Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile for
Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to happen
again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Cheers

Dave R

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to
happen again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Mm. I phoned up am emergency number when it happened to me.

Online resources telling you you cant get online are as useful as tits
on a bull.


Cheers

Dave R



--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to
happen again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Cheers

Dave R

number is/should be 0800 783 8838

--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to happen
again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Cheers

Dave R

number is/should be 0800 783 8838


Thanks - I discounted ringing a phone number because
(a) A large number of other people are likely to be competing for the same
number
(b) It isn't an emergency. If it was off for some time then I might try
that.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to happen
again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Mm. I phoned up am emergency number when it happened to me.

Online resources telling you you cant get online are as useful as tits on
a bull.


Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart phone which
can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route for a query.
Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone exchange are
down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Jun 27, 7:11*pm, "David WE Roberts" wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in ...









David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to happen
again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Mm. I phoned up am emergency number *when it happened to me.

Online resources telling you you cant get online are as useful as tits on
a bull.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart phone which
can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route for a query.
Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone exchange are
down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

If the line reset very quickly for sure no one went to find a fault,
so they will know which line tripped but the cause may remain a
mystery, lightning strike, bird strike, who knows ?
Al

Allan Mac wrote:
On Jun 27, 7:11 pm, "David WE Roberts" wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in
...









David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my
independance from the National Grid (short term) by tethering
my laptop to my mobile for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely
to happen again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of
power outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder
storms and the like.

Mm. I phoned up am emergency number when it happened to me.

Online resources telling you you cant get online are as useful as
tits on a bull.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart
phone which
can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route for a query.
Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone
exchange are
down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

If the line reset very quickly for sure no one went to find a fault,
so they will know which line tripped but the cause may remain a
mystery, lightning strike, bird strike, who knows ?

Sometimes turned off to make a new connection or repair a known fault
according to the bods that visit the substation in my garden.

--
Adam

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:41:27 +0100, ARWadsworth wrote:

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of
power outages and causes?

Try your local DNO's web site. Ours, ENW, has a page with major(*) outages on
it but I think it's a manual update rather than a link from the automatic
monitoring.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart
phone which can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route
for a query. Unless of course the cellular masts and the local
telephone exchange are down, in which case a phone number isn't much
use either.

The mobile networks fail as the power goes or very quickly afterwards, very
few cells have anything more than "safe shutdown" backup power arrangements.
BT telephone exchanges are all equipped with large lead acid batteries and
even the garden sheds out in rural areas also have gensets.

If the line reset very quickly for sure no one went to find a fault,
so they will know which line tripped but the cause may remain a
mystery, lightning strike, bird strike, who knows ?

Sometimes turned off to make a new connection or repair a known fault
according to the bods that visit the substation in my garden.

If it was off for only a second or two that would have been an autorecloser
tripping and resetting due to a bird strike or wet branch getting blown up.

Long enough to find a torch or think "is it going to come back" is more
likely to be switching to route supplies around a fault or possibly switching
feeds to the local 33kV substation. When they switch between the 33kV main
feed and 11kV backup to the local substation here it takes a couple of
minutes.

When the power goes off here I sort out torches and shutdown computers on the
UPS then call the DNO. It's about 50:50 if they have had a call or been
automatically alerted already but they can normally look it up on the system
and say "oh, yes we do have a high voltage fault".

(*) Major being something that affects more than 50 to 100 customers or has
been on going for a long time.

--
Cheers
Dave.

They are strange indeed. The worst ones are those that are just a blip, less
than a second but can scramble hard drives and generally cause problems to
most domestic devices with computers inthem like tvs. Grrr.
Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to happen
again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Cheers

Dave R

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

One issue seems to be that at least at present, bt lines do not go down when
the power fails, but cable company and of course voip and probably cellular
all tend to.

Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to
happen again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Mm. I phoned up am emergency number when it happened to me.

Online resources telling you you cant get online are as useful as tits on
a bull.


Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart phone
which can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route for a query.
Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone exchange are
down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

Copper wire theft...

Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Allan Mac" wrote in message
...
On Jun 27, 7:11 pm, "David WE Roberts" wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in
...









David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my
independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to
happen
again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and
the
like.

Mm. I phoned up am emergency number when it happened to me.

Online resources telling you you cant get online are as useful as tits
on
a bull.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart phone
which
can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route for a query.
Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone exchange are
down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

If the line reset very quickly for sure no one went to find a fault,
so they will know which line tripped but the cause may remain a
mystery, lightning strike, bird strike, who knows ?
Al

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 21:50:41 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

Copper wire theft...

