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Thank God for my UPS.

seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Thank God for my UPS.

My mains supply just went off three times in about 5 minutes while I was copying 40Gb of stuff from my desktop machine to my Windows server. Only went off for about 2 seconds each time but would still have been enough to reboot the computers had it not been for my 3Kva UPS.
Does anyone else experience very short mains failures like this. It happens quite often here. What causes it?
21 REPLIES 21
Santiago
Grafter
Posts: 3,291
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎10-08-2007

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

Do you need to put 50p in the meter?   Grin
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

LoL
samuria
Grafter
Posts: 1,581
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

We had it last night I blamed the wife as i dont think she was peddling fast enough. Its probably down to a surge when everyone makes a cup of tea after east enders but last night probably down to the new year and lots of people turning stuff on.
techguy
Grafter
Posts: 2,540
Registered: ‎12-09-2008

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

You mean you dont have one of these on your lawn yet?  Wink
http://www.cat2-4mw.com/
Gus
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 3,236
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Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

Hydro electricity here so I get power spikes a lot that trip my breakers and as you have had no electricity supply for a second or two.  Usually happens in evening when they open the sluice gates after heavy rain during the day
FTTP 500 regrade from Tues 28th November
techguy
Grafter
Posts: 2,540
Registered: ‎12-09-2008

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

We had a surge in the early hours of Christmas Eve and it switched all the security floodlights to permanent on so had to go round and reset them.
Mind you have noticed the grid getting a bit jittery.
Alex
Community Veteran
Posts: 5,500
Thanks: 921
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

It's funny how where I live (15 miles from London) we don't get them.
But from work (Central London) we have had them at times, but power cuts for a far longer period are not uncommon.
Had them last anything between half to a couple of hours.
acr
Rising Star
Posts: 266
Thanks: 31
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

I have problems with power outages lasting 10 to 15 seconds at a time and could not do without my UPS. I can go several months without a problem and then have two or three such outages within a period of 10 minutes or so. It effects the whole area and normally takes place during heavy rain and/or high wind. Western Power (who are responsible for supplying power in the area) blame it on birds hitting the overhead cables which bring power to the village. If true, then there must be a lot of birds being killed each year when they fly into overhead power cables ! 
mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

From what one reads - with lack of investment in generating capicity, and smaller power stations being closed - this sort of thing is likely to to increase in the next few years. So maybe UPS's would be a useful investment for all of us, if only to allow servers, PC's etc to close down gracefully,
techguy
Grafter
Posts: 2,540
Registered: ‎12-09-2008

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

Think I'll invest in one of those Cat generators to power my house like we have as backup for critical systems at work.
7up
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

Where I live now we're lucky and get no power cuts. Just the occasional flicker of the lights as it dips for a split second. Used to live in another village years ago where power cuts were a daily thing. It was very frustrating as the answering machine would always reset and the VCR would loose the time etc. It used to drive me bonkers. I'd never manage to run my network there now. The weird thing was we were right next to the village powe lines and transformer too. Never used to see any maintenance crews come out to service them so they were obviously reliable. I was glad to move back into a town again as for some reason the power seems far more reliable.
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p_w_d_stone
Grafter
Posts: 315
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

Quote from: ruslyn
Western Power (who are responsible for supplying power in the area) blame it on birds hitting the overhead cables which bring power to the village. If true, then there must be a lot of birds being killed each year when they fly into overhead power cables!

I had occasion to visit a WWT Centre on Boxing Day and after I spotted a swan with a damaged wing the staff helpfully explained that 12 swans on the reserve had been permanently injured as a result of flying into power lines and are no longer able to fly. The problem is so bad that the centre arranged for two miles of lines to be buried (at vast expense) to reduce the number of injuries. I didn't enquire on fatalities or injuries amongst the other fowl.
Apparently some high tension lines now have football sized orange plastic balls on the cables to allow birds (and presumably helicopters?) to see and avoid them.
pierre_pierre
Grafter
Posts: 19,757
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Thank God for my UPS.

Was it a swan that flew into the Wind Turbine this week at Louth? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/7817378.stm
7up
Community Veteran
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Re: Thank God for my UPS.

Quote from: PJ
Quote from: ruslyn
Western Power (who are responsible for supplying power in the area) blame it on birds hitting the overhead cables which bring power to the village. If true, then there must be a lot of birds being killed each year when they fly into overhead power cables!

Apparently some high tension lines now have football sized orange plastic balls on the cables to allow birds (and presumably helicopters?) to see and avoid them.

Yes I've seen this and they also have bright orange strips too which looks like pipe lagging stuff. They place it on various lengths along the power lines or in some cases just one long bit in the middle. It does make the lines more visible but its a shame it isn't a widely adopted practice.
I once saw a picture of a swan after it had hit a power line - half of its beak had been ripped off and it looked awful. It lived to tell the tale and had an artificial beak replacement but the pictures of it pre-op were horrifying.
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