What kind of damage can low voltage cause to your computer?

[inf1nity]

I live in India, and as you guys might be aware, the power supply here is subpar. In the summer season, when people turn on their ACs, we have a voltage problem. The voltage in the mains supply dips down from the normal 220V. The extent of this dip is variable, it sometimes falls to 200V, sometimes 150V and sometimes even as low as 100V. The duration is also variable. Sometimes its a quick fluctuation, other times it happens for longer periods of time.

Recently I have been getting these "quickies" quite often(2-3 times a day). My computer is connected to the wall socket directly and sometimes when there happens a sudden downward dip in the voltage, the computer restarts.

The nature of the restart varies. If the voltage dips quickly and comes up again it restarts instantly. But sometimes if the voltage stays low for 2-3 minutes, the computer remains in a limbo like state; where the fans keep running, the LED on the case glows, but there is no signal on the monitor.


My question is- Will it cause any permanent damage to my computer? Should i buy a voltage stabilizer? Or should i let it be.

 

[Soundmanred]

Nope, no damage will come of it.
Leave it as it is.

 

[Charlie98]

Nope, no damage will come of it.
Leave it as it is.

I wouldn't quite say that... I wonder if the computer is writing data to disk if there couldn't be some corruption.

If I were you, money being no object... I'd get a voltage stabilizer or at least a battery backup (although I don't know how that would handle low voltage vs. no voltage (i.e. loss of power completely. I would assume it would kick in and keep the PC running but I don't know.)

 

[Cerb]

Data corruption is the greatest risk. However, it won't be good for your PSU, either. An AVR or conditioning UPS would be the best option. A stepped-wave one may cause noise if your PSU has active PFC (only when activated, and it should cause no harm).

An UPS with AVR will kick in voltage regulation when the voltage goes high or low, rather than just switch on when power goes out.

 

[aigomorla]

most psu's are autoswitching...

they accept a voltage range of 250v-90V

Depending on how good your psu, it shouldnt be a problem until you dipp'd below 90V.


If you notice your PC hanging during a brown, which is when the voltage drops... then id get a AVR UPS like a cyberpower to help you out for those sessions.

Although u may not have hardware issues, you can most definitely have data corruption.

 

[piasabird]

It is never good to have power that fluctuates to that degree. Might be advisable to use something like a UPS (uninterruptible Power Supply) or battery backup or run the computer off of solar panels. This just makes it awful expensive. A mobile device like a tablet or a laptop might do better.

Typically you might have say 4 deep cell batteries hooked up to a charge controller charging the batteries. When the voltage drops to a certain level say 200 volts you start using battery power or Solar panels or maybe a generator kicks in that runs off of Diesel or natural gas or propane. Or you just get out your tablet or netbook or laptop and use that.

 

[Torn Mind]

Your data is at risk. System corruption or valuable files could be corrupted during those brownouts. Get a UPS with AVR and call it a day. I don't think paying the premium for pure sine wave is strictly necessary unless the mains output is very deviant from a sine wave. Although, determining that requires an oscilloscope, which is well beyond the budget of non-specialists.

Component damage, I can't personally cannot provide an explanation regarding as to what is going chemically to the components when the PSU is subject to such occurrences.

Also, what is the specific power supply unit you are using? Just making sure you don't have a poor one.

 

[Torn Mind]

It is never good to have power that fluctuates to that degree. Might be advisable to use something like a UPS (uninterruptible Power Supply) or battery backup or run the computer off of solar panels. This just makes it awful expensive. A mobile device like a tablet or a laptop might do better.

Typically you might have say 4 deep cell batteries hooked up to a charge controller charging the batteries. When the voltage drops to a certain level say 200 volts you start using battery power or Solar panels or maybe a generator kicks in that runs off of Diesel or natural gas or propane. Or you just get out your tablet or netbook or laptop and use that.

A voltage regulator and brief supply of power is all he needs. A $70 UPS here in the states can do those tasks just fine. Not sure what the going rate for UPS units is after dollars is converted to rupees, although tech products in India might carry a hefty premium above a straight exchange rate conversion. If the power delivery over there is really bad, then a double-conversion/online UPS ought to be purchased.

Solar panel systems and many cheap generators still need their power be regulated by a voltage regulator circuit and their cost of operation can equal the cost of the computer itself and then some. Gas is not cheap in the case of generators and the solar panel system could eclipse the thousand dollar mark just for the materials.

 

[mfenn]

most psu's are autoswitching...

they accept a voltage range of 250v-90V

Depending on how good your psu, it shouldnt be a problem until you dipp'd below 90V.


If you notice your PC hanging during a brown, which is when the voltage drops... then id get a AVR UPS like a cyberpower to help you out for those sessions.

Although u may not have hardware issues, you can most definitely have data corruption.

Agree. A modern PSU doesn't much care what the input voltage is, as long as it's within the specified range.