As it was only off for short while, attempted copper wire theft.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In message , ARWadsworth
writes
Allan Mac wrote:
On Jun 27, 7:11 pm, "David WE Roberts" wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in
...









David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my
independance from the National Grid (short term) by tethering
my laptop to my mobile for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely
to happen again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of
power outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder
storms and the like.

Mm. I phoned up am emergency number when it happened to me.

Online resources telling you you cant get online are as useful as
tits on a bull.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart
phone which
can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route for a query.
Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone
exchange are
down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

If the line reset very quickly for sure no one went to find a fault,
so they will know which line tripped but the cause may remain a
mystery, lightning strike, bird strike, who knows ?

Sometimes turned off to make a new connection or repair a known fault
according to the bods that visit the substation in my garden.

Commonly on the *half hour* time here. In these days of reliable
telecoms, I don't know how they issue permits to work but 35 years ago,
they had to be signed off in advance of some mutually agreed time.

They are under grounding some 11kV overheads through my land this summer
so I will find out:-)

regards


--
Tim Lamb

In article , Brian Gaff
scribeth thus
One issue seems to be that at least at present, bt lines do not go down when
the power fails, but cable company and of course voip and probably cellular
all tend to.

Brian


Only known our VM service go down when Padrig was a bit too enthusiastic
with a digger once;!..

Mobile nets very solid backup round this way..
--
Tony Sayer

In article o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:41:27 +0100, ARWadsworth wrote:

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of
power outages and causes?

Try your local DNO's web site. Ours, ENW, has a page with major(*) outages on
it but I think it's a manual update rather than a link from the automatic
monitoring.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart
phone which can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route
for a query. Unless of course the cellular masts and the local
telephone exchange are down, in which case a phone number isn't much
use either.

The mobile networks fail as the power goes or very quickly afterwards, very
few cells have anything more than "safe shutdown" backup power arrangements.
BT telephone exchanges are all equipped with large lead acid batteries and
even the garden sheds out in rural areas also have gensets.

A favourite recollection of a failure of such a backup was a repeated
one at a major BT installation where starting the backup generator
produced a puff of smoke which was drawn in through an air intake to a
smoke detector, causing the fire alarm to trigger and forcing the
generator to be shut down.

It was a while ago so not sure if it also caused the fire brigade to be
called out too but it was certainly a major source of amusement on the
site as we waited for power to be reinstated.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

In message , fred writes
In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice writes
On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:41:27 +0100, ARWadsworth wrote:

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of
power outages and causes?

Try your local DNO's web site. Ours, ENW, has a page with major(*) outages on
it but I think it's a manual update rather than a link from the automatic
monitoring.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart
phone which can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route
for a query. Unless of course the cellular masts and the local
telephone exchange are down, in which case a phone number isn't much
use either.

The mobile networks fail as the power goes or very quickly afterwards, very
few cells have anything more than "safe shutdown" backup power arrangements.
BT telephone exchanges are all equipped with large lead acid batteries and
even the garden sheds out in rural areas also have gensets.

A favourite recollection of a failure of such a backup was a repeated
one at a major BT installation where starting the backup generator
produced a puff of smoke which was drawn in through an air intake to a
smoke detector, causing the fire alarm to trigger and forcing the
generator to be shut down.

I've got one of those.... around 1965 we were commissioning the control
gear for the Clywedog dam in central Wales. 500kVA Pelton Wheel with a
100kVA diesel gen. set as back up and house supply.

Came the day the big shots arrived to be impressed and all us external
engineers were ushered out of sight:-)

We saw the lights flicker as the newly trained site engineer
synchronised the Pelton Wheel. The next move was to open up the supply
valve to take over the load. This he clearly forgot as everything went
dark followed by the diesel set starting up....

regards

--
Tim Lamb

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:41:27 +0100, ARWadsworth wrote:

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of
power outages and causes?

Try your local DNO's web site. Ours, ENW, has a page with major(*) outages
on
it but I think it's a manual update rather than a link from the automatic
monitoring.

snip

Went and looked at
http://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/wcmqs/
and couldn't find anything, which is what prompted the original question.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

"fred" wrote in message ...
In article o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:41:27 +0100, ARWadsworth wrote:

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of
power outages and causes?

Try your local DNO's web site. Ours, ENW, has a page with major(*) outages
on
it but I think it's a manual update rather than a link from the automatic
monitoring.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart
phone which can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route
for a query. Unless of course the cellular masts and the local
telephone exchange are down, in which case a phone number isn't much
use either.

