Topic: Texas Still Having Power Troubles

[W Thomas]

I was reading some replies on another list server that I subscribe to that has it's data center in Texas and it seems as if they are still experiencing quite a bit of power problems in some areas.
IIRC they had lost a server or two to recurrent power surges and  such.. It was bad enough that their UPS's couldn't handle the surges.

I was guessing that maybe they were about to get a handle on things there electricity wise but from what I read it seems they still have a ways to go.

Wayne

www.smythweather.net
CW82127

[racenet]

It was bad enough that their UPS's couldn't handle the surges.

If all they are using for surge protection are UPS's, they are in the wrong business. 

[W Thomas]

It was bad enough that their UPS's couldn't handle the surges.

If all they are using for surge protection are UPS's, they are in the wrong business. 

I hope that was not what they had in mind too
Read another continuation of the story where there was on intermittently open neutral at the transformer bank on their pole.
That was probably the worst of their problem in stable voltage wise anyway..


Wayne
www.smythweather.net
CW8217

[Mark / Ohio]

An open neutral will definitely make for some nice big long lasting surges as the load varies from things turning off an on in the building.  Been out to several homes that had an issue with that over the years after trees took them out.  Tops on capacitors split/vented on the switch mode power supply primaries.  On the old TV's would starting popping things on the secondary real quick.  If your lucky the caps take out the fuse before it has a chance to get unstable and grenade the rest of the power supply circuit, internal fuses in the tranformers, all kinds of good stuff not to mention even light bulbs that work reeeelly well for a short time.   

The store had the voltage drop to about 40 Volts a few years back due to loose terminal screws.  That's almost as deadly to some models as over voltage.  Had a couple TV's with horizontal lines burned into the picture tube after the vertical collapsed yet they did not go into a full shut down.  Better design from the factory could easily have avoided that problem.

That's when the boss found out his insurance on the new sets only covered an over voltage situation.   

[MoradaWx]

So, have to ask the question....for a hobbyist what else should be considered other than or including UPS?

[racenet]

So, have to ask the question....for a hobbyist what else should be considered other than or including UPS?

In addition to a UPS, quality surge protection.

http://www.zerosurge.com/



Bob

[mackbig]

Dont most home UPS systems also have surge suppression??? I have two home theatre UPS's, and 3 office type UPS's and they all list surge suppresion, and similar other features that the standard surge power bar strips have.

Andrew

ps: can the people with the wired Davis system's use a surge supressor phone line input/output so that a zap to the ISS does not fry their console-data logger-pc-finger tips?

[racenet]

Dont most home UPS systems also have surge suppression??? I have two home theatre UPS's, and 3 office type UPS's and they all list surge suppresion, and similar other features that the standard surge power bar strips have.

Which are all crap as far as surge protection goes. You are better off using nothing.

ps: can the people with the wired Davis system's use a surge supressor phone line input/output so that a zap to the ISS does not fry their console-data logger-pc-finger tips?

The short answer: no




Bob

[W Thomas]

So, have to ask the question....for a hobbyist what else should be considered other than or including UPS?

In addition to a UPS, quality surge protection.

http://www.zerosurge.com/



Bob

The Ferrups I use here seems to do a fairly good job on surge protection overall..but it is an older model.
But I do have the GE marketed protector that goes across both legs of the mains in the
breaker box. I'm not sure those are even made anymore but I had some surplus left from
radio installs and decided I'd give it a shot..after loosing 2 or 3 power supplies and a couple of
satellite receivers to bad voltage!  We haven't had any failures since ( knock on some woody item )
But they have upgraded a lot of distribution equipment on our circuit since..including a complete rebuild of the substation
feeding  it.
Basically voltage is out of spec lots more than you really think about so some form of protection is a really good idea!

Wayne
www.smythweather.net
CW8217

[MoradaWx]

In addition to a UPS, quality surge protection.

http://www.zerosurge.com/



Bob

Why or what makes this different or better than a stand alone UPS?

[racenet]

In addition to a UPS, quality surge protection.

http://www.zerosurge.com/



Bob

Why or what makes this different or better than a stand alone UPS?

Go to the Zero Surge web site and read all about it. The information they provide is quite informitive.


Bob