It’s a beautiful day; a bit coolish, but sunny. And a wee bit windy. I’ve lost power twice in the last hour or so. Only for a few seconds, but it’s annoying. I wouldn’t mind, but I lose my Internet.
I’d be more worried about corrupted OS files.
Three times…
I’m on the PowerBook, so it doesn’t lose power. I just lose the Internet.
Oh, bother.
Went out a fourth time, came on again, and then went down for the count. I have food in the crock pot, so I got out the ginny.
[nojinx][gloat] Power never goes out here[/gloat][/nojinx]
When I lived in L.A. the power would go off whenever there was a heavy rain. I bought a Coleman lantern so that I could read, and the power never went out after that. (Except for one time, for 30 seconds.)
I called Puget Sound Energy and they said a large tree had fallen on lines, and that crews are there working on it. The crock pot, computer, TV and cable are plugged into the ginny. If the power isn’t on by the time it gets dark, there’s always the Coleman lantern.
Hurrah!
Power’s back!
I have a UPS that we have the modem, router and cable box plugged into so we dont lose the internet - we get lots of tiny power hits of 10 minutes or less. Also have the 2 desktops on their own UPS, and the laptops have batteries.
I love UPSs, give you the time to properly power off the computers =) and figure out if we need to give the generator a kick.
I know you didn’t ask but it looks like you are on a distribution circuit that has a reclose protection scheme.
It’s important to isolate and remove problems that occur on the power distribution line so reclosing schemes are used to restore service automatically.
How it works is the circuit breaker senses an overcurrent situation (tree branch in the line blown in from the wind, unlucky squirrel grounding a line, lightning strike) The problem is that once a path is formed through the branch/squirrel/air it has a tendency to remain in place and the line may eventually melt.
So the circuit breaker is designed to open momentarily and then reclose. As soon as it does it continues to monitor the line. The first open/reclose is sometimes so fast its barely noticeable. That one usually clears out lightning and some contact faults. The second and possibly third ones open for longer periods. That one gives the squirrel time to fall away and clears the fault. If the problem still doesn’t clear then the circuit breaker goes into lockout mode - it opens and won’t close until the servicemen operates it.
If the circuit bounces on and off a few seconds apart it usually means that whatever caused the problem didn’t go away and service is required.
When the circuit bounces on and off over the course of a few minutes it usually means that the wind is blowing something into the line.
Modems, routers, TV’s, walk around phone bases, etc., on a UPS that can be found for cheap in yard sales.
Takes care of our funky electricity supply up here on the mountain. 