The mobile networks fail as the power goes or very quickly afterwards,
very
few cells have anything more than "safe shutdown" backup power
arrangements.
BT telephone exchanges are all equipped with large lead acid batteries and
even the garden sheds out in rural areas also have gensets.

A favourite recollection of a failure of such a backup was a repeated one
at a major BT installation where starting the backup generator produced a
puff of smoke which was drawn in through an air intake to a smoke
detector, causing the fire alarm to trigger and forcing the generator to
be shut down.

Why didn't that happen during routine testing?
Important sites have more than one generator as one just isn't reliable
enough.
Maybe it was just offices?

"fred" wrote in message ...
snip
A favourite recollection of a failure of such a backup was a repeated one
at a major BT installation where starting the backup generator produced a
puff of smoke which was drawn in through an air intake to a smoke
detector, causing the fire alarm to trigger and forcing the generator to
be shut down.

It was a while ago so not sure if it also caused the fire brigade to be
called out too but it was certainly a major source of amusement on the
site as we waited for power to be reinstated.

I've only seen a backup generator kick in once.
It was at a computer centre we were visiting.
We were just pulling into the car park when all the lights went out, and
there was an enormous bang and a cloud of smoke from round the back of the
building.
For a moment we thought that someone had blown up the building, but then the
lights came up again and we could hear the generator running.
Delayed us for a long time while they restored the systems, though.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On 27/06/2012 21:39, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:41:27 +0100, ARWadsworth wrote:

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of
power outages and causes?

Try your local DNO's web site. Ours, ENW, has a page with major(*) outages on
it but I think it's a manual update rather than a link from the automatic
monitoring.

Usually quicker to phone them. Tends to happen when it is very windy or
ice build up occurs round here. Sometimes things just blow up. Or a tree
falls through the line. I have a good picture somewhere of a tree being
held off the ground by the village power line! It bent all the poles and
they are marked as "unsafe" to climb manually now.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart
phone which can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route
for a query. Unless of course the cellular masts and the local
telephone exchange are down, in which case a phone number isn't much
use either.

The mobile networks fail as the power goes or very quickly afterwards, very
few cells have anything more than "safe shutdown" backup power arrangements.
BT telephone exchanges are all equipped with large lead acid batteries and
even the garden sheds out in rural areas also have gensets.

Phone lines stay good but you need a hardwired handset since wireless
handset basestation phones don't play with no power. Neither does VOIP.

If the line reset very quickly for sure no one went to find a fault,
so they will know which line tripped but the cause may remain a
mystery, lightning strike, bird strike, who knows ?

Sometimes turned off to make a new connection or repair a known fault
according to the bods that visit the substation in my garden.

If it was off for only a second or two that would have been an autorecloser
tripping and resetting due to a bird strike or wet branch getting blown up.

Or in some cases with old power cables the perished "insulation"
flapping about in the breeze and striking another phase when wet.

Long enough to find a torch or think "is it going to come back" is more
likely to be switching to route supplies around a fault or possibly switching
feeds to the local 33kV substation. When they switch between the 33kV main
feed and 11kV backup to the local substation here it takes a couple of
minutes.

I have a couple of LED torches with the switch bridged by a 10M resistor
so that they glow continuously. That way after dark adaption you can
find them in total darkness. Where I live is seriously dark if the mains
fails. I have two emergency lights - kitchen and dining room.

When the power goes off here I sort out torches and shutdown computers on the
UPS then call the DNO. It's about 50:50 if they have had a call or been
automatically alerted already but they can normally look it up on the system
and say "oh, yes we do have a high voltage fault".

(*) Major being something that affects more than 50 to 100 customers or has
been on going for a long time.

I usually do ring the power co and then check on my elderly neighbour.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:08:45 +0100, "David WE Roberts"
wrote:


"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to happen
again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Cheers

Dave R

number is/should be 0800 783 8838


Thanks - I discounted ringing a phone number because
(a) A large number of other people are likely to be competing for the same
number
(b) It isn't an emergency. If it was off for some time then I might try
that.

If it's the same number I call (I can't recall) then you just get a
recorded message saying something like "we know about the problem but
we've no idea what caused it or when it will be fixed".
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) If a man stands in a forest and no woman is around
(")_(") is he still wrong?

On Thu, 28 Jun 2012 11:43:27 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:


I have a couple of LED torches with the switch bridged by a 10M resistor
so that they glow continuously. That way after dark adaption you can
find them in total darkness. Where I live is seriously dark if the mains
fails. I have two emergency lights - kitchen and dining room.

