Turning on PowerMac G5 briefly causes my office LED lights to flash!

[RLRL]

So I still use this G5 for an old application, finance MacMoney.

When I turn it on my office LED lamps flash.

Obviously it causes a voltage surge when turned on.

The G5 is plugged into a good power strip, conditioner, Belken.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a Hard Start plugin device like they use on A/C units to plug in between the power strip and th G5.

Any ideas, none of the other PC's I use do this, iMac, Windows, etc.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[ifrit05]

So I still use this G5 for an old application, finance MacMoney.

When I turn it on my office LED lamps flash.

Obviously it causes a voltage surge when turned on.

The G5 is plugged into a good power strip, conditioner, Belken.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a Hard Start plugin device like they use on A/C units to plug in between the power strip and th G5.

Any ideas, none of the other PC's I use do this, iMac, Windows, etc.

Any ideas?

Thanks

You could always try to use qemu-system-ppc64 to virtualize a Mac OS X install on a modern computer.

 

[Amethyst1]

You could always try to use qemu-system-ppc64 to virtualize a Mac OS X install on a modern computer.

That’s emulation and it will be slow. Virtualising Snow Leopard and seeing if the application works using Rosetta may be more feasible.

 

[B S Magnet]

So I still use this G5 for an old application, finance MacMoney.

When I turn it on my office LED lamps flash.

Obviously it causes a voltage surge when turned on.

The G5 is plugged into a good power strip, conditioner, Belken.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a Hard Start plugin device like they use on A/C units to plug in between the power strip and th G5.

Any ideas, none of the other PC's I use do this, iMac, Windows, etc.

Any ideas?

Thanks

If the LED lamps in your room drop in illumination temporarily when you first press the power-on button on the G5, this is normal behaviour. Namely, in this sequence — push power button; click from the PSU, coupled with a brief dimming of LED lights in room on same circuit/strip; a brief rev-up of the fans; then an Apple chime. By the time of the Apple chime, your room’s LED lights should return to usual. Put another way, it’s not a power surge you should be seeing, but a brief power drain, as the room circuit demands by the G5 is not unlike the powering up of a refrigerator or a window/room aircon unit.

The PSU in the G5 draws a lot of power at the initial onset (ostensibly to feed power into its large capacitors), and fluctuations in line voltage are more visibly noticed when one runs LEDs instead of CFLs or incandescent bulbs because the visual response time of LEDs to changes in voltages is instantaneous (similar to how a CHIMSL — centre high-mount stop lamp — on cars can appear to light up a smidge quicker than the incandescent bulbs in the taillights).

If, however, you’re still seeing fluctuations in room illumination after the G5 powers up and boots into the Login Screen/Finder Desktop, then there may be something else at play.

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

UPS to the rescue

 

[B S Magnet]

UPS to the rescue

Frankly, I still get this with using a UPS, as pretty much everything — save for the single electrical item plugged into the wall from the same electrical plate (in North America, at least, there are usually two outlets per plate) — gets plugged into the “unswitched/surge-protected” (but not running via battery backup) outlets on the UPS which aren’t computer-related/dependent. My room lamp and LED under-desk strips are plugged into those “unswitched/surge-protected” outlets on the UPS. I have another lamp plugged into the second outlet of the wall plate, but I rarely use it.

Also, whenever the UPS handles a surge-protect, it briefly (usually, up to 5 seconds) shunts power over to the battery exclusively (for those devices protected by the battery backup), while the UPS will buzz momentarily and the “unswitched/surge-protect” plugged lights will dim slightly.

That all said, this is a self-reminder that my nine-year-old APC UPS, to which my G5 is connected, is finally seeing its lead-acid battery fade into the sunset, and I need to pick up a replacement soon.

 

[ifrit05]

That all said, this is a self-reminder that my nine-year-old APC UPS, to which my G5 is connected, is finally seeing its lead-acid battery fade into the sunset, and I need to pick up a replacement soon.

Yup, had to replace mine a couple of months ago. $150 for a new battery. Now the fan is going out. *shrug*

 

[B S Magnet]

Yup, had to replace mine a couple of months ago. $150 for a new battery. Now the fan is going out. *shrug*

The battery for my model, with shipping, runs about $100, so yah. Frustrating, especially given how many other batteries are on my to-get list.

 

[ifrit05]

The battery for my model, with shipping, runs about $100, so yah. Frustrating, especially given how many other batteries are on my to-get list.

Can't complain though. I'm an OTP2 at the company that I work for (kinda like an IT guy, level 2), so the OTP3 leaves me obsolete equipment on the desk to take home to play with. I got that UPS for free.