How to Protect Your Business from Voltage Dips, Surges, and Power Quality Issues

Every factory relies on a steady, predictable flow of electricity — but the reality is anything but steady. Voltage dips and surges are the silent disruptions that creep into even the best-designed systems, causing machines to trip, motors to burn out, and production lines to falter. You can’t see them, and they’re over in milliseconds, but the damage they leave behind is measurable — in downtime, in wasted output, and in repair bills that keep repeating like déjà vu.

What voltage dips and surges actually are

A voltage dip is a sudden, short drop in the supply voltage. Imagine your power system briefly taking a breath it didn’t plan for. It might last a few milliseconds or stretch to a few seconds. The deeper or longer it lasts, the more it hurts.

A voltage surge, on the other hand, is an uninvited jolt of energy, like a caffeine overdose for your electrical equipment. It can result from lightning strikes, switching faults, or utility disturbances.

Then there are low-voltage and over-voltage conditions. They’re the slower cousins of dips and surges: less dramatic, but still costly over time.

Where the trouble starts

Internal causes – the culprits under your own roof

• Starting or stopping large motors without soft starters

• Sudden process load changes (like crushers or mills jamming)

• Loose electrical connections

• Faulty wiring or insulation failures

• Switching between generator and grid power

External causes – the chaos from the outside world

• Lightning strikes or utility network faults

• Utility company cable theft or physical damage

• Load shedding and grid switching

• Tap changes on supply transformers

• Large load changes from neighbouring facilities

Each of these events can make your factory’s voltage behave like a roller coaster — with your equipment strapped in for the ride.

The ripple effect on your equipment

Voltage dips tend to confuse sensitive electronics. Sensors feed back the wrong information, encoders drift, and control systems panic. Surges, meanwhile, are less subtle; they blow things up. Circuit boards, transformers, even motors can all suffer catastrophic failure from a single strong surge.

The result?

• Unplanned downtime

• Production losses and wasted material

• Premature equipment failure

• A maintenance budget that looks suspiciously like a ransom demand

Measuring what’s really happening

Before you start replacing components or pointing fingers at the utility, you need evidence. That’s where a power quality analyser comes in. This sophisticated tool is typically installed for a period of one to two weeks, and during this period it records dips, surges, and other electrical power anomalies at very high speed. Once you’ve got the data, you can identify the real cause, design a targeted fix, and even calculate your return on investment. In short: you can stop guessing.

How to mitigate power quality problems

For voltage surges

• Install surge protection devices (SPDs): Go for high-quality, reliable models. Cheap ones fail when you need them most.

• Check and maintain earthing systems: A good SPD without proper earthing is like a seatbelt that isn’t buckled.

• Use isolation transformers and shielded cables to protect sensitive circuits.

• Perform infrared scans to catch hot or loose connections before they cause failures.

• Inspect surge protectors monthly — most have health indicators showing whether they’re still functional.

For voltage dips

• Add soft starters or variable speed drives to large motors.

• Use online double-conversion UPS systems for sensitive equipment.

• Provide dedicated feeders for critical processes.

• Install automatic voltage regulators (AVRs):

  • Servo AVRs are slower but affordable.

  • Static AVRs react in milliseconds — ideal for high-stakes systems, albeit at a higher cost.

The cost of prevention vs. repair

Fixing a surge is easy — you’re redirecting excess energy. Fixing a dip is harder because you’re filling in missing energy, which usually requires expensive compensation systems. Still, ignoring either is the costliest option of all. Every unaddressed event chips away at your uptime, your assets, and ultimately, your profitability.

A final word from the control room

Like maintaining a fleet of vehicles, the key to electrical reliability is regular inspection and timely maintenance. You can’t stop every surge or dip from happening, but you can ensure your systems handle them gracefully.

If you’ve noticed unexplained shutdowns, overheating, or flickering equipment, it’s time to investigate. Contact Alpha Power Solutions to arrange a professional power quality assessment. We’ll measure, identify, and help you fix the underlying issues before they hit your bottom line.