That's a dead good idea and I might steal it from you. I have candles
and cigarette lighters in strategic places where they can always be
found without tripping over any furniture on the way. For a non-smoker
I seem to have a lot of cigarette lighters around: but apart from
candle-lighting on power-off days, I use them for odd jobs in the
workshop.

Nick

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 27/06/2012 21:39, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:41:27 +0100, ARWadsworth wrote:

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of
power outages and causes?

Try your local DNO's web site. Ours, ENW, has a page with major(*)
outages on
it but I think it's a manual update rather than a link from the automatic
monitoring.

Usually quicker to phone them. Tends to happen when it is very windy or
ice build up occurs round here. Sometimes things just blow up. Or a tree
falls through the line. I have a good picture somewhere of a tree being
held off the ground by the village power line! It bent all the poles and
they are marked as "unsafe" to climb manually now.

Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart
phone which can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route
for a query. Unless of course the cellular masts and the local
telephone exchange are down, in which case a phone number isn't much
use either.

The mobile networks fail as the power goes or very quickly afterwards,
very
few cells have anything more than "safe shutdown" backup power
arrangements.
BT telephone exchanges are all equipped with large lead acid batteries
and
even the garden sheds out in rural areas also have gensets.

Phone lines stay good but you need a hardwired handset since wireless
handset basestation phones don't play with no power.

Some do.

Neither does VOIP.

Can do when its configured properly with the router and ATA on a UPS.

If the line reset very quickly for sure no one went to find a fault,
so they will know which line tripped but the cause may remain a
mystery, lightning strike, bird strike, who knows ?

Sometimes turned off to make a new connection or repair a known fault
according to the bods that visit the substation in my garden.

If it was off for only a second or two that would have been an
autorecloser
tripping and resetting due to a bird strike or wet branch getting blown
up.

Or in some cases with old power cables the perished "insulation" flapping
about in the breeze and striking another phase when wet.

Long enough to find a torch or think "is it going to come back" is more
likely to be switching to route supplies around a fault or possibly
switching
feeds to the local 33kV substation. When they switch between the 33kV
main
feed and 11kV backup to the local substation here it takes a couple of
minutes.

I have a couple of LED torches with the switch bridged by a 10M resistor
so that they glow continuously. That way after dark adaption you can find
them in total darkness.

You can get rechargeable torches that come on auto when the mains fails.

Where I live is seriously dark if the mains fails. I have two emergency
lights - kitchen and dining room.

I don't need them because the rechargeable torches come on
auto when the mains fails and you can just unplug them from
the charger and use them wherever you like.

When the power goes off here I sort out torches and shutdown computers on
the
UPS then call the DNO. It's about 50:50 if they have had a call or been
automatically alerted already but they can normally look it up on the
system
and say "oh, yes we do have a high voltage fault".

(*) Major being something that affects more than 50 to 100 customers or
has
been on going for a long time.

I usually do ring the power co

I don't normally bother unless I need some idea about how long it will be
off for.

and then check on my elderly neighbour.

"Nick Odell" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 28 Jun 2012 11:43:27 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:


I have a couple of LED torches with the switch bridged by a 10M resistor
so that they glow continuously. That way after dark adaption you can
find them in total darkness. Where I live is seriously dark if the mains
fails. I have two emergency lights - kitchen and dining room.

That's a dead good idea and I might steal it from you.

Much better to have rechargeable torches that come on auto
when the mains fails. That way they are very easy to find and
you can just unplug it from the charger and use it wherever
you like.

I have candles and cigarette lighters in strategic places where they
can always be found without tripping over any furniture on the way.

Makes more sense to keep a torch in the same places.

For a non-smoker I seem to have a lot of cigarette lighters around:
but apart from candle-lighting on power-off days, I use them for
odd jobs in the workshop.

In article , David WE Roberts
writes

"fred" wrote in message ...
snip
A favourite recollection of a failure of such a backup was a repeated one
at a major BT installation where starting the backup generator produced a
puff of smoke which was drawn in through an air intake to a smoke
detector, causing the fire alarm to trigger and forcing the generator to
be shut down.

It was a while ago so not sure if it also caused the fire brigade to be
called out too but it was certainly a major source of amusement on the
site as we waited for power to be reinstated.

I've only seen a backup generator kick in once.
It was at a computer centre we were visiting.
We were just pulling into the car park when all the lights went out, and
there was an enormous bang and a cloud of smoke from round the back of the
building.

Yep, just like that :-)

Big site though so it had its own building, 2 storeys and about the
floor area of 4 portacabins from memory.

