On Thursday 26 January 2006 04:07, Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
>On Wed, 25 Jan 2006, Gene Heskett wrote:
>> On Tuesday 24 January 2006 13:27, Matthias Andree wrote:
>> >The real point is if some voltage surge comes through your power
>> > supply unit, it might fry your computer with all of its hardware
>> > at the same time, and the separate drive that was in the cupboard
>> > might survive.
>>
>> In that case, it will have to destroy a 1500J wall suppressor that
>> ties everything together surgewise, followed by a 1500KVA Belkin ups
>> before
>
>Do not underestimate lightning ;-)
Never have. I was once, out in Nebraska, driving toward the EDU TV
station I was responsible for, and saw from about 2 miles away, 3
different lightning strikes all just sit on that 1079 foot tower for
several seconds, bright enough the tower lights had shut off. I figured
I'd have all sorts of damages when I arrived. I did, one blown 50 cent
1 amp fuse in the power supply of the processing amplifier. Sort of
anti-climactic after the fact. That storm was noisey too, as I was
walking up the sidewalk to unlock the door, it took another hit and I
got a bit of a jolt because of the voltage potential between my feet as
they touched the wet cement of the sidewalk. So yes, I've been
'educated' about lightning.
>> If in the unlikely event I get something in here blown, then I'd
>> expect the damages to the surrounding area, like the rest of this
>> house, will be of far greater importance. One strike that I
>> witnessed a year ago, hit the ground wire on top of the pole where
>> my transformer is mounted,
>
>Transformers on poles? Oh the horror!
Well, you have to understand this IS West Virginia we're talking about
here, Geert. :-) Appalachian mountain country where the hills are
right up in your "might as well get used to it cause they ain't goin
away" face. What we refer to as a West Virginia Cadillac in these
parts is typically King Cab GMC pickup with 4wd. With a bit of
babying, its gets 19.5 mpg on the interstate roads. When it gets to
use them that is. About half of our rural county roads are paved, but
laid out by a drunken sidewinder rattlesnake. 30 mph is a comfortable
speed on many of them. And we love this country living.
When the franchise came up for renewall about 10 years ago, I made some
noise about getting them buried as a condition of the renewal, but no
one understood the advantages & I got treated like a bit of a kook. I
mean I was a tv engineer, what the heck did I know about power
distribution? Ya win some, ya lose some...
>> I highly recommend such a setup to anyone. I figure that $60
>> suppressor has paid for itself half a dozen times by now. And
>> everybody needs a ups don't they?
>
>UPS? Yes, we have one at work. But at home?
>Probably I'm too spoiled by the reliability of the Belgian power
> grid...
I'd say. We probably have a 1 or 2 second glitch at least weekly here.
Maintainance on line regulator switches is non-existant. It may get
fixed for a while if enough of us call and bitch about having to reset
all our clocks that are blinking again. But even then you seem to have
to get a bit abusive to make the point. I blame the MBA's on the 4th
floor.
--
Cheers Geert, Gene
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Copyright 2005 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.
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