Mains power filter for digital scales?

[DenisA]

Hi all,

I'm looking to purchase a power filter for my Sartorious scales to try and reduce the drift that can be such a pain in the arse prior to 11:00pm. After 11:00 it seems to be very stable.

Has anyone got some advice on this?

Can anyone provide a link to a product that works well?

Are the power board versions that can be bought for PC's what I'm after?

Thanks, Denis.

[johnk]

I bought a UPS off Ebay. I figured it would go close to doing the same job. Got mine for $20.

[bartman007]

A UPS is a great solution. Look at the spec's and find one that is true sine wave, and active line filtering. That way you should get a constant 230 or 240 volts output, for the varying input that you have.

You can spend more, and put the UPS into bypass mode, where the AC is used to charge the battery, whilst the inverter provides the output voltage. Again, make sure it is Pure Sine wave.

[DenisA]

Thanks for the prompt response and good info. Now I know what I'm after.

Cheers, Denis.

[Cameron Mc]

Denis, get on a pedal generator and have someone on the scales.
You could use it for the lights too. I get Julie to power mine....cheap clean power and I work for Ergon eh



Cam

[RJNEILSEN]

Just when I thought I had this reloading thing sorted, now need to monitor my incoming power supply and ensure I have a true sine wave, and active line filtering. Should I batch weigh the incoming sine waves to be sure?

hehe.


Ryan.

[ecomeat]

Hi all,

I'm looking to purchase a power filter for my Sartorious scales to try and reduce the drift that can be such a pain in the arse prior to 11:00pm. After 11:00 it seems to be very stable.

Has anyone got some advice on this?

Can anyone provide a link to a product that works well?

Are the power board versions that can be bought for PC's what I'm after?

Thanks, Denis.

Denis,
What model is the Sartorius thats causing you the grief ?
Til I just read the whole post, i had never heard of a UPS and had no concept of Sine Wave. But seeing as i am about to buy a decent digital scale, its a very timely lot of info for me.
JohnK, it seems you can spend many hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a true sine wave UPS. What are the "Specs" of your $20 ebay model ? And what sort of specs should i be trying to get in a UPS for protection and running a good set of Magnetic Force Restoration scales ??
Tony

[aaronraad]

A UPS is a great solution. Look at the spec's and find one that is true sine wave, and active line filtering. That way you should get a constant 230 or 240 volts output, for the varying input that you have.

You can spend more, and put the UPS into bypass mode, where the AC is used to charge the battery, whilst the inverter provides the output voltage. Again, make sure it is Pure Sine wave.

Hi bartman007

I looked at this a while back and couldn't find anything that wasn't at least the same price as the scales or more. Do you know of any reasonably priced examples?

aaronraad

[DenisA]

Hi all,

I'm looking to purchase a power filter for my Sartorious scales to try and reduce the drift that can be such a pain in the arse prior to 11:00pm. After 11:00 it seems to be very stable.

Has anyone got some advice on this?

Can anyone provide a link to a product that works well?

Are the power board versions that can be bought for PC's what I'm after?

Thanks, Denis.

Denis,
What model is the Sartorius thats causing you the grief ?
Til I just read the whole post, i had never heard of a UPS and had no concept of Sine Wave. But seeing as i am about to buy a decent digital scale, its a very timely lot of info for me.
JohnK, it seems you can spend many hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a true sine wave UPS. What are the "Specs" of your $20 ebay model ? And what sort of specs should i be trying to get in a UPS for protection and running a good set of Magnetic Force Restoration scales ??
Tony

Tony, they're an AY123. They're a $300 lab scale accurate to .02 of a grain which is 1 kernel of AR2208 or .5 kernel of AR2213sc (i dont split kernels).
They are brilliant and have really improved my loads though they can be very fiddly when they're in a bad mood. I've tried the angle of the dangle, pulling faces, yelling, standing back hiding and quickly running up when she settles, stand back and veeerrrry slowly approaching it, yelling again, punching the air, spitting, mumbling in a few different unknown languages, pulling my hair out (none left), talking sweetly to it and my next move was a sacraficial offering to the reloading gods, I had the cat ready and everything. Hence the UPS queries.