For a moment we thought that someone had blown up the building, but then the
lights came up again and we could hear the generator running.
Delayed us for a long time while they restored the systems, though.


--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

Mark wrote:

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:08:45 +0100, "David WE Roberts"
wrote:


"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my
independance from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop
to my mobile for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to
happen again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and
the like.

Cheers

Dave R

number is/should be 0800 783 8838


Thanks - I discounted ringing a phone number because
(a) A large number of other people are likely to be competing for the same
number
(b) It isn't an emergency. If it was off for some time then I might try
that.

If it's the same number I call (I can't recall) then you just get a
recorded message saying something like "we know about the problem but
we've no idea what caused it or when it will be fixed".

EDF^H^H^H UKPower do at least answer the phone - only to claim they know
nothing, despite the fact that I know[1] it is the main 66(or 33)kV
substation that has tripped and I'm pretty sure they will have remote
monitoring and possibly remote control on that.

[1] The whole village goes out and the substation has twin HV feeds, so
unless something really unlucky happens to take both out...

--
Tim Watts

In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:
Mark wrote:

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:08:45 +0100, "David WE Roberts"
wrote:


"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes. It came back on
before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance from the
National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile for
Internet access. However I would like to know what caused it and if
it is likely to happen again before I power up the desktop. Location
is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and
the like.

Cheers

Dave R

number is/should be 0800 783 8838


Thanks - I discounted ringing a phone number because (a) A large number
of other people are likely to be competing for the same number (b) It
isn't an emergency. If it was off for some time then I might try that.

If it's the same number I call (I can't recall) then you just get a
recorded message saying something like "we know about the problem but
we've no idea what caused it or when it will be fixed".

EDF^H^H^H UKPower do at least answer the phone - only to claim they know
nothing, despite the fact that I know[1] it is the main 66(or 33)kV
substation that has tripped and I'm pretty sure they will have remote
monitoring and possibly remote control on that.

[1] The whole village goes out and the substation has twin HV feeds, so
unless something really unlucky happens to take both out...

UK power certainly knew about my recent outage 10 minutes in. and that was
at very localised one.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

In article , charles
scribeth thus
In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:
Mark wrote:

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:08:45 +0100, "David WE Roberts"
wrote:


"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes. It came back on
before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance from the
National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile for
Internet access. However I would like to know what caused it and if
it is likely to happen again before I power up the desktop. Location
is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and
the like.

Cheers

Dave R

number is/should be 0800 783 8838


Thanks - I discounted ringing a phone number because (a) A large number
of other people are likely to be competing for the same number (b) It
isn't an emergency. If it was off for some time then I might try that.

If it's the same number I call (I can't recall) then you just get a
recorded message saying something like "we know about the problem but
we've no idea what caused it or when it will be fixed".

EDF^H^H^H UKPower do at least answer the phone - only to claim they know
nothing, despite the fact that I know[1] it is the main 66(or 33)kV
substation that has tripped and I'm pretty sure they will have remote
monitoring and possibly remote control on that.

[1] The whole village goes out and the substation has twin HV feeds, so
unless something really unlucky happens to take both out...

UK power certainly knew about my recent outage 10 minutes in. and that was
at very localised one.


Round here its UK power networks. They will know of some but some they
wont if say its a spur off a 11 kV line then they most likely they won't
and they will relay on someone reporting that. On the whole there not
that bad and if you can get to speak to someone there they do have some
very helpful engineers inc one very knowledgeable lady !...


When U cal them they do have a recorded message that says they are aware
of power problems in some areas which they will list, and if not then
you get put thru to an operator..

--
Tony Sayer

"David WE Roberts" writes:


"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
David WE Roberts wrote:
Just had a power outage for a couple of minutes.
It came back on before I got bored enough to demonstrate my independance
from the National Grid (short term) by tethering my laptop to my mobile
for Internet access.
However I would like to know what caused it and if it is likely to happen
again before I power up the desktop.
Location is coastal Suffolk.

Is there any online resource which carries immediate reports of power
outages and causes?

Nothing obvious going on to explain this one - no thunder storms and the
like.

Mm. I phoned up am emergency number when it happened to me.

Online resources telling you you cant get online are as useful as tits on
a bull.


Given that a substantial minority of the public now have a smart phone which
can access web sites, then t'Internet is a valid route for a query.
Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone exchange are
down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.

