Voltage drop

Updated: 11/12/2024 by Computer Hope
Utility workers fixing power lines.

A voltage drop is any decrease in voltage under one second. Longer reduction in voltage is called undervoltage.

Power line sags often occur during the summer and when too much equipment is plugged into the same circuit. When a voltage drop occurs, your computer can lock up, lose data, crash, and may experience hardware failure, such as the hard drive failing.

Tip

If your area experience brownouts, we recommend purchasing an SPS (Standby Power Supply) or UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) for your computer and other devices and equipment to help prevent any damage and corruption.

Note

A voltage drop may also be called a brownout, dip, power fluctuation, sag, voltage dip, voltage reduction, and voltage sag.

Current, Drop, Power terms, Sag, Spike, Surge, Undervoltage, Voltage