On Fri, Mar 13, 2015 at 08:24:38AM -0400, Russell Reiter wrote:
I live close to the exhibition grounds which is near to one of the city's major grid switches. For example, they were testing the new streetcars, the ones with three sections for navigating tight turns and they browned us down to (I assume) 50hz. This was visible as all the lights dimmed and the streetcar appeared to navigate the loop a short time later. As I don't have ups I had powered down my tower. The next time I powered up the breaker in the power supply tripped and when I reset it and booted, my 1.5v agp video card was toasted, at least I hope its the card and not elsewhere on the bus.
Changing the frequency of the power grid is VERY hard. Dropping the voltage (which is a brownout) is easy.
Yeah, I agree. Frequency isn't likely to change. It depends on the rate of rotation of massive generators in the Adam Beck generating station, for one thing. And the whole system is locked together, as Lennart points out. If you have access to the fuse or circuit box, I'd recommend measuring the voltage at that point, then at the hair dryer outlet. There might be a marginal connection somewhere that is dropping the voltage. Don't open up the distribution box unless you are an electrician, electrical engineer or immortal. There are lethal voltages and currents inside. War story: Years ago I worked one summer as the effects guy at the Red Barn Theatre in Jackson's Point. We had a three phase lighting board and the power coming into the barn was two phase. So I checked with my power engineering colleague and he confirmed it was OK to put two phases of the lighting board on one side of the power and one phase on the other side, and then to be a bit careful about the loading. This worked well all through the rehearsal period. Then, at the opening night reception, where everyone is in formal wear and eating tiny pieces of fish, all of sudden every light in the place goes out. Of course, everyone looks at me. So I go down to the distribution box with my voltmeter, trailed by about 10 people, and measure the power at the entry point, before the master switch and fuses. No input power. So I say 'Not our problem, the Hydro is down.' Of course, nobody believes me and there is some mutinous muttering. So I go down to the road to see if I can see anything and in the distance, I can see flashing red lights. Turns out some drunk had taken out a hydro pole. Fortunately, the Hydro guys had it back up and running in a matter of minutes. That was a nervous few minutes... P. -- Peter Hiscocks Syscomp Electronic Design Limited, Toronto http://www.syscompdesign.com USB Oscilloscope and Waveform Generator 647-839-0325