I see very few power outages in Edinburgh, but curiously I too had an
outage today, from a little after 12:30 to almost exactly 13:00.
I suspect this was scheduled.
The UPS kicked in, so no problem there (and even without that, Linux
recovers pretty well from power failure, though it takes some time to
check/fix filesystems) but the Virgin phone line was dead so I couldn't
call anyone.
--
Windmill, Use t m i l l
J.R.R. Tolkien:- @ O n e t e l . c o m
All that is gold does not glister / Not all who wander are lost

"Dave Liquorice" writes:

On Wed, 27 Jun 2012 21:50:41 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

Copper wire theft...

As it was only off for short while, attempted copper wire theft.

You're suggesting maybe that the line fault cleared, allowing a reset,
after the vaporisation of the propspective thief?

I should be ashamed of myself for thinking it would serve such an
individual right.
Someone here once protested that a death sentence was a bit extreme as
a punishment for cable theft, and I thought that he was a lot more
ethical than I.
But somehow I wouldn't feel much sorrow.

--
Windmill, Use t m i l l
J.R.R. Tolkien:- @ O n e t e l . c o m
All that is gold does not glister / Not all who wander are lost

In article ,
David WE Roberts wrote:

I've only seen a backup generator kick in once.
It was at a computer centre we were visiting.

Ours kicks in once a month for testing. We pull the feed for the aircon
and lighting to test it kicks in ok.

Once a year we have a full test where we kill power to the datacentre and
let it kick in.

We were just pulling into the car park when all the lights went out, and
there was an enormous bang and a cloud of smoke from round the back of the
building.

heh, never really noticed that. It does cough a bit when started up but
no loud bang. Does smoke a bit till it's hot though (it's kept permenantly
warm with a heater in the sump but I assume that's more to keep the oil
thinnish). It's amazingly quiet infact given it's a 16l engine :-)

For a moment we thought that someone had blown up the building, but then the
lights came up again and we could hear the generator running.
Delayed us for a long time while they restored the systems, though.

Blimey, was that quite a while ago? Most sites that are big enough to have
a gen set will have big (redundant) UPS. We've a bank of n+1 100kVA units.

To have a gen set yet not UPS is odd these days.

Darren

On 27/06/2012 19:11, David WE Roberts wrote:

Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone exchange are
down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.


Phone would be OK ... exchanges have their own power .. so analogue POTS
not affected.
3G masts are a different issue.

In article , Rick Hughes
scribeth thus
On 27/06/2012 19:11, David WE Roberts wrote:

Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone exchange are
down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.


Phone would be OK ... exchanges have their own power .. so analogue POTS
not affected.
3G masts are a different issue.

A lot of them do have battery standby power back up I know of several
round here that do and can't remember a time when Vodafone failed in the
area..
--
Tony Sayer

"D.M.Chapman" dmc@puffin. wrote in message
...
In article ,
David WE Roberts wrote:

I've only seen a backup generator kick in once.
It was at a computer centre we were visiting.

Ours kicks in once a month for testing. We pull the feed for the aircon
and lighting to test it kicks in ok.

Once a year we have a full test where we kill power to the datacentre and
let it kick in.

We were just pulling into the car park when all the lights went out, and
there was an enormous bang and a cloud of smoke from round the back of
the
building.

heh, never really noticed that. It does cough a bit when started up but
no loud bang. Does smoke a bit till it's hot though (it's kept permenantly
warm with a heater in the sump but I assume that's more to keep the oil
thinnish). It's amazingly quiet infact given it's a 16l engine :-)

For a moment we thought that someone had blown up the building, but then
the
lights came up again and we could hear the generator running.
Delayed us for a long time while they restored the systems, though.

Blimey, was that quite a while ago? Most sites that are big enough to have
a gen set will have big (redundant) UPS. We've a bank of n+1 100kVA units.

To have a gen set yet not UPS is odd these days.


Late '70s to early '80s.
ICL main frames which were incredibly sensitive to mains glitches.
There were generally these big MA sets which had massive flywheels and were
used to smooth out the mains, but there wasn't any UPS - presumably because
the power requirements were too large.
I still twitch when the lights flicker because that was the signal to run
for the machine room to estimate the damage from the system crash.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Fri, 29 Jun 2012 07:46:56 +0100, David WE Roberts wrote:

"D.M.Chapman" dmc@puffin. wrote in message
...
In article , David WE Roberts
wrote:

I've only seen a backup generator kick in once. It was at a computer
centre we were visiting.

Ours kicks in once a month for testing. We pull the feed for the aircon
and lighting to test it kicks in ok.

Once a year we have a full test where we kill power to the datacentre
and let it kick in.

