Nord Rack 3 Power Supply

[Rokatansky]

Hi

I´ve noticed that my Nord Rack 3 it´s pretty sensitive to voltage changes (i wonder if this is a common issue?).
It reboots everytime even connected to my computer uninterruptible power supply (out 120v +/- 8%).
(the Ac Voltage in my home sucks)

So i´m thinking about getting an interruptible power supply just for the Nord Rack and other synths and i believe that i require one that gives me 120 V +/- 4% output in order to mantain the 115 Ac required for the NR3.
Could you be so kind to recommend me some power supply brand or specs for solve this issue.

Kind Regards and thanks in advance

[Wout Blommers]

Rokatansky

I am lucky my power supplier delivers me a stable Voltage.
So I give this question to the Synth Do It Yourself boys

http://electro-music.com/forum/post-225152.html#225152

Wout

[iceowl]

For about 10 years I lived in a location with overhead power mains that were erected in the mid 1950's with infrequent upgrades. The power supply in my home was of the same era. The service panel was similarly old, and I only had ungrounded supplies on my walls.

In addition, my neighborhood was in the process of continual change. The older houses were being razed and in their places much larger homes were erected that put greater demands on the power service than the original system had been designed for. Imagine - back in the 1950's U.S. homes were designed for 60AMP/110V service. With modern heating/cooling, home entertainment, kitchen appliances, etc., one could easily make the case for 100A minimum, or 200A standard service. (In fact, I had the home upgraded to a 200 amp service - but therein came additional problems.)

The power service was a major headache for my home studio work. Not only were the outlets ungrounded, but the wiring in the house was irregular in that phase polarities were inconsistent setting up potentially dangerous electrocution hazards. In fact, while changing a broken light bulb I got "bit" while touching the so-called "grounded component" of a ceiling fixture that had been turned off at the wall. That was the last straw.

My initial solution to the problem was to have the service entrance replaced and upgraded to 200A. I also had to drive in 8' grounding rods and create a legitimate earth ground. I then had to retrofit the key outlets in the house to this new grounded service - and only THEN was I able to realize that while I might possibly control the 60hz hum that was pervasive in my system, I had a voltage stability problem that was endemic through my neighborhood. This is also to say that unless you have an adequately grounded system, there is almost no reason to proceed. Power filtration/regulation systems don't work well without a consistently wired system ground/neutral.

Simply plugging in a DVM to a wall socket in the house showed voltage fluctuations of -10% to +5-7%. And these dips and spikes lasted for seconds - sometimes the greater part of a minute. These were caused by anything from my neighbor's air conditioner kicking on in the heat of the summer, to tree branches brushing against the power lines, to solar flares, to automobile accidents involving power poles. This raised havoc with all my desktop computer equipment, not to mention the audio pathways in my studio. (It also caused abysmal radio frequency interference which blanked out my ham station - but that's a story for a different forum.)

My solution to the power fluctuation issues were never completely adequate. The only 100% solution would have been to put my entire house on a large UPS with massive battery backup. The UPS serves two purposes - to supply power in the event of a very large power dip or extended outage, and to absorb the ripples in the service. A battery is a huge capacitor - great for stabilization. Major computer centers use this strategy to keep their MTBF down, but it is prohibitively expensive for the individual homeowner.

Lacking the resources for a full-house UPS, one then falls back to power conditioners, and local UPSes. I wound up buying one of these for each rack in my studio:

http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=01&id=PL-8C

I also put my sensitive components on their own UPS (like my main board).

Components that use wall-warts or in-line DC power regulation are much less effected by the AC ripples - though "less" doesn't mean "none" - AND - most "wall-warts" are UNREGULATED.

The problems I had then were that the power fluctuations would trigger various boost/buck modes in the Furman device and after a year of dealing with the flutter, at least two of my Furmans started permitting quick dips to travel into my power supply system. These I had to replace as they would show up in the audio as perceptable "clicks" (depending on the gear that was affected).

But, at no time did I lose a piece of equipment to the power glitches, thanks to the Furman.

Keep in mind as well - I was using the "power conditioners": not the less expensive "line filters" that are designed to eliminate shorter-term transients.

Hope some of this is useful.

[robertdouglas13]

Yes in France and Europe most Nord 3 do have this problem, very sensitive to current fluctuations. A lot of people are selling them for that particular reason. Other synths from the Nord range don't have this problem though.
You need to get one of those machines that tame the variations in electricity flux. Sorry for my poor english. I can find the name of the machine on a french forum if you want. Apparently the most common ones that are good enough for 2 computers are not enough for the Nord 3.
Douglas.

[Rokatansky]

Thanks for your advice.
Douglas could you be so kind to check the details of the power conditioner that you recomend?

Kind Regards

[robertdouglas13]

Hello Rokatansky,
So i had a look on the "audiofanzine" website:
you've got to get wether an "onduleur" (according to net dictionnary= an uninterruptible power supply) (the things mainly used for computers, for when there is a power cut) , or a voltage regulator.
So I did exagerate on my previous post, the stuff for computers seems good enough although someone says a voltage regulator is better, both seems to work according to most people who encountered the same problem as you.

I feel like getting one though, it seems like it sounds very good. I got a Prophet 8 Rack by Dave Smith Instrument and I'm quite disappointed. The 12db filter doesn't do anything and the 24 one is not that good and the knobs are of very poor flimsy plastic.
Do you think the Nord 3 is good for melodic non agressive psy trance?. I used to have the 2 but it sounded too harsh for me. Apparently the filters on the 3 are smoother?

Well anyway,
Bye.
Douglas

[lindner88]

I just joined the forum to see if anyone had suggestions for my power issues with my Nord Lead 2. I've had my Nord since 1999 and it was about 3-4 years ago I started having random power problems with my Nord Lead 2.

Basically, regardless of temp. the Nord will power cycle itself several times in live performance. Also, I think when the bass amp. is connected to the same circuit it causes the board to tweek out.

I'm going to try replaceing the fuse. However, everyone seems to agree that the problem is caused by a sensitive power supply. Kind of odd since I never had the problem the first six years I owned the board. Perhaps the capacitors or something got worn out?

In fact, I wanted to sell the board for this reason. There is nothing more aggravating then to rip a solo and have your board power cycle in the middle. Any suggestions???

[Wout Blommers]

lindner88

I don't think the fuse might cause the problem, because it is blown or not, which means it doesn't works or it does...

Though you could check it if it makes a good connection.
I would do the same with all the inside cables: open up the synth (see 115-230 Volt Thread), open all 'flat cable' connectors and close these again.

The failing power supply problem is more NordLead3 related; it's the first time I read about this regarding a NordLead2.

Wout

[Rokatansky]

Since i´ve notice this kind of issue with other equipment* (reset at voltage changes) and the solution was to change the PSU to a bigger ampere one i.e. 300mA to 500mA i decided to send the Nord Rack 3 to my local technician in order to modify the internal PSU.
I´ll report back if this was possible and most important if it solves the reset-voltage issue.

* Novation Drumstation

[Rokatansky]

Well it seems to work now!
My technician replace some condensers from the power supply board and the NL3 does n´t reset at voltage changes anymore.

[dorremifasol]

Would be nice to know WHAT exactly did he change!

[NordGas]

Maybe some bigger capacitors that hold more charge so are better at keeping the supply up when there are fluctuations on the mains?

It definitely would be good to know what was done.

[munkthalund]

I friend and I dug into the details of this problem.

And I posted this fix on gearslutz today:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/6515383-post19.html

Worked on my two NL3s both touchy about mains

[dorremifasol]