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From: eric@chronon.UUCP (Eric Black)
Newsgroups: net.consumers,net.sci,net.audio,net.video,net.analog
Subject: Re: Line Voltage
Message-ID: <278@chronon.chronon.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 29-May-86 16:47:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: chronon.278
Posted: Thu May 29 16:47:53 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 31-May-86 06:37:56 EDT
References: <446@hropus.UUCP> <5436@alice.uUCp> <1039@kitty.UUCP>
Reply-To: eric@chronon.UUCP (Eric Black)
Organization: Chronon Computer Corp., Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 29
Xref: watmath net.consumers:5386 net.sci:977 net.audio:8581 net.video:2569 net.analog:852

In article <1168@well.UUCP> tenney@well.UUCP (Glenn S. Tenney) writes:
>In article <290@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP> grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) writes:
>>If you really think you have a problem, borrow a recording voltmeter and
>>leave it across the line for a few days.  
>
>I had a similar problem and put a special meter on the line that remembered
>low and hi voltages which showed out-of-acceptable readings.  When PGE put
>a recording meter on the line (before the meter) they found nothing wrong
>even though my meter (in the house) still showed a problem.  They just said
>they're only responsible up to the meter.  I guess their recording meter
>is so damped that any voltage would look right.
       ^^^^^^

I was having problems with high-voltage spikes which were killing the
computer at work near San Jose.  A Franklin Electric monitor showed
spikes exceeding 10,000 volts of a few microseconds duration (no wonder
we were frying components -- I'm not talking just crashes here!),
probably caused by starting and stopping of BIG electric motors in some
of the factories nearby.  PG&E brought out *their* monitor, not
trusting ours.  It was a pen recorder, one of those jobs with the
rotating circular chart.  Funny how that pen wouldn't move fast enough
to show any spikes.  Their (PG&E's) attitude was that their power was
good enough for all their other customers, their monitor didn't show
any problem, so it was just too bad.  We ended up installing a moby
isolation transformer to get rid of common-mode spikes, and an UPS just
as a line filter.  We still had occasional unexplained crashes...
-- 
Eric Black   "Garbage In, Gospel Out"
UUCP:        {sun,pyramid,hplabs,amdcad}!chronon!eric