Tektronix Phaser printer makes lights dim

[mellocj]

I just got a Tektronix Phaser 550 color printer. While it is on and idle, the lamps in the room dim frequently, causing them to "pulse". I think they are pulsing about twice per second. It is very annoying.

Do these printers need their own dedicated electrical circuit? Or is something else wrong with perhaps the printer's power supply?

thanks

 

[ven0m]

I doubt that anything is wrong with your printer (my 550 does it at home as well). The 550 is an old printer and when heating the fuser has moderate to high power consumption. Even my small old OKI monochrome unit when here at home would dim the lights. The reason this is not noticed in an office environemnt is that commercial wiring is usualy more capable, and most office environments have flourescent lighting which isn't as picky about supply voltage as iincandescent lights that most people have at home are. Ireally wonder however if there might be a firmware update from Xerox that could make it so the fuser isn't heated in such short bursts, or maybe they do that for a good of the fuser. I could probably deal with the blinking long term if it was not at the two blinks per second interval like you are describing as well.

Some day this winter I plan on running a new circuit to my office anyway and the only thing that will be on it is the printer and stuff in the basement, we will see how that fares.

 

[mellocj]

Thanks for the reply ven0m. I'm glad to hear this is a normal thing and not something wrong with my printer. I live in an apartment, otherwise I would try running a dedicated circuit for the printer. Let me know how it works out when you run a new circuit for the printer.. thanks