What can cause issues are fast changes in peak voltage, where fast is on an electronic timescale (milliseconds). These changes end up distorting the AC power waveform, which is hard on your PSU and may cause it to go out of spec. To be safe, you should get a UPS.

 

[BrightCandle]

A doubt a low voltage can harm the components and concur with others that its mostly data corruption that is the concern, which is a very real possibility in this circumstance.

I had similar problems with a PC in india some years ago and had multiple cases where files became corrupted when power dropped out. A UPS is definitely a good idea to survive those short power outages.

 

[inf1nity]

I got a voltage stabiliser and set its output to 230V. Now my PC is running fine.

most psu's are autoswitching...

they accept a voltage range of 250v-90V

Depending on how good your psu, it shouldnt be a problem until you dipp'd below 90V.


If you notice your PC hanging during a brown, which is when the voltage drops... then id get a AVR UPS like a cyberpower to help you out for those sessions.

Although u may not have hardware issues, you can most definitely have data corruption.

Then why does the PC restart?

I do not know whether it dipped below 90V, but judging by the brightness of the lights i'd say it didn't.

And the PC doesn't hang, it just restarts; similiar to someone pushing the restart button the case.

 

[inf1nity]

Your data is at risk. System corruption or valuable files could be corrupted during those brownouts. Get a UPS with AVR and call it a day. I don't think paying the premium for pure sine wave is strictly necessary unless the mains output is very deviant from a sine wave. Although, determining that requires an oscilloscope, which is well beyond the budget of non-specialists.

Component damage, I can't personally cannot provide an explanation regarding as to what is going chemically to the components when the PSU is subject to such occurrences.

Also, what is the specific power supply unit you are using? Just making sure you don't have a poor one.

Yes i have a very poor PSU, it came free with the case, was manufactured by the case manufacturer(a no-name brand you won't even find listed on the internet.) However i do not plan to change it because first of all i don't have any money and even if i did, i'd prefer to buy a new computer instead of investing any money in this pre-historic one.

 

[corkyg]

I got a voltage stabiliser and set its output to 230V. Now my PC is running fine.

Good fix! This will pay off in the long run. Restarts can occur when a voltage threshhold is reached or crossed.

 

[BrightCandle]

I had a lot of problems finding a good PSU in India. I worked out there for a while and took the key parts of my PC but decided to buy the bulky items (like PSU and case) and swindled a monitor from work. I looked through every store for a decent PSU, trying to find anything with a good 12V rail and all I could find was cheap Chinese knockoffs and not a single decent branded PSU.

Things might have changed in India since I was there but certainly 6 years ago this was a big problem and is highly likely the reason the machine is crashing. These cheap knock offs work when everything is perfect but they cope poorly under less than perfect conditions like fast adjustments in voltage or skews in the frequency of the incoming AC. I suspect with a decent PSU you would at least suffer a lot less issues, the challenge is finding one.

 

[aigomorla]

Then why does the PC restart?

I do not know whether it dipped below 90V, but judging by the brightness of the lights i'd say it didn't.

And the PC doesn't hang, it just restarts; similiar to someone pushing the restart button the case.

Yes i have a very poor PSU, it came free with the case, was manufactured by the case manufacturer(a no-name brand you won't even find listed on the internet.) However i do not plan to change it because first of all i don't have any money and even if i did, i'd prefer to buy a new computer instead of investing any money in this pre-historic one.

You answered your own question

Its not able to autoswitch fast enough which causes it to hang.

 

[inf1nity]

Thank you everyone for your kind help. ^_^

I had a lot of problems finding a good PSU in India. I worked out there for a while and took the key parts of my PC but decided to buy the bulky items (like PSU and case) and swindled a monitor from work. I looked through every store for a decent PSU, trying to find anything with a good 12V rail and all I could find was cheap Chinese knockoffs and not a single decent branded PSU.

Things might have changed in India since I was there but certainly 6 years ago this was a big problem and is highly likely the reason the machine is crashing. These cheap knock offs work when everything is perfect but they cope poorly under less than perfect conditions like fast adjustments in voltage or skews in the frequency of the incoming AC. I suspect with a decent PSU you would at least suffer a lot less issues, the challenge is finding one.

6 years back or even 3-4 years back the PC enthusiast market in India was virtually non-existent. Most computer sold were crappy ones with pentiums or celerons. People didn't care about what hardware they had in the case as long as it booted up and allowed them to do menial things like listening to music and watching movies.

People who were passionate about computers usually had to go the big cities to buy parts or had them shipped from a brother who lived in "America".

Things have changed a lot now. The biggest game changer was the arrival of online shopping. Flipkart has helped a lot of enthusiasts get the parts they wanted to have. Local shops have also started carrying many parts.

If you come to India now, you won't have any problems in finding the hardware you want, just be prepared to pay a hefty premium.