m... Everyone is more or less happy.. so from here my solution is fix what I can within my petite apt.IE a ups with pure sine wave inverter or a DC to ac inverter (with pure sine)for the 2 solar batteries that I've got....

 

Yep. And I use APC UPSs for my filtering and voltage regulation. Last one was a refurbished unit from eBay.
View attachment 333844
Not much more than the price of a replacement 12V battery for it. Not much ride through capacity/time for my tower and monitor but enough for orderly shutdown when outage occurs plus excellent filtering and regulation.

Worth mentioning that your photo is identical to the one I posted a page or 2 ago but i don't know if ALL ups have pure sine wave or not...

 

Hello my name is christopher i am a french canadian from you already know which province and i currently reside and one of the islands of the philippines to be closer to my wonderful daughter, please forgive the lack of punctuation as i am using speech to text on my smartphone for obvious reasons.

I don't know if it is common knowledge but philippines has something called dirty electricity because of static and the lines or the fact that the voltage goes up and down or the hertz keeps changing i don't know but what i do know is that one computer that i was using the motherboard was damaged although i was using a ups that had a modified sound wave inverter in it and the computer just shut down, so i am trying to get a family member to send me my msi gaming laptop which cost me about 1500 dollars (cad) on new egg so my question is is there a way to keep my laptop safe from dirty electricity all electrical.outlets in my home have only 2 prongs no ground.. so i scratched off some paint off of the steel beam in my home (called earthquake beam, and placed the copper of an extension line from the ground prong of both the ups and computer power supply to that beam.. i know it isn't a very strong option or thick cable but i honestly don't see lightning strikes that often.. and i will mention that the power comes from a geothermal plant and the company is called LEYECO.... My second option is i have 2SLA batteries linked in parallel that gets 100 watts of solar on a good day max I've it get is 250watts... I have an inverter modified sine wave inverter of course.. can i charge the batteries via land power and only tap into the batteries via inverter ? Is that power safe enough to use ??? The laptop is called msi GF65 thinUE... and my psychiatrist suggested that 4x strategy video games are an excellent way to deal with my nasty PTSD ( I saw an episode of the Kardashians and never recovered) I'm from a socialist country so capitalism is new to me so I'm not exactly swimming in local currency...id like to know with everything I've just said which is the best idea for my next purchase? A ups with a pure sine wave inverter or a DC to ac with pure sine wave inverter ??? Either will run me approximately 5000 php or 100$us.. your guidance PLEASE or sil Vous plait.... Thank you and have a great day

Ps worth mentioning that all the steel beams are connected and a few or all of them go 1.5m into the ground

Hello there,

The best way to figure this out is to ask the locals if you can, to see what they are using. The reason I say this is because to be absolutely sure something will or will not work some longer term testing would be required, and if some people are already doing this purely by using something themselves, then you have that knowledge right out of the gate.

As to power 'bricks', they are power supplies, and all power supplies have a response time to input changes. If the response time is fast then that's good, but if it is slow that's not good, and then the question again falls on the device being powered, can it put up with the variations from the power supply. That's unless you can power that power supply with a power supply that is always stable.

UPS systems also have a response time. The time to detect a fault and switch over to synthesized sine output developed from battery power.

If you could find out what everyone else is using that would put you ahead of the game. That's of course if you can ask around.

 

One trick that has not been mentioned yet is powering the laptop computer from a separate battery stack. Use enough batteries to cover the time that you plan on operating the computer.
Then, when not operating the computer, unplug the battery pack and plug in a battery charger. This gives you total isolation from all except a direct lightning hit. No, it is not as convenient as just switching it on, but you would have total isolation AND no shock hazard.

 

You don't need an electrician to install an isolation transformer, they come in black boxes with plugs on both ends. Check Amazon or the equivalent. The ground is what you would need to do yourself, but that could perhaps just be a metal rod pounded into the ground. An isolation transformer is an excellent idea by the way if you're getting common mode transients. Then use either a UPS that can detect frequency issues, or a power conditioner on the same side of the transformer that your laptop is on.

 

Yep. And I use APC UPSs for my filtering and voltage regulation. Last one was a refurbished unit from eBay.
View attachment 333844
Not much more than the price of a replacement 12V battery for it. Not much ride through capacity/time for my tower and monitor but enough for orderly shutdown when outage occurs plus excellent filtering and regulation.

hi.. i took a second to look up the ups model that i posted previously.. and i saw this

Wave type	Stepped approximation to a sinewave is.. that sufficiently safe ? i dont see the word pure sine wave or anything...

