[Eyenovation]

I know this is extremely odd, but it's true.
My new dual G5 causes the lights in my room to flicker slightly.
This is especially evident when the computer is under a load.

I would be eternally grateful if anyone can shed light on this phenomenon.
What could possibly cause it in a g5 that is unique?
I am no newbie to macs. I have a dual 1.42 I've been using for a year and have had several Powerbooks. None of which have ever caused such a problem.

How much power does a G5 draw?
It can't be that much more than a G4, can it?

This one is really going to annoy me and I'm afraid the answer will be non existent.

[Maflynn]

Obviously the G5 is on the same circuit as the lights, any way to plug the beast into a different outlet?

I believe it does draw more power then the G4, especially if you had a single older G4.

I don't know if its a safty concern - not an electrical engineer - but I don't think I would want to live with putting that type of load on the circuits if they are dimming. I would try to find a circuit for the G5 or at least make sure I don't overload the powerstrip with other peripherals

Mike

[Arkham_c]

I think if my wiring were that poor, I'd invest in a good power-conditioning UPS.

[Eyenovation]

If you could elaborate on that, it would be much appreciated.
An uninterrupted power supply? Does that simply plug in my wall?
Any idea how much those cost?

[osxisfun]

http://apc.com/products/category.cfm?id=13

Some of them have mac software (powerchute?)


I own the backup es 725

well worth the $

[Tenacious Dyl]

Alright... I had this same problem, but by running many things, not a G5...

My setup: iMac 17" 1Ghz, 1Ghz 12" Aluminum Powerbook, An external 17" monitor, a router, a hub, an external 200 GB seagate hard-drive, 2 speaker systems, 2 printers, and an externally powered cd-rw/r drive. When most or all of these devices were on, my lights would flicker are certain points where the devices drew more power.

My solution? I wired a new circuit. I cut a hole in the wall beneath my powerbook's desk. I bought just a standard 2 plug, female -in box. Then I wired it through the wall, and dropped the wires down the wall into the basement. In the basement, I took the wire, and wired it into my Circuit-Breaker Box (big usually gray electrical switches box). All it cost me was a few bucks for the plug outs, a few bucks for the new circuit (it slides into the gray box) and the wire I had spare.

Now, my powerbook, monitor, speakers, and external drive and one printer are on one circuit , and the imac, cd drive, other speakers, other printer, and lights are on the other circuit.

Your problem is that your lights and your G5 and anything else in that room is on one circuit... and that circuit cannot provide enough power... which can damage things. You need to put some of your things on one, and some on another. I suggest, like my powerbook circuit.. that you have a completely clean circuit, with nothing on it but your main computer, for this, I use my powerbook.

I hope this helps

[SSharon]

Hmm, I think the G5 (the dual anyway) uses a 650w power supply. That is just a bit more than the 400w the dual G4's shipped with (The last generation had a 360 or 340w power supply and the dual 1ghz had the powe rsupply fan replacementr program). So yes the G5 uses more power, if possible try out some other outlets and see if the problem persists. Getting a UPS, is a good idea, but will probably not help much in this situatuion. You can buy a 5 minute battery protection for about $50 in about any store that sells computers (including your local applestore). If you are only maxing out the power for a brief instant then it may help, if however you are editing video and the procs. are maxed out for longer the UPS will not help much.

[Arkham_c]

Originally posted by Eyenovation:
If you could elaborate on that, it would be much appreciated.
An uninterrupted power supply? Does that simply plug in my wall?
Any idea how much those cost?

A UPS (uninterruptable power supply) plugs into the wall. It has a big battery in it and supplies power to items plugged into it if its power source fails or the voltage drops too low.

Power conditioning is a feature in which the power curve is cleaned up to eliminate brownouts and surges. AC power should be a perfect sine wave, and a power conditioner ensures that, which can result in longer life of items that plug into it.

Ideally, you would find a UPS with built-in power conditioning. For example, the APC SmartUPS UPS units have this capability, and they start around $170. You choose the size of your UPS based on the number of watts you need. You add up the number of watts used by your computer, monitor, and any needed peripherals and buy a UPS that can supply that.

I should mention that UPS units without power conditioning are a lot cheaper (start at $30), but it sounds to me like you need power conditioning to protect your investment.

[macaddict0001]

That is an electrical brownout not enough power is being supplied to the room You could damage your G5 Sure the power supply would probably catch it but power supplys aint cheep and you should get an apple one because other ones are poorly made(Ok unfair Generalization) had some one I knew Buy a Power mac G4 ultimate With some extra tweaks 15 000 dollars. Anyway the power supply went bad The computer was out of waranty He got a new one at compusmart. It worked fine for some time then it started a fire in his computer So he unplugged The computer and then took it to compusmart to ask compusmart to fix/replace his computer since they had sold him a falty power supply. any way they would not replace it. SO UNPLUG THAT COMPUTER AND GET IT ON A DEDICATED LINE.
and don't forget to shut it down of course


sorry for the errors had to write that in a hurry The computer was 15 grand

Of course thats a worst case scenario