We were just pulling into the car park when all the lights went out,
and there was an enormous bang and a cloud of smoke from round the
back of the
building.

heh, never really noticed that. It does cough a bit when started up but
no loud bang. Does smoke a bit till it's hot though (it's kept
permenantly warm with a heater in the sump but I assume that's more to
keep the oil thinnish). It's amazingly quiet infact given it's a 16l
engine :-)

For a moment we thought that someone had blown up the building, but
then the
lights came up again and we could hear the generator running. Delayed
us for a long time while they restored the systems, though.

Blimey, was that quite a while ago? Most sites that are big enough to
have a gen set will have big (redundant) UPS. We've a bank of n+1
100kVA units.

To have a gen set yet not UPS is odd these days.


Late '70s to early '80s.
ICL main frames which were incredibly sensitive to mains glitches. There
were generally these big MA sets which had massive flywheels and were
used to smooth out the mains, but there wasn't any UPS - presumably
because the power requirements were too large. I still twitch when the
lights flicker because that was the signal to run for the machine room
to estimate the damage from the system crash.

The predecessor to Darren's UPS and genset was a massive MA, which was
kept for quite a while after the ICL mainframe was retired in 1986. I
wouldn't be surprised to see that either batteries or genset are housed
in the same place (I don't know, I stopped working for that cost centre i
1992).

The MA was incredibly reliable, although we paid ICL maintenance for
about 6 years before we realised they'd never actually touched it (or
rather, the contractors, who'd never been informed)! At one point they
came out, dismantled it and replaced the bearings - all within 6 hours;
amazing.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 28/06/2012 12:29, Rod Speed wrote:


"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...


I usually do ring the power co

I don't normally bother unless I need some idea about how long it will
be off for.

That is usually a factor since like yesterday we were dropped off grid
at 18.15 just in time to prevent fully cooking dinner.

NEDL have replaced customer service with a voice recognition Dalek that
you have to shout your postcode at several times to get anywhere.

The recorded message was pretty bland in this case. Major electrical
storm serious disruption due to flooding lots of areas down over a wide
area and no idea when they will be back on again. We took a direct hit
possibly to the village hall as the highest point. There was literally a
flash and a bang simultaneously and then no electricity.

Power was still off last night when we gave up about 11pm and as you can
see is back on this morning. Full marks to their engineers!

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
Bob Eager wrote:

Late '70s to early '80s.

Ah, ok. I suspected that might be the case

The predecessor to Darren's UPS and genset was a massive MA, which was
kept for quite a while after the ICL mainframe was retired in 1986. I
wouldn't be surprised to see that either batteries or genset are housed
in the same place (I don't know, I stopped working for that cost centre i
1992).

When I started working here we still had the MA. Must have been around
1995 that it was retired? Something like that.

Neither the gen set or the batteries are in the same place - that is
now full of switch gear. Bob actually parks his car very close to the
genset, so our attempts at hiding it must work. Listen carefully on the
first tuesday of each month from 8:15 - 8:45 and you'll hear it :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmchapman/2386361985/

Batteries are in the machine room with ducted air to keep them cool.

Bob might remember commisioning day of the current UPS - the build was
almost evacuated as the wrong charger PCB had been fitted so all the
batteries cooked.

Took bloke with acid proof gloves and a chisel a couple of days to remove
them :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcc/2379690867/ has a few pics. They weren't
keen on us taking too many photos ;-)

The MA was incredibly reliable, although we paid ICL maintenance for
about 6 years before we realised they'd never actually touched it (or
rather, the contractors, who'd never been informed)! At one point they
came out, dismantled it and replaced the bearings - all within 6 hours;
amazing.


I remember watching it spin down. Took a fair while with no load. Once the
load was removed it was amazingly easy to spin by hand as well. Impressive
bit of kit

Darren

On Fri, 29 Jun 2012 07:57:53 +0000, D.M.Chapman wrote:

In article , Bob Eager
wrote:

The predecessor to Darren's UPS and genset was a massive MA, which was
kept for quite a while after the ICL mainframe was retired in 1986. I
wouldn't be surprised to see that either batteries or genset are housed
in the same place (I don't know, I stopped working for that cost centre
i 1992).

When I started working here we still had the MA. Must have been around
1995 that it was retired? Something like that.

Neither the gen set or the batteries are in the same place - that is now
full of switch gear. Bob actually parks his car very close to the
genset, so our attempts at hiding it must work. Listen carefully on the
first tuesday of each month from 8:15 - 8:45 and you'll hear it :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmchapman/2386361985/

Oh, it's that one! There are so many around...although that is bigger
than most! I remember having a power cut campus-wide in November 1970,
when Darwin College has just opened. Walked to the car park to get
torches from car, and was greeted by a tractor towing a genset towards
Darwin. They hadn't got round to a permanent installation at that point.

