Greetings Douglas,
I hope you can help me. I live in Florida and we have bad storms here. I have all my major appliances plugged into surge protectors/battery backups in different rooms throughout my home.
We recently had a bad storm which caused a power surge. All the surge protectors/battery backups in my master bedroom ONLY all began beeping and clicking like crazy. I tried to reset them to no avail. I tested the outlets with a multi meter and I have 121.5 v at each outlet.
I replaced all the surge protectors/battery backups in the master bedroom with new ones. They stopped beeping but they are still clicking. I reset the sensitivity on each unit to the lowest setting but I am still getting the clicking.
I contacted the manufacture and was advised that the clicking is the AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator) function working. It acts as a filter that either boost or trim incoming voltage from your wall outlet.
None of the other units throughout the house has any issue, it's just in the master bedroom. I also noticed that if the light is on in the master bedroom closet, it flickers when the bedroom surge protector/battery backup clicks and only when it clicks. It appears the problem is only on the feed to the master bedroom.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You, SB
The problem could be in the house wiring.
Example: The main power panel in our house developed a carbon based, pinhole size, intermittent short next to the main circuit breaker. The circuit breaker panel was newly installed 30 years ago. Until recently, there didn't seem to be a problem with it.
About a year ago, the lights in the house would flicker once in a while, but everything still seemed to work. The flickering seemed to be caused by the 75-year-old outside neighborhood power lines.
It turned out, though, to be an intermittent short in the main circuit breaker panel. It was an actual short between the main circuit breaker and the back wall of the panel. It shorted the incoming power to the house, but only once in a while. The only way I found it was to remove the cover for the main circuit panel for the house, and stare at the panel.
The staring took some time, but when the panel flashed in time with the lights flickering, I knew I had to get a new circuit breaker panel.
That was a flickering problem that had to be dealt with, before a fire started.
Example: Another time, on a fire alarm wire inside an electrical junction box at a hotel, I found a ground fault, caused by lightning damage, to the insulation around the wire. The damage wasn't visible, but just by moving the wire away from the side of the junction box, the ground fault was fixed.
The closet light flickering tells you that there's a problem with the internal wiring inside the house somewhere. At this time, if closet light is flickering, I suggest you call an electrician. (If you don't know a reliable electrician, on the web, check with the Better Business Bureau.)
Remember, lightning is fickle; you don't know what it does. Get some help before things get worse.
Douglas Krantz
