Router Power Supply Died during a Brown out (Voltage Dropped to 190V) - Coincidence?

mrkorrupt on 11/04/2024 - 16:41
Last edited 11/04/2024 - 21:21 by 1 other user

Last week (5am), I woke up to the beeps of my UPS. The power was mostly still on and lights / fridge were working. I went back to the UPS and saw that the UPS was detecting 190 Volts. It was powering my router and modem, and as I live alone and no one was using it, I turned the UPS off.

I woke up at 9am and everything was normal and turned on the UPS, which was reporting normal voltage,
then the router wouldn't connect and had no spare router. I went to Centrecom and bought a new router AX6600 for $300. I get home and plug it in and works after a bit of setup, all good.

A week passes and router is in the pile of e-waste, I need to dispose of, but I want to test if the Power Adaptor is fine as it is the stock barrel 12 volt 2 amp ones that most other tech uses. I then used the routers wall plug to power another device and straight away the device was malfunctioning. So I placed the cable back in the e-waste and tested the router with another cable, it worked perfectly.

Damn, so this seems like a weird coincidence. Anyone else had some weird coincidence or is anyone able to advise if this was potentially caused by the brownout?

Computing Router

Comments

  • ThithLord on 11/04/2024 - 16:48

    I know exactly what causes this

    ThithLord on 11/04/2024 - 16:48 (Collapsed - Offtopic. Show)
    • ThithLord on 11/04/2024 - 16:48
      -3

      it's the woke agenda

  • FoxJump on 11/04/2024 - 16:58
    +1

    what?
    I need a diagram for your train of thought please

  • altomic on 11/04/2024 - 17:11
    +3

    If failure was caused by a brown out then so what?
    Why didnt you test the powersupply before buying a new router? (Trouble shooting 101)

  • lordsnipe on 11/04/2024 - 17:12
    +1

    Sounds like a coincidence.

    Your UPS kicked onto its battery and inverter given it started beeping. At that point, it should've been outputting 240V or thereabouts to the router power supply.

    Even if the UPS hadn't switched or if it wasn't there at all, switchmode power supplies usually can be used anywhere from 120 to 240V.

    • mrkorrupt on 11/04/2024 - 17:19

      in an ideal world, yes I would have tested it, but the router was on and had power, just was not booting up. and i did test the power supply on another older router, but I couldn't conclusively rule the power supply as the problem as it was an older one and couldnt clearly remember if it was functional.

  • GordonD on 11/04/2024 - 17:41
    +3

    Your UPS told you there was a brownout. Genuine brownouts are very very rare in Australia, especially in Australia's cities. Because we have a 230V AC supply, not the US's 110/120V. And we have a 21st century first world power supply. You admit that the fridge, which doesn't have a switch mode power supply, and the lights were working. In this country power supply operators don't let the voltage drop because they know that damages a lot of power users equipment, they cut the power and fix the problem.

    The first thing you should question as to whether its a fact is that you had a brownout. Unless you have some evidence other than the UPS saying you did?

    • mrkorrupt on 11/04/2024 - 18:29
      -1

      I did the endeavor energy guys where in the area fixing it, i spoke to one, he said one of the high voltage lines dropped

  • bazingaa on 11/04/2024 - 17:43

    Voltage Dropped to 190V

    most power supplies are now switching mode and it would work at 190 V. I think there was a surge at switching to UPS (grid voltage : 253V -> UPS inverter 230 V) and blew off power supply.

    • GordonD on 11/04/2024 - 17:45

      That sounds possible. And it sounds like it could happen again.

      Power bricks are mostly made to work from 90V to 260V or so. 190V isn't going to kill one. A voltage spike would.

    • Ezekiel2320 on 11/04/2024 - 17:51

      The UPS would have said if it was over voltage. Yes I'd expect the switch mode power supply to work from 90-250v without issue generally but it's certainly possible that a brownout would kill it. That said, in a genuine brownout it's likely your fridge would have been causing issues since the current in the motor would increase at a lower voltage.

      Definitely test the output of the 12v power supply with a multimeter to see if it's working

      • bazingaa on 11/04/2024 - 18:00

        The UPS would have said if it was over voltage

        253 V is highest allowable normal voltage. I see that most of the day time, thanks to solar at homes.

  • rumblytangara on 11/04/2024 - 17:59

    Crikey that was hard to read. What was the question?

    • bargaino on 11/04/2024 - 18:29
      +1

      tl;dr:

      "Last week, I woke up at 5am to my UPS beeping, indicating a power issue. Despite the power still being mostly on, my router wouldn't connect after the incident. I replaced it with a new one, but a week later, the old router seemed fine when I tested it with a different cable. Could the initial problem have been caused by the brownout?"

      Full version fixed:

      Last week, at around 5am, I woke up to the sound of my UPS beeping, indicating a power issue. Surprisingly, most of the power was still on, with the lights and fridge functioning. When I checked the UPS, it was detecting 190 volts. Since I live alone and no one else was using it, I decided to turn off the UPS.

      Later at 9am, everything seemed back to normal, so I turned the UPS back on, and it was reporting a normal voltage. However, my router wouldn't connect, and I didn't have a spare one. I went to Centrecom and bought a new router, specifically an AX6600 for $300. When I got home and set it up, it worked fine after some adjustments.

      A week later, I found the replaced router in a pile of electronic waste that I needed to dispose of. Curious, I wanted to test if the power adapter was still functioning properly since it's the same type most other devices use. I tried using the router's wall plug to power another device, but it immediately malfunctioned. So, I put the cable back in the electronic waste pile and tested the router with a different cable, and it worked perfectly.

      It seems like a strange coincidence. Has anyone else experienced something similar or can anyone advise if this could have been caused by the brownout?"

  • garetz on 11/04/2024 - 18:19
    +2

    Yes it is not a coincidence, just like a black out can cause your equipment to fail, so can a brown out. It is especially prevalent for power supplies and adapters.

  • kiriakoz on 11/04/2024 - 18:29
    +1

    I've never heard of the term brown out. I initially thought you passed out and then $#@+ yourself.

  • bdl on 11/04/2024 - 20:18

    I think the brownout blew your language circuit :D

    Test the (cheap to replace) power supply with a multi-meter instead of plugging it into other (more expensive) things that it could fry if faulty.

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