Bob might remember commisioning day of the current UPS - the build was
almost evacuated as the wrong charger PCB had been fitted so all the
batteries cooked.

Took bloke with acid proof gloves and a chisel a couple of days to
remove them :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcc/2379690867/ has a few pics. They
weren't keen on us taking too many photos ;-)

I have seen the photos but I wasn't there. If it's summer, I tend to work
at home...apart from approx. August 15th-30th every year now.

The MA was incredibly reliable, although we paid ICL maintenance for
about 6 years before we realised they'd never actually touched it (or
rather, the contractors, who'd never been informed)! At one point they
came out, dismantled it and replaced the bearings - all within 6 hours;
amazing.

I remember watching it spin down. Took a fair while with no load. Once
the load was removed it was amazingly easy to spin by hand as well.
Impressive bit of kit

We used to spin it down every night, and I quite often was the one to
fire it up in the morning. That was because ICL wanted more money for us
to run *our* mainframe overnight. We told them where to get off in the
end.

First genset I saw was summer 1973, at an ICL installation in Brighton. A
1902S (I worked as an operator over the summer) at Advance Linen in
Richmond Place. Had only been there a few days and had to start it all up
myself due to the other two staff being stuck on the way to work. That's
when I learned you pull the red knob OUT first...

--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Fri, 29 Jun 2012 08:09:14 +0000, Bob Eager wrote:

On Fri, 29 Jun 2012 07:57:53 +0000, D.M.Chapman wrote:

In article , Bob Eager
wrote:

The predecessor to Darren's UPS and genset was a massive MA, which was
kept for quite a while after the ICL mainframe was retired in 1986. I
wouldn't be surprised to see that either batteries or genset are housed
in the same place (I don't know, I stopped working for that cost centre
i 1992).

When I started working here we still had the MA. Must have been around
1995 that it was retired? Something like that.

Neither the gen set or the batteries are in the same place - that is
now full of switch gear. Bob actually parks his car very close to the
genset, so our attempts at hiding it must work. Listen carefully on the
first tuesday of each month from 8:15 - 8:45 and you'll hear it :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmchapman/2386361985/

Oh, it's that one! There are so many around...although that is bigger
than most! I remember having a power cut campus-wide in November 1970,
when Darwin College has just opened. Walked to the car park to get
torches from car, and was greeted by a tractor towing a genset towards
Darwin. They hadn't got round to a permanent installation at that point.

Bob might remember commisioning day of the current UPS - the build was
almost evacuated as the wrong charger PCB had been fitted so all the
batteries cooked.

Took bloke with acid proof gloves and a chisel a couple of days to
remove them :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcc/2379690867/ has a few pics. They
weren't keen on us taking too many photos ;-)

I have seen the photos but I wasn't there. If it's summer, I tend to
work at home...apart from approx. August 15th-30th every year now.

The MA was incredibly reliable, although we paid ICL maintenance for
about 6 years before we realised they'd never actually touched it (or
rather, the contractors, who'd never been informed)! At one point they
came out, dismantled it and replaced the bearings - all within 6 hours;
amazing.

I remember watching it spin down. Took a fair while with no load. Once
the load was removed it was amazingly easy to spin by hand as well.
Impressive bit of kit

We used to spin it down every night, and I quite often was the one to
fire it up in the morning. That was because ICL wanted more money for us
to run *our* mainframe overnight. We told them where to get off in the
end.

First genset I saw was summer 1973, at an ICL installation in Brighton.
A 1902S (I worked as an operator over the summer) at Advance Linen in
Richmond Place. Had only been there a few days and had to start it all
up myself due to the other two staff being stuck on the way to work.
That's when I learned you pull the red knob OUT first...

Correction, MA of course.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

In article ,
tony sayer wrote:
In article , Rick Hughes
scribeth thus
On 27/06/2012 19:11, David WE Roberts wrote:

Unless of course the cellular masts and the local telephone exchange
are down, in which case a phone number isn't much use either.


Phone would be OK ... exchanges have their own power .. so analogue POTS
not affected.
3G masts are a different issue.

A lot of them do have battery standby power back up I know of several
round here that do and can't remember a time when Vodafone failed in the
area..

we had a 3 week failure locally - probably not due to mains, but there
seemed no urgency in getting it back up.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18