The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hi All, I have an Acculab VIC-123 scale which sometimes fluctuates and am after a 'line conditioner' to hopefully settle it down if there are electrical surges. I make sure that I do not have my mobile phone, or that the room is draught free to minimise anything that could cause it to fluctuate.
If anyone knows of a particular supplier/type of conditioner any info would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Les

Hi, I'm fairly sure that as is uses a mains adaptor down to a "flat" DC voltage supply the adaptor should be filtering out any transient mains spikes itself. Most plug-in surge/spike protectors are designed for prtection from large mains spikes. If you know anyone with a computer that has a backup uninteruptable power supply (UPS) they supply cleaned mains, an APC line conditioner is around £40 from Ebuyer.

If you want you are more than welcome to try it on my UPS and see if it still has a problem.

Hi Les,

I too have the Acculab VIC-123, I have found that by switching it on at least a good hour before needing it, allows it to settle down and it then behaves better.
- doing that along with getting a 'line conditioner' thingy may help.

Cheers,
'desparado'

Hi, I keep it switched on all the time. But sometimes it just throws a little wobbler and starts to wander.
I was just speaking with a mate of mine who had the same problem and he put in a line conditioner, but still had the problem
It turns out that it is just the nature of the scale type to be very susceptible to room temperature, drafts, so he suggested that I check out the thread on 6BR as it is pretty comprehensive with suggestions on trying to resolve my problem.
Going to try a different type of scale that my mate is going to lend me to see if I get any improvement.
Will not go back to the beam scale just yet!!!!!
Cheers
Les

phaedra1106 wrote:Hi, I'm fairly sure that as is uses a mains adaptor down to a "flat" DC voltage supply the adaptor should be filtering out any transient mains spikes itself. Most plug-in surge/spike protectors are designed for prtection from large mains spikes. If you know anyone with a computer that has a backup uninteruptable power supply (UPS) they supply cleaned mains, an APC line conditioner is around £40 from Ebuyer.

If you want you are more than welcome to try it on my UPS and see if it still has a problem.

Hi thanks for the offer will get back to you if after using a line conditioner does not resolve the problem.
Best wishes
Les

desparado wrote:I too have the Acculab VIC-123, I have found that by switching it on at least a good hour before needing it, allows it to settle down and it then behaves better.

I work on a 24hr warm-up for any electronic weighing apparatus. It definitely reduces drift compared to a one or two hour warm-up (unless you use something fancier, e.g. Denver Apex, circa $1,000, which manages to be rock solid stable after a short warm-up). I test for drift with a calibration weight on the balance to prevent zero-tracking from activating and look at the reading after approx. 1, 2 and 4 hours. On my main balance I was seeing anything up to 5 or 6 mg drift with a short warm-up (e.g. 2 hours), but after a 24 hour warm-up there is practically no drift (it is not an xxx-123 balance though).

..