Electrical Question...

Matt, what sort of room lighting are you talking about? Incandescent, CF, LV Halogen?? It makes a difference..

Cameron:-)

They are Florissant lights... which are on a completely different cicuit.

..and they are??

(A Google search draws a blank at that one - just a few entries on problems with them flickering!)

Cameron:-)

Tighten the lugs on your panel and meter can. Alco check to see that you have ALL other connections in your panel tightened.

Matt,

This is a common problem with laser printers, and it's due to the high wattage heating element (fuser) that's used to fuse the toner to the paper. Whenever power is applied to the fuser the sudden jump in current demand causes a brief lighting flicker. Most folks end up putting up with it or they add another branch circuit. Another option might be to power the printer off a beefy UPS.

-- Bert --

I use these on all laser installations. Makes the difference. Not a UPS but line conditioner. These are inexpensive. The size of a UPS needed would be cost prohibitive.

Perhaps just a poorly spelled 'flourescent'??? That's my guess.

daestrom

UPS that can power laser printer would be very expensive (nearly as expensive as the laser printer itself if not more) & every few years, battery replacement will burn holes through your maintenance budget, too.

Very high performance voltage regulator will be the answer. Check on

Might even be a poorly spelled "fluorescent" light. :-]

We should be at least minimally forgiving of various creative spellings and sentence structure, as many forget that the Internet is a world wide forum, and English is often not the primary language in many posting areas.

I often wonder what level of amusement/disgust native English speakers would/do provide to people of areas where the primary language of choice is other than English when their language is butchered?

Louis--

As another responder indicated a LaserJet Printer usually has a high current heating element, and when the element cycles it can apply quite a load. This can result in voltage drop that manifests its self most visibly as blinking where lights are part of the equation. You experienced this where the printer was on a branch circuit common with lighting.

The fact that you continue to experience the phenomenon after installing a separate branch circuit for the printer could indicate issues with the supply panel, or service. It could also indicate a problem with the printer. I have seen similar printers with anomalies that result in very brief cycling current draws as high as 30 amps short enough to leave the breaker on.

I would begin your investigation by having the printer evaluated for excessive, or inappropriate current draw. If that checks out I would then monitor, and record voltage levels during these dimming events. Start at the receptacle supplying the printer. Then at the light fixtures that are blinking. Next move to the panel supplying these circuits, and so on.

An electrician, or technician would then use the readings to determine the possible cause, and narrow the area responsible.

An excessive current draw (motor starting, defective printer, intermittent short, etc.) could manifest its self as blinking of lights even if the event happened on a separate, or different branch circuit. A minimal level of blinking will occur with a motor start even on a system where everything is well designed, and in proper operating condition.

Without the voltage drop information listed above one could only guess as to the possible cause if in fact the blinking is excessive, and the printer is functioning correctly.

If the blinking is determined to be excessive, and the equipment being served is functioning correctly, some of the causes could be a utility service drop undersized in relation to the load it serves, poor or resistive connections in the service equipment or service supply, neutral anomalies, etc.

More in depth investigation by an electrician or technician should quickly pinpoint the cause.

Louis--

The light flicker is caused by a voltage drop in a part of the circuit that is common to your computer circuit and your lighting circuit. This might be a connection inside your panel, your meter, the service entrance conductor, the utilities service drop or even their distribution transformer (the latter are less likely). As others have stated, laser printers draw a significant inrush current upon startup which can expose problems that may otherwise go unnoticed.

Diagnosing wiring problems on the usenet can result in some rather questionable conclusions. If you have a recording voltmeter or other instrumentation capable of detecting voltage transients, you might be able to trace the problem to its source. Otherwise, seek the assistance of an electrician.

One side note: If a transient load results in the momentary brightening of any lights in your house, you may have a loose neutral connection. This can result in high voltages and damage to other appliances. In this case, seek help fast.

Volt drop.

Either get a bigger tranny/feed cables or move on to a system that provides the power for modern electrical household devices [240v]

sQuick..Uk..

I do notice when I plug in a volt meter into an outlet that that is on the same feed as the lights that when the printer goes on my voltage goes from about 121.3 - .5 down to about 120.5 - .7 for a few sec and climbs back up. New circuit or not for the printer...

In many cases a flicker is futile to fix. My lights would dim whenever the furnace oil pump or washing machine would kick in. Each of those are on dedicated circuits and all of the lights are on other circuits. I replaced my whole electrical service and now have 400A service, 100' of new 1/0 Aluminum triplex, and a 50 KVA transformer just for me. I properly torqued all the service entrance conductors (did them twice even, the second time being a week later). And the lights still flicker, although not as bad and for less time. I blame the 100' of 1/0 triplex, but that is all the power company was willing to put in. I would have preferred 3/0 or 4/0, but they didn't want to do it. Looks kind of weenie where it connects to my 400 KCMil service entrance conductors....

A flicker is easy to notice. As long as its not a sag (very noticable voltage drop lasting a second or more), I wouldn't worry.

-- Mark Kent, WA

furnace oil pump or

all of the lights are on

service, 100' of new 1/0

all the service entrance

the lights still flicker,

but that is all the power

didn't want to do it.

voltage drop lasting a second

In many cases flicker can be quite useful! I know of at least one industrial site where the operators make use of a flicker of the lights in the lunch room to tell them one of their product pumps has started and that they better get back out there and get busy..

Cameron:-)

what does 1/0, 30, 4/0 mean?

Mark or Sue wrote:

furnace oil pump or

of the lights are on

service, 100' of new 1/0

the service entrance

lights still flicker,

that is all the power

didn't want to do it.

drop lasting a second

It's a numerical representation of the wire size. Sometimes the letters AWG (American Wire Gauge) are included.

With 4/0 (pronounced four-aught) being the largest of the numbers you listed.

Louis--

the furnace oil pump or

and all of the lights are on

service, 100' of new 1/0

torqued all the service entrance

And the lights still flicker,

but that is all the power

they didn't want to do it.

voltage drop lasting a second

Wire sizes are like shotgun pellets and start at big numbers for small wires (like #40) and go down as the wire gets fatter. House wires are typically #14, #12, and sometimes #10 or #8. As you keep counting down and the wires get fatter you get to size 0 (same a 1/0). Then it goes 00 (2/0), 000 (3/0), and 0000 (4/0) just like buckshot. By now the wires are big and the number of zeroes getting long, so sizes are switched to circular mils. Actually thousands of circular mills, and abbreviated MCM or KCMil. These start at about 200 KCMil and keep getting bigger as the wire gets fatter.

-- Mark Kent, WA