Understanding Power Dips and the Dangers They Bring

Have your ever experienced devices temporarily stutter or make the lights dim? We only thought of it as a simple interruption of power, but that’s what we call power dips. Sometimes, our negligence in power quality leads us to lose our valuable electronic equipment at home when not addressed.

There is a strong argument that the most costly of all disruptions in power quality is power dips. Although maybe not as expensive as interruptions individually, power dips are far more prevalent.

The most common scenario in which power dips occur is when there is overloading. When a person plugs a high-current electric appliance to an already loaded circuit of an object, the added load on the circuit results in a slight dip. As a consequence, the lighting in the house may dim, or other sudden electrical phenomena may occur.

To have a better grasp of power dips, below are the useful information that may help you prevent further damage.

What are Power Dips?

In the distribution or customer’s electrical grid, a power dip is a short, immediate fall in the voltage magnitude. It may be triggered by numerous transmission and distribution network disruptions in the connected equipment or by high inrush and shifting currents in the customer’s installation.

A power dip can greatly influence the performance of equipment. The effect varies between devices and depends on the severity of the dip on its duration, the strength, and the system’s ability to endure the drop in voltage.

To know what mostly causes power dips, here are the following:

Overloading 

If overloading happens, a slight drop in the voltage will be triggered by using all equipment at once in a single outlet. And since their processors are vulnerable when it comes to power shifts, electronics such as televisions and computers are sensitive to disruption.

Short Circuits 

This often arises when the system has defective wires. They can still transmit current, but the conditions are not stable enough, and there’s a possibility of failure.

Power-Hungry Appliances

Refrigerators and dryers affect the voltage distribution in an electrical system. It consumes about 250-watts of electricity the moment you plug it in and takes a while to stabilize the electricity consumption. This is why electricians recommend that a separate circuit for high-powered equipment be installed such that the power of the other lines is not interrupted.

Dangers of Power Dips

Under normal conditions, power dips cause symptoms that don’t last more than a few seconds. If frequent disturbances make the power quality dirty, then the following might result:

Damaging Sensitive Electronic Devices

More sensitive devices such as computers will possibly suffer as a result of power dips, particularly high-powered computers, mainframes, and servers. The momentary power lapse may potentially cause the device to fail, force the device to reboot, disturb a computer network, and in active systems, possibly cause any data loss.

Stopping Industrial Work

The machines are most vulnerable to power dips like the variable speed drives and some control systems in industry. The loss of a few essential pieces of equipment like a programmable logic controller will result in a complete shutdown of production of many manufacturing systems, resulting in significant financial losses. 

A substantial loss of material as well as the time required to clean up and restart the process, must also be addressed for specific thermally sensitive processes. Studies show that, based on the voltage fall, the financial losses due to a single voltage dip will stretch into millions of dollars depending on the industry type.

Conclusion

The most common power interruption, especially at home and in industrial areas, are power dips. Power quality and sensitive electrical devices may be compromised because of power dips. This may lead to partial or total disruption in a household’s operating process and in the power supply of a business losing a huge amount of profit.

Sydney Eastern Suburb Electrician is here to guide you to maintain your power quality clean from power dips. With our experts, they determine and measure the disturbances easily with right and updated equipment. From installation, repair and electrical inspection, our level 2 electricians are here to help. 

Call us at (02) 8378 2827 to get a free quote today or book online.