The voltage That you quote is RMS voltage (root mean square) which tells the equivalent of direct current measurements. The peak to peak voltage is actually 1.414 times these numbers (based on a sign wave).

In times of heavy usage two things happen over here. The voltage may drop somewhat and the generators may drop a cycle or two from the North American Standard 60 cycles per second. They will then run faster at night to make up the lost cycles since they want clocks (mostly older ones) to run on time.

The lower voltage may cause "Brown outs" --as opposed to "Black-outs" where some electrical appliances may function less well.

I seem to notice that my pool pumps run a little more vigorously during certain times of day but I am not completely sure of this.

There can be some localised problems.
Not that long ago we were involved in the investigations into a power supply problem on a small industrial estate where National Grid were pointing the finger at the nearby railway causing major voltage surges and dips. A lot of instrumentation later we tracked it down, to the discomfort of NG, and the pleasure of NR. There was an earth leakage path within one of the local electrical substations which was allowing the earth return current from NR to get onto the supply for the industrial estate and so moving the neutral point for the estate by tens of volts up or down....

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

It is the same with all countries...that's normal even for me in Croatia! ;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

I live in Springfield, Virginia a suburb of metro Washington DC. We get our share of power hits and outages. We had one about a week ago. Power was out for around 5 hours during which time our furnace was out since the blower is electric. This outage was probably caused by branches or a tree falling on power lines. We tend to get more such outages in the summer due to storms and the occasional hurricane. I often shut down my computers and UPSs during electrical storms to minimize the possibility of expensive lightning or ESD strikes. Shutdowns usually happen late afternoon and continue sometimes long into the evenings - depending on the storm. This can sometimes happen several days in a row. Not much one can do except grin and bear it. In the event of a lottery win a gas fired home generator would transfer from the wish list to the do list.

One hot July Friday afternoon at Area Science Park in Trieste there was a blackout, stopping all computers. It resulted that the temperature in the UPS room had risen so much to trip a shutdown of the UPS. Prof. Carlo Rubbia was very upset and his secretary called me, a BULL employee, to ask for a explanation. I had to tell her that I had nothing to do with the AREA power equipment and that she would have to wait until next Monday for a repair. The air conditioning of the UPS room was reinforced.
Tullio

---

An update here on my APC Smart UPS 1000. I came home yesterday to find that both rigs were turned off?? But the clue was a red light on the front panel of the UPS which means that the battery needs replacing. I re-booted both machines, then unfortunately like a fool I decided to check that by pressing the test button. Yep two dead pc's again and a lot of noise from the UPS!

Sadly one rig got damaged with the power off and wouldn't reboot. Had to resort to a one month old system backup. It's all up and running now but one months updates to restore :-( So I have ordered a new battery (RB6) for the UPS. The last second hand one cost £45 but gave me 2 years life, this "new" copy is £70, even so the genuine APC ones are £120, so a saving of sorts.

All good fun not!

APC recommend changing batteries every 2-3 years. Also if using a UPS, monitoring software is a MUST as it will warn you of a failed self test if the lights an buzzers don't. Otherwise the very thing a UPS is supposed to protect against, is caused by the UPS itself.

Your experience satisfies me that for most home users a UPS is a waste of money as without proper monitoring they can cause more damage than they are suppose to prevent.

---

Computers are sensitive. Even at my mother's house, which has a natural gas powered whole-house generator, and the lights don't even flicker in a power failure, the computers go off.

---

The mind is a weird and mysterious place

All my computers are conected to a "ciabatta" (sabot) which eliminates voltage fluctuations. Not an UPS.
Tullio

---

Always find power delivery interesting.

At home I've had very little in the way of interruptions.

At work, several nasty multi-hour ones.

There is a few miles involved and they are different power companies as well.

Thanks for the reminder, I need to get replacement batteries for the UPS' at work.

---

For me the worst power-outs are those of a second or two, we don't get many, but they are long enough to upset neighbour's alarms, upset my fridge, and, if it weren't for the UPS crash all my computers. At least with the 1hr ones you know the power is OUT, and can take appropriate action (I only live 20mins from work so...)

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

...that sounds about par for the course when changing UPS batteries.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

OK update. The new UPS battery arrived this morning (ordered Sunday) and is now fitted, but not without some hassle. As anyone who has dealt with these UPS's will know, the RB6 battery is in fact in two separate batteries attached together. Usually the old combo just slides out of the UPS, this one split and just the front half came out. The back half was jammed in and just would not budge. I had to resort to taking the case off the UPS and levering the bugger out with two large screwdrivers!

All back together now and working fine. Mental note to buy a new one in two years!!

if u got a cable to computer, then it will tell u when 2 order another battery... ;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Totally dependent on the design of the battery back-up unit, and how it is being used - full bypass vs full load vs feed through...

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

if u got a cable to computer, then it will tell u when 2 order another battery... ;)

No it does not!! I have such a monitoring cable to run Powerchute for historic stats. If the battery needs replacing there will be a red light saying so on the front of the UPS and it will beep at you periodically.

What red light? What beep? Mine has neither. It notifies you via software! If you don't plug a cable in and use their software, there is no notification at all!

@ChrisS
http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/ASTE-6Z8LFV/ASTE-6Z8LFV_R2_EN.pdf?sdirect=true
page 2, ref number 7.!

also, here listed:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA1000I
Communications & Management
Interface Port(s) DB-9 RS-232, SmartSlot, USB
- so just use cable 2 connect it 2 computer!
Includes: CD with software, Smart UPS signalling RS-232 cable, USB cable, User Manual

also, u will need this software:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA1000I&tab=software

have fun! ;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Gary! I don't know what brand of UPS you are referring to, I am talking about the APC units which I have.

The way you originally wrote it, you did the typical British thing and assumed that yours was proper and the only way to do it. Now you realize that isn't the case. P.S. Mine have an LCD display that includes things like line voltage, time remaining, ...

---