I've heard the GD503 are far better and don't drift though they are 5x the price.

Cam, Julie is AMAZING. A wife that shoots and powers the camp site for the lads..................... Now where the hell did Jasmine go, she needs to take a leaf out of Julies book.

Actually there are a lot of houses that could use Julies amazing peddle power up here after the strom just gone.

[Cameron Mc]

Seriously Denis, I now use AND scales with Magnetic Force load cell.
These don't drift at all. The down side is the price.

Cam

[bartman007]

I really wonder why power conditioning is required, when the power supply built into the scales should provide the consistent output required by the unit.

You may need to look at controlling the other environmental variables that could be causing the drift. e.g. temperature / drafts.

It would also be worth ensuring that the usual 15 to 30 minutes settling time is abided by too. This should assist in minimising the drift.

In regard to a UPS that has the qualities that you may be looking for, try an APC Smart-UPS 1000VA LCD 230V. This will allow you to power the unit when the power is off at home. You can use it for the computer when you're not weighing powder/projies/cases/etc. I assume you have a computer, as you are on this forum

[bsouthernau]

Get off the grid you guys! No problems at all using an AnD balance off my solar system or backup inverter-style petrol generator.

Barry

[DenisA]

I can pick up a 150A or 300A true sign wave invertor at a reasonable price and run it off a 4WD battery that can then be connected to, monitored and charged by my C-tek when I'm not using it.

That would give me the cleanest power independant of the grid with no need for filtering...................... I think.

It would be cheaper than a UPS and the components could be used for other things such as camping, etc.

Does that setup sound O.K or are there flaws that I've missed?

[AlanF]

I used to have a Sartorius electro-mechanical 0.0001gram, then I bought a GEMPro-250 0.02grain for travelling. It was a bit erratic, so I bought a Redding Model 2 scale for travelling. I now use the Redding for all reloading. It is accurate to 0.1gn and quicker than the others.

Alan

[higginsdj]

Tony, they're an AY123. They're a $300 lab scale accurate to .02 of a grain which is 1 kernel of AR2208 or .5 kernel of AR2213sc (i dont split kernels).
They are brilliant and have really improved my loads though they can be very fiddly when they're in a bad mood. I've tried the angle of the dangle, pulling faces, yelling, standing back hiding and quickly running up when she settles, stand back and veeerrrry slowly approaching it, yelling again, punching the air, spitting, mumbling in a few different unknown languages, pulling my hair out (none left), talking sweetly to it and my next move was a sacraficial offering to the reloading gods, I had the cat ready and everything. Hence the UPS queries.

I've heard the GD503 are far better and don't drift though they are 5x the price.

Offical word from Sartoriuos.... (I have the AY123 scales as well)

1. These are cheap scales with cheap balance mechanisms (their words) so do not expect the world from them. (designed for lab use in controlled environments)
2. These scales drift with temperature changes, even small changes
3. A 3 degree change in temperature in a 2 hour period requires a re-calibration
4. Trickling onto the scale will inevitably cause the scale to drift
5. Stability setting is key and you need to experiment to find what works for you
6. These scales are highly sensitive to electrical fields and any change to the surrounding electrical field.

From my own experiments:

1. Don't bother to Tare the scales for the powder tray so you can measure just the drop. Know the weight of the tray and measure the all up weight (tray and drop). This will allow you to lift the tray, watch the scale's zero and reset the zero as required. Remember point 4 above.

2. Scale has to aclimatise before its drifting 'stops' (it never really stops but will get to a point where it is stable for short periods of time say 10-15 minutes). Remember, lights put out heat as does your body so its useful to have a thermometer right next to the scales to watch for temerature changes.

3. Remember the specs +/- 0.02gr read BUT ALSO +/- 0.03gr Linearity/repeatability so same drop can measure +/- 0.05gr

Hope this helps

Cheers

David