computers lights flicker when ac starts up

[Ls9L]

The hvac system or whatever its called that sits outside is right beside my window and every time it starts up, all the rgb in my pc flickers (rgb ram, rgb fans, motherboard, gpu). I understand why house lights flicker when the ac starts up and that's probably the same reason my pc does to, but my question is, does that cause any damage to my pc overtime? Because where this happens at (my moms house), I don't stay here often, maybe like 4 days out of a month. Doesn't happen where i normally live at. 

[Guest]

If you have a decent power supply and a surge protector that plugs your PC into the wall, you have no reason to worry.

[Action_Johnson]

You need to get what's called a UPC. Look at the output and make sure it's slightly above what your power supply does. Why more people don't use these is beyond me, it's cheap insurance. 

 

I use one similar to this:

APC Back-UPS PRO BN1500M2 Battery Backup & Surge BN1500M2 B&H (bhphotovideo.com)

 

I have fairly dirty power at my place too, and it goes out alot during poor weather conditions. This helps clean it up when it dips in and out and keeps my electronics from shutting off. 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Action_Johnson said:

Why more people don't use these is beyond me, it's cheap insurance. 

No, it's not cheap. 200 bucks for a lot of people is too much to justify a battery backup system, unless the power going out is a *serious* issue at your place. I've run PCs for years in my house which does experience things like lights flickering when you turn on the AC or the vacuum cleaner, and no hardware has ever been killed as a result.

 

If your power goes out frequently, this is a good idea, but in OP's case, it's unnecessary.

[LIGISTX]

28 minutes ago, Ls9L said:

The hvac system or whatever its called that sits outside is right beside my window and every time it starts up, all the rgb in my pc flickers (rgb ram, rgb fans, motherboard, gpu). I understand why house lights flicker when the ac starts up and that's probably the same reason my pc does to, but my question is, does that cause any damage to my pc overtime? Because where this happens at (my moms house), I don't stay here often, maybe like 4 days out of a month. Doesn't happen where i normally live at. 

If the RGB flickers, yes that isn’t good. The PSU should be smoothing out that voltage drop, sounds like it isn’t.

 

The lights in your house dim because they don’t have capacitors to try and “buffer” the voltage drop that is caused by the huge current draw caused when you turn the AC on. Your PSU does have capacitors which should help it provide constant voltage. PC components don’t like voltage fluctuations, and the fact the RGB flickers means there is a voltage drop occurring in the machine.

 

It it going to fry, maybe? It’s certainly not ideal. 

[Ls9L]

15 hours ago, LIGISTX said:

If the RGB flickers, yes that isn’t good. The PSU should be smoothing out that voltage drop, sounds like it isn’t.

 

The lights in your house dim because they don’t have capacitors to try and “buffer” the voltage drop that is caused by the huge current draw caused when you turn the AC on. Your PSU does have capacitors which should help it provide constant voltage. PC components don’t like voltage fluctuations, and the fact the RGB flickers means there is a voltage drop occurring in the machine.

 

It it going to fry, maybe? It’s certainly not ideal. 

Welp... this might be completely coincidental but my pc wont boot into Windows anymore. Just woke up and it just says startup repair,  restart computer.

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, Ls9L said:

Welp... this might be completely coincidental but my pc wont boot into Windows anymore. Just woke up and it just says startup repair,  restart computer.

Could be corruption. Let it repair and see what happens.

 

But ya, voltage ripple can cause corruption. What PSU do you have? It should be doing a “good enough” job of providing clean stable power.