My Arcade Cabinet reboots when...

[monkeybomb]

the air conditioner goes on.  The electrical in the house has not been updated for well over 30 years, but it won't be happening anytime soon.  The cabinet is one of those curvy generic jamma cabinets with a K7000 series monitor and an old power supply.  Any suggestions?  Sorry if it's a little OT, but the issue is preventing me from retrogaming and only this crowd understands why that's important.   

[vwalbridge]

You could buy a battery backup with AVR

AVR stands for Automatic Voltage Regulation. Keeps the power running at a consistent voltage.

It's bit pricey at $100 but it's probably cheaper than hiring an electrician or going through a bunch of cabinet electrical work. The electricity in the house and/or your cabinet could be totally fine. A battery backup with AVR could serve as a quick and dirty stop-gap.

[monkeybomb]

You could buy a battery backup with AVR

AVR stands for Automatic Voltage Regulation. Keeps the power running at a consistent voltage.

It's bit pricey at $100 but it's probably cheaper than hiring an electrician or going through a bunch of cabinet electrical work. The electricity in the house and/or your cabinet could be totally fine. A battery backup with AVR could serve as a quick and dirty stop-gap.

Nice suggestion.  Do you think this one would do the trick?  It's a UPS and not an AVR, but I don't know the difference.  It doesn't need to keep the system alive in a blackout or anything.  Just cover the spike or dip that it gets for a second.

[vwalbridge]

Do you think this one would do the trick?

Since you are on a Jamma machine, I'm gonna guess it has a 110W power supply. However, it might not be pulling a consistent 110 load. The calculation for battery backup choice is as follows:

1.6 * Wattage Load = Minimum Volt-Amperes (VA)

So even if your power supply is pulling the full 110W then its 1.6 x 110 = 176VA  ...   and the power supply you linked is a 350VA so that will cover it.

The original unit I suggested is probably overkill but the AVR just immediately popped into my head. Your are certainly right, no sense in spending $100 when $50 can fix it.

I'd buy it locally or borrow a friends first if you can. That way, worst case, you can return it if it doesn't fix the issue. (Make sure the battery is good and charged before testing it out)

[mgb]

The problem I believe with a non AVR UPS is that if the voltage is just quickly dipping, It may not make a difference unless the voltage dips down below 90 or whatever it sees as brown out. The AVR portion will regulate and keep the voltage constant and clean.
There are also voltage regulators that are typically used in audio equipment racks.

Seeing as this is a jamma machine, you should also make sure your power supply is correctly adjusted so you're getting a good 5.1 voltas at the IC Chip power pins.
If your low at lets say 4.8 volts and then your AC kicks in, it may dip it low enough to reboot the board.

[SavannahLion]

The problem I believe with a non AVR UPS is that if the voltage is just quickly dipping, It may not make a difference unless the voltage dips down below 90 or whatever it sees as brown out. The AVR portion will regulate and keep the voltage constant and clean.
There are also voltage regulators that are typically used in audio equipment racks.

Seeing as this is a jamma machine, you should also make sure your power supply is correctly adjusted so you're getting a good 5.1 voltas at the IC Chip power pins.
If your low at lets say 4.8 volts and then your AC kicks in, it may dip it low enough to reboot the board.

+1. If I recall right. APC tends to be on the low end of the acceptable AC tolerance scale. I measured an APC once and it was right around 100v or thereabouts. I believe the actual standard is supposed to be 117V or something (someone correct me please) but you typically see people cite anywhere form 110v to 120v.

Keep in mind they don't last forever, not as long as an arcade cabinet would anyways. The APC UPS will do the trick but it will take a beating if your power line is as bad as you say. I've gone through about a dozen or so APC models in the last twenty years.

I believe this is true for ALL UPS regardless of the technologies they use. Some just last longer than others but failure is inevitable for all. For the arcade, I would choose APC as a reasonable balance between cost and performance.

[Wired203]

Generally most UPS will last at least 5 years if you make sure they are the right duty for the job.  Now the batteries fail about every 2 years and can be as cheap as 20 bucks to replace on most models.  AVR or Sine Wave UPS are what you want as you aren't experiencing a actual power outage but what's known as a brown out.  The average UPS doesn't handle brown outs well but AVR or Sine Wave do handle them much better but usually not 100% more like 95%

[vwalbridge]

I had to wait and see the model until I got home but I have one of these:

Tripp Lite LC1200 Line Conditioner

It's pretty bad ass. I have my home theater connected to it. I'll tell you what...it triggers like a wheel of fortune wheel during a lightning storm but all my equipment stays on.

Another expensive option, I know. But nice thing about this is that it doesn't need a battery.

[mgb]

That Tripp lite line conditioner looks nice.
It's 1200 watts but maybe if the op is using it just for his one machine, he can get a 600 watt version for cheaper.
http://www.superwarehouse.com/Tripp_Lite_600W_Mini_Tower_Line_Conditioner/LS606M/p/2083625?gclid=COTMpMna88YCFdMWHwodbaUBrg

Btw, we use Tripp lite UPS' in many comercial equipment racks and they last pretty well.

[SavannahLion]

Generally most UPS will last at least 5 years if you make sure they are the right duty for the job.  Now the batteries fail about every 2 years and can be as cheap as 20 bucks to replace on most models.

I used to have a swamp cooler that dumped a lot of garbage into the mains in the summer. I was also the first house after the transformer that used to pop about once a year (in one year, a garbage truck hit the pole and took the transformer down to the ground). Along with the crappy household wiring that would wake my PC's from sleep whenever the fridge kicked in i don't blame my UPSes from meeting their deaths.

The math wasn't the problem, it was the godawful power I was feeding it.

I don't remember  why I never purchased an AVR though during that time. Expense probably.

[monkeybomb]

Thanks to everyone.  I was hoping for one kind soul to jump in and it's a group effort.

APC has this cheap AVR and this cheap UPS.  I believe both of these are well over the 176VA and meet the requirements discussed.  It sounds like the AVR is the way to go given that this is a brownout situation.  I still need to look in the cabinet to examine the PS, but the cabinet was designed to make it easy to change the PCB and difficult to get to the PS and the monitor.

How am I doing?  I don't actually know anything about this, other than what's been said here.