Do laser printers draw a large amount of power when they turn on?

[aphex]

When my Samsung ML-1710 starts its warm-up sequence after being in standby, the lights in my room dim, noticably, and the battery backup its attached to (albiet only for surge protection) makes a clicking noise.

Is this normal?

 

[lOnGjOhN]

You might want to get an electrician to check that out...

Does it do it in any other room?

 

[Baked]

It's not normal. My two laser printers don't do this.

 

[vegetation]

Probably takes up (only) 500 watts upon warmup. That's really not a lot, far less than a vacuum cleaner for instance. Definitely have your home wiring checked, as it's not safe.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Definitely not enough to cause a brownout.

I had a similar problem a few years ago and it turned out to be a bad circuit. A connector at a junction box didn't have the two wire ends completely twisted together and it was sparking across a gap. Luckily I found it in time.

 

[funggorgor]

my laster printer and computer share the same 13A electric socket
no problem so far

 

[bookman]

That happened in an apartment I was renting in San Francisco. Its caused by older wiring, and is dangerous. I moved out when the landlord refused to fix it and kept stating it was safe, despite a different opinion from the local electric utility.

 

[aphex]

Its caused by older wiring

Hmm, the place was built in dec 03, and we bought it 4 months ago.

 

[tiap]

Some Lasers draw a lot more than most people realize

Here are a couple of quotes from an electrical manual:

1 Connect laser printers and heavy duty copiers on individual 20 Amp branch circuits. Laser printers and heavy duty copiers produce high current surges which cause an increase in the neutral to ground voltage. This action can potentially damage other computer and electronic equipment if they are on the same branch circuit.

2 Check your outlet wiring. Many power outlets are improperly wired. The most common problem is reverse polarity where the hot and neutral wires are reversed. The second most common problem is an open ground or none existing ground wire connection.

3 Verify correct power outlet voltage with a voltmeter at various locations throughout your facility or building. The 120 volts outlets should be 120 volts ± 5%. Also check the neutral to ground voltage. Anything over 2.0 VRMS indicates excessive voltage drop, high harmonics, or poor grounding.

BTW My brother laser printer does the same thing. I have everything pluged into 1 circuit. It is rare that you will find more than 1 circuit in 1 room, so unless you want to run an xtention cord or run new circuits or set up a wireless printer there's not much you can do.

It's a only momentary surge and mine has been that way for 7 years.

If your place is only 4 years old I'm sure it's up to par and you just have too much on 1 circuit.

 

[Arcanedeath]

Laser printers espcialy older ones draw stupid amounts of power on startup to get the drum unit ready for use, my 1500VA UPS beeps and kicks in everytime my HP laserjet 4+ comes on from being completely off. So no this is normal and it's also possibly that you have to much load on one circut / outlet and might need to try to find someplace else to plug stuff in.