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Wols Lists wrote: |
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> On 29/10/17 11:21, Dale wrote: |
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>> Power failures aren't as often the past few years anyway. I could |
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>> almost make it without a UPS BUT I do like having that extra |
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>> protection. Mine has some serious surge protection in it plus |
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>> brownout/over voltage protection/warning as well. While I have a fairly |
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>> decent power supply in this rig, I didn't buy the cheapest thing out |
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>> there, having a little extra is nice. May save my bacon one day. ;-) |
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> Depends where you live. Are you in the States? |
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> |
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> I'm in the UK and powercuts are almost unheard of AT THE MOMENT. But we |
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> keep getting dire warnings that our generation is going down, while |
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> demand is going up, and they are on the verge of crossing ... |
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> |
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> Dunno what's going to happen then, but we tend to get trips and cuts, |
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> not brownouts, so we could be in for a nasty shock in the not too |
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> distant future :-( |
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> |
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> Cheers, |
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> Wol |
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|
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Yes, I do live in the States. When I built my first rig well over a |
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decade ago, we had lots of power problems. Some of the wires were many |
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decades old, had been spliced many times from trees failing on them, had |
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trees grown up into the lines and such. Blinks, drop outs and such were |
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pretty much a daily thing even when weather was nice outside, no rain or |
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wind. The local power companies told people that if they have trees |
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close to or under power lines, they were going to be dealt with, either |
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by the property owners or the power companies. That was one of the |
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problems. Trees were allowed to grow to the point they would touch the |
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lines or would fall on the lines during storms/winds. It took years, a |
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decade or so, to get the trees cleared out. Some were not happy but all |
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the power companies have the right to trim trees that can contact the |
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lines. When they came to talk to me, I told them to cut anything that |
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could touch the lines or was dying and could touch the lines with wind |
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behind it. Hey, I want to have good power too. I have two fridges, two |
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freezers, a computer, TVs and such that like clean power. Even things |
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like a well pump likes reasonably clean power. |
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|
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Also, several years ago, they replaced the main lines all the way from |
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the substation to just up the road about half a mile from here. Since |
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then, brownouts and such are rare. Even during some pretty strong |
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storms, power is stable. They replaced a good ten miles worth of |
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lines. They also upgraded to three phase since a large grain and river |
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port was built across the woods. They have HUGE, I mean HUGE, |
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fans/blowers over there. At night, even tho I'm close to a mile away, I |
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can go outside and listen to the whirring noise they make. |
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|
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We also have issues because of our aging infrastructure. Thing is, at |
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some point the companies are going to realize they must step up and |
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upgrade/replace some things. Just like the old lines out here, once it |
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cost more to keep repairing them instead of replacing them, they |
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replaced them. One thing to keep in mind, if the meter isn't turning, |
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they are losing money. It may take a while but eventually, power |
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companies will have to deal with that. To make money, the meter has to |
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have power going through it. |
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|
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I've read where a lot of countries are having issues like that. On one |
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hand, they want us to use power, that way they make money. On the other |
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hand, they claim to want us to conserve power. Which is it? LOL |
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|
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I wouldn't dream of running my puter a decade ago without a UPS. I just |
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had way to many power problems back then. I even took the top off the |
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UPS and stuck tape over the beeper. Every time the power would drop, |
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surge or something, it would beep. I do like to sleep at least a |
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little. Now tho, it's good to have in case of a severe storm but the |
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UPS rarely complains. It has improved to the point that my newer UPS is |
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allowed to beep. ;-) |
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|
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I might add, my old UPS is now running my TV. I'm going to catch them |
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on sale one day and get one for the living room TV as well. |
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|
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I've always seen UPSs as the best insurance of decent power. I find |
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them handy for almost anything electronic. No matter where a person |
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lives, good power is sometimes just not going to be there. |
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|
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Dale |
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|
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:-) :-) |