Is the home light showing flickers while the PC is operating on the inverter?
Is the home light showing flickers while the PC is operating on the inverter?
Hello everyone
Here are the details of my PC setup:
I have an ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-E motherboard, a Ryzen 5 5600G processor, a WD Blue M.2 NVMe SSD with 500GB capacity, Corsair Vengeance 3600 at 3600MHz and 8*2 RAM sticks. The power supply is an ASUS TUF Gaming 550W unit, and I use a Deepcool AK400 air cooler.
I don’t have a dedicated graphics card.
When the lights are on, everything functions properly, including home lighting. However, during power outages or when using an inverter, the PC still runs but the home lights start flickering slightly. Watching YouTube videos causes the flickering to last 5-6 seconds before stopping. When the PC is idle, the flickering becomes 2-3 times every 15 seconds.
My home inverter is rated at 1kVA, and I haven’t experienced any problems when the PC is off.
Could this be causing issues? Should I be concerned or can I ignore it?
EDIT
I should note that the lights only flicker when the PC is running, even with multiple TVs, fans, and LED bulbs on.
1KVA with around 800W (including typical losses) is clearly insufficient for running everything simultaneously, especially when the PC is under heavy load and consumes about 400W—almost half of the available power. The PSU can handle some voltage drops, but TVs and lights are affected, which explains the issues. You should either use a more powerful inverter or reduce usage of certain devices.
He only has a 5600G, how could that use 400W without a separate video card, just the 5600G and an SSD? Read carefully before posting.
The problem might relate to grounding or your power supply unit. Make sure you fully disconnect the old electrical network from the inverter. Devices still connected to the old network while also on the inverter could lead to issues.
Do you have a chance to ask someone to provide a good quality PSU for testing?
You should try reading too. he is running everything from that inverter when there's no other power available so no other network to separate.
Power input to PSU is alway higher than it's output due to losses uncured during conversion. Nest rated ones up to 20% in best case and lesser and unrated ones up to 50%.
None of my friends have desktop pc. I tried getting psu from shop for testing purpose but they refused. Can you suggest me any another way of finding out whether psu is working properly or not? But i have a doubt that, if it was a psu related issue then when i run my pc on mains electricity then led buld should also flicker but on mains electricity there is absolutely no flickering.
Your flickering illumination options include:
LED
Compact fluorescent
Fluorescent strip light
Tungsten filament
Quartz halogen
The mains output from your inverter is either:
Pure sine wave
Stepped approximation
Based on your description of the flickering, it seems your inverter isn’t producing a pure sine wave, which could likely resolve or lessen the issue. Some LED lights are sensitive to non-sine wave inputs, particularly when other devices emit significant electromagnetic interference.
If your inverter delivers a quasi sine wave, rapid voltage changes occurring multiple times per half cycle can disrupt the performance of your bulbs, which rely on a steady sine wave supply.
Budget LED lamps often lack sufficient capacitance to manage large mains voltage fluctuations during each step in the quasi sine approximation.
Consider the Power Factor Correction circuits integrated into ATX power supplies and the brief charging currents that flow only when the mains voltage briefly surpasses the DC level on the 400V storage capacitor—conditions that favor substantial EMI generation.
ATX power supplies are built for true sine wave inputs, not crude stepped approximations.
Affordable stepped sine wave inverters aren’t ideal for professional gear like servers. If you have the budget, a pure sine wave inverter will be far more compatible with your PC.
If you’re unlucky, an inexpensive inverter could damage your ATX power supply.
Most household devices use switched mode power supplies that handle 100V AC to 240V AC (as noted on the label). Therefore, a laptop PSU can be used in the USA on 110V 60Hz AC or in Europe where voltage is typically 220V 50Hz.
As long as the mains supply stays close to 100V RMS AC during outages, your equipment should function normally.
It’s unlikely to be a problem with your PSU itself; the real issue lies in the inverter’s output quality.
Switching to a quasi sine wave inverter with harsh harmonics is risky, especially with low-cost units. It’s not surprising that some devices behave poorly when operated outside their intended parameters from an inexpensive UPS.
Your power supply isn’t defective—what matters is the inverter’s waveform.
If flickering persists, try switching to a different bulb brand or type. If that doesn’t work, opt for a dedicated emergency lighting source.
my led bulbs are flickering. I looked at my inverter and saw "true sine wave ups" on its body. I'm not too concerned about the flickering since it doesn't bother me much, but i want to make sure it won't harm my pc or cause any issues with other home devices. Could this problem be coming from my computer?
Oh dear. It seems my theory was based on a quasi sine wave inverter. A true sine wave inverter would be superior.
Indeed, I already understood that the flickering lights appeared only when the computer ran on inverter power during a mains failure.
From your description it’s clear that when the ATX PSU is under load, the flickering intensifies. This makes sense since the electromagnetic interference from the ATX PSU rises as it draws more current from the inverter.
So the short answer to whether my computer is causing the lights to flicker is yes—it's the mains-borne interference from the ATX PSU that’s responsible.
Keep in mind, however, that most LED bulbs use inexpensive components and basic designs, making them vulnerable to such interference.
I doubt you’ll face major issues running the computer on the inverter’s sine wave output. It’s not a certainty, but shutting down the system properly before the inverter batteries run out should keep things stable.
Consider testing with different bulbs from another manufacturer.