Hi, i put this in another dicussion board about mains cables, it referrs to how it is pointless getting expensive mains leads::::
Ive been following many discussions on spending a fortune on mains leads and i fear that many people have forgottem one thing....
.... theres cable behind the wall, under the streets ans above our heads thats not twisted, shielded etc.
It is going a bit far as over head lines as the transformers that supply to the houses will kill off any interferance.
To make your £40 mains cable worth it you would have to screen and twist the cable between your socket and fuse (or breaker) box, then the cable from your house to the main line under the road, then the main line between that and the transformer (substation).
I would (and have spent) about £10 on filters that go in the back of each components power inlet.
If youve ever opened up an AMP, TV, DVD etc. then you will find some coils and capacitors through/accross the inlet supply to stop interferance getting OUT of the thing (to comply with FCC etc). This filtering (by the basic laws of physics) also stop interferance getting IN from the mains!!!
Most Amps have a large transformer in them then rectifiers then smothing to nice DC... this all will kill off any interferance from the mains. Most other things use SMPS (Switch mode Power supplies... high frequencey, high efficciency supplies that use small transformers, like whats in a PC power supply) that also block noise going in and out so that the controller on the supply doesent get confused with noisy mains.
Id say even then my £5-20 inlet filters are pointless, i just like having them as very few, if no components have surge protection.
You should make sure everyithing is surge protected before you worry about getting a twisted, screened mains cable.
a UPS for your projector thats critical of having proper cooling. A 5p bit of fuse wire blowing will cause your house sockets to loose power, your PJ cooling fan will stop and could cause your £300 lamp to go bang.
If it doesent go bang, its life will be less and the casing may melt. Also the heat sitting in the thing will be passed the the LCD causing pixels or the whole thing to die.
I bought a APC 700 Smart UPS (uninteruptable power supply) off ebay for £30 and will give you enough time to shut off the PJ and let the fan cool the thing properly running from batteries. whist you run and get the candles.
Thats my opinion anyway,
Stuart
(BscEng - Electrical & Electronic Eng)