 

One trick that has not been mentioned yet is powering the laptop computer from a separate battery stack. Use enough batteries to cover the time that you plan on operating the computer.
Then, when not operating the computer, unplug the battery pack and plug in a battery charger. This gives you total isolation from all except a direct lightning hit. No, it is not as convenient as just switching it on, but you would have total isolation AND no shock hazard.

im actually looking into that exactly right now.. since i have 2x 12v 50ah paralleled together.. maybe i can power the 19v lifepo4 battery that is integrated into the laptop... or.. wire it into the power brick somehow... ... my question is.. what happens to dirty electricity when it is used to charge a 12v battery ???? and lets say the clamps (or alligator clips) that are connecged to the pos and neg terminal of said battery.. and the power going to the i dunno.. the power brick.. same pos and neg that the battery charger is using... do the electrons go to the laptop as well as the 12v battery ???? or are they intelligent enough to dive into the 12v battery because i have like 3 clamps on each pos and neg terminal of this 12v battery (and when i say 12v battery i mean 2 of them connected in parallel to maintain same voltage) and yes im aware to charge battery and consume battery by pos of battery 1 and neg of battery 2...
(wait for applause.. and bow)

 

quick side question.. what if i charge my 2 sla batteries all the time and i use a dc to ac pure sine wave inverter ? will that be safe for my gaming laptop ?? yes the 2x 12v SLA batteries will be charged via land power using something called a "smart battery charger ? which does pump 12-14v and 10-15 amps.. yes im aware that the laptop pulls 130 to 180 watts.. so i will leave the smart charger on the 2 12v batteries 24/7

and yes i am looking for a cheaper alternative because the "isolated transformer" looks costly and i dont want to overcomplicate my life to install it, if i use the dc to ac inverter.. the only connectction to land power will be the smart charger.. and the terminal clamps are touching each other....

 

For the absolute most "power security", a scheme to switch off the power to the smart charger when you are using the computer will totally remove the possibility of anything getting through to the computer.

 

hi.. i took a second to look up the ups model that i posted previously.. and i saw this

Wave type	Stepped approximation to a sinewave is.. that sufficiently safe ? i dont see the word pure sine wave or anything...

Hi,

The best bet is to get a pure sine wave output UPS, if you want to use a UPS that is. They have come down in price a lot over the past maybe 10 years.

 

I have not seen a recent computer power supply that did not rectify the mains supply input to provide DC for the step-down switching regulator. So how much effect will a distorted wave form have on a properly designed computer power supply. I run my laptop supply from a non-sinewave generator with no problems.

 

quick side question.. what if i charge my 2 sla batteries all the time and i use a dc to ac pure sine wave inverter ? will that be safe for my gaming laptop ?? yes the 2x 12v SLA batteries will be charged via land power using something called a "smart battery charger ? which does pump 12-14v and 10-15 amps.. yes im aware that the laptop pulls 130 to 180 watts.. so i will leave the smart charger on the 2 12v batteries 24/7

and yes i am looking for a cheaper alternative because the "isolated transformer" looks costly and i dont want to overcomplicate my life to install it, if i use the dc to ac inverter.. the only connectection to land power will be the smart charger.. and the terminal clamps are touching each other....

 

Hi,

The best bet is to get a pure sine wave output UPS, if you want to use a UPS that is. They have come down in price a lot over the past maybe 10 years.

agreed, however im told by the sales people that 90% of ups have modified sine wave.... or corrected sine wave....
even one priced at 200$. called cyberpower... is it really a bad idea to use my intex ups ??? yes modified sine wave but short of rewiring this entire apt with a certified electrician which is next to impossible to find i promise... here... intex IT-725A

it only has 2 modifications.. alligator clips going to another ups battery (pos to pos and neg to neg)... using tiny alligator clips.. and a cpu fan sized square cut out on the top rear portion to add that.. a cpu fan... i kinda wanted to use my 2x12v sla batteries as the ups batteries to increase time gaming time during power outages.. figured the charging element might get warm.. so i did the little square...

which kind of reminds me.. in my last appartment i used to feel a weird buzzing if i touched just one of the alligator clips.. not both... like a mild constant shock i would say... bad grounding ????

so buy a dc to ac inverter that claims to be pure sine wave and operate the laptop entirely from the 2 batteries ????
lets do the math for a second.. 1 battery.. 12v 50ah.. 600 watts.. x2.. 1200.. laptop pulls 180...5 hdd to usb dock pulls.. i dunno..

it reads 25 watts on standby mode.. i have 3 large desktop sized hdd.. 2 laptop size hdd... .. im going to round it out to 50 watts.. so... i need 230 watts total to wind down after a hard day in the beautiful Philippine sun... which only gives me 5.2 hours.. and CAF or not im still a nerd where it counts...
so.. additional battery or can i operate the laptop and hdd dock from inverter while charging ???

 

I have not seen a recent computer power supply that did not rectify the mains supply input to provide DC for the step-down switching regulator. So how much effect will a distorted wave form have on a properly designed computer power supply. I run my laptop supply from a non-sinewave generator with no problems.

Hi,

What do you mean when you say a "non-sinewave" generator.
Also, why did you mention a rectified sine for a computer power supply.

 

After explaining the seller my situation... I'm told that i should get a PFC sine wave by cyberpower


A little over 200$... USD

Yay or nay ?

 

quick side question.. what if i charge my 2 sla batteries all the time and i use a dc to ac pure sine wave inverter ? will that be safe for my gaming laptop ?? yes the 2x 12v SLA batteries will be charged via land power using something called a "smart battery charger ? which does pump 12-14v and 10-15 amps.. yes im aware that the laptop pulls 130 to 180 watts.. so i will leave the smart charger on the 2 12v batteries 24/7

and yes i am looking for a cheaper alternative because the "isolated transformer" looks costly and i dont want to overcomplicate my life to install it, if i use the dc to ac inverter.. the only connectection to land power will be the smart charger.. and the terminal clamps are touching each other....

As long as the AC pure sine converter has output voltage regulation.

 

Hi,

What do you mean when you say a "non-sinewave" generator.
Also, why did you mention a rectified sine for a computer power supply.

Sorry that is what the APC website said about the ups that I linked to you earlier

 

As long as the AC pure sine converter has output voltage regulation.

im aware of that, but voltage going up and down isnt as concerning as fluctuations and static or other stuff that i dont understand...

if the voltage goes above 230v, i believe the laptop brick has a "switch mode" that wont allow the high voltage to reach the laptop battery... i have a fujitsu laptop that im typing this on now.. it has survived over a year of use on this power.. although the plug only has 2 prongs as opposed to 3.. but.. cpu... ummm.. celeron.. i had that 25 years ago.. maybo not 1ghz.. but celeron nonetheless... but it is killing it with linux ... oh and only 4gb of ram...

 

agreed, however im told by the sales people that 90% of ups have modified sine wave.... or corrected sine wave....
even one priced at 200$. called cyberpower... is it really a bad idea to use my intex ups ??? yes modified sine wave but short of rewiring this entire apt with a certified electrician which is next to impossible to find i promise... here... intex IT-725A

it only has 2 modifications.. alligator clips going to another ups battery (pos to pos and neg to neg)... using tiny alligator clips.. and a cpu fan sized square cut out on the top rear portion to add that.. a cpu fan... i kinda wanted to use my 2x12v sla batteries as the ups batteries to increase time gaming time during power outages.. figured the charging element might get warm.. so i did the little square...

which kind of reminds me.. in my last appartment i used to feel a weird buzzing if i touched just one of the alligator clips.. not both... like a mild constant shock i would say... bad grounding ????

so buy a dc to ac inverter that claims to be pure sine wave and operate the laptop entirely from the 2 batteries ????
lets do the math for a second.. 1 battery.. 12v 50ah.. 600 watts.. x2.. 1200.. laptop pulls 180...5 hdd to usb dock pulls.. i dunno..

it reads 25 watts on standby mode.. i have 3 large desktop sized hdd.. 2 laptop size hdd... .. im going to round it out to 50 watts.. so... i need 230 watts total to wind down after a hard day in the beautiful Philippine sun... which only gives me 5.2 hours.. and CAF or not im still a nerd where it counts...
so.. additional battery or can i operate the laptop and hdd dock from inverter while charging ???

Small alligator clips with high current loads does not sound like a good idea. Higher currents require very big alligator clips, but that's usually only for temporary use. Good designs would use bolt-on wire terminals that bolt right onto the bolt-on battery terminals. For high currents even those "F" type push on connectors are not used. You could be dealing with 50 amps or more depending in your load requirements.

 

After explaining the seller my situation... I'm told that i should get a PFC sine wave by cyberpower

View attachment 334014
A little over 200$... USD

Yay or nay ?

They do work pretty well. Does that